[SIGCIS-Members] Fwd: Origin of 'language'?

[Paul Fishwick]

Sent from the wrong address 

Begin forwarded message:

> From: "Fishwick, Paul" <pxf130430 at utdallas.edu>
> Subject: Re: [SIGCIS-Members] Origin of 'language'?
> Date: November 5, 2014 at 1:14:28 PM CST
> To: David Golumbia <dgolumbia at gmail.com>
> Cc: members <members at sigcis.org>
> 
> David:
>   I’d like to better understand your argument here:
> 
>  " almost immediately, people started construing these constructions as some 
>   artificial meta-category called "language," despite this being an incredibly 
>   contentious (and basically entirely inaccurate) way of construing things. 
>   Chomsky's 1950s papers on context-free grammars did not help things.”
> 
>  Why is this contentious in your opinion? Regarding language, The work of Pierce 
> and de Saussure (semiology, semiotics) may also be relevant to the discussion on
> language.
> -paul
> 
> 
> 
> Paul Fishwick, PhD
> Chair, ACM SIGSIM
> Distinguished University Chair of Arts & Technology 
>    and Professor of Computer Science
> Director, Creative Automata Laboratory
> The University of Texas at Dallas
> Arts & Technology
> 800 West Campbell Road, AT10
> Richardson, TX 75080-3021
> Home: utdallas.edu/atec/fishwick
> Blog: creative-automata.com
> 
> On Nov 5, 2014, at 10:59 AM, David Golumbia <dgolumbia at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
>> t has two sources.
>> 
>> first, the use of "formal language" in logic and philosophy of language in the work of Gottlob Frege in the late 19c/early 20c. Frege was clear that the "formal languages" he developed were not like human languages, but they have nevertheless sometimes been construed this way (although not usually by philosophers and logicians).
>> 
>> second, from work in the late 1940s and early 1950s by Grace Hopper, others at the Navy, and some in academia (particularly Harvard and MIT) to make what were then called "computer codes" and basically required high-level knowledge of mathematics, easier to use, and also compilers to automatically turn these new forms (including well-known PLs like COBOL and FORTRAN) into machine code. They called these "programming languages" in part to distinguish them from "computer codes" and because they used elements of natural language in their construction. almost immediately, people started construing these constructions as some artificial meta-category called "language," despite this being an incredibly contentious (and basically entirely inaccurate) way of construing things. Chomsky's 1950s papers on context-free grammars did not help things. 
>> 
>> Have some work-in-progress on this topic as it's a particular pet peeve of mine, but at this point pretty far back on the backburner (if anyone wants to contribute please drop me a line, as I'm very interested in making it a group project).
>> 
>> David
>> 
>> 2014-11-05 4:13 GMT-05:00 Marie Gevers <marie.gevers at unamur.be>:
>> I wonder by whom and when the word 'language' was used for the first time in the framework of computer sciences.
>> Can anybody enlighten me?
>> Thanks in advance.
>> 
>> Marie
>> -- 
>> <edifghaf.png>
>> Prof. Marie d'UDEKEM-GEVERS
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>> 
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>> 
>> 
>> 
>> -- 
>> David Golumbia
>> dgolumbia at gmail.com
>> _______________________________________________
>> This email is relayed from members at sigcis.org, the email discussion list of SHOT SIGCIS. Opinions expressed here are those of the member posting and are not reviewed, edited, or endorsed by SIGCIS. The list archives are at http://sigcis.org/pipermail/members/ and you can change your subscription options at http://sigcis.org/mailman/listinfo/members
> 

Paul Fishwick, PhD
Chair, ACM SIGSIM
Distinguished University Chair of Arts & Technology 
   and Professor of Computer Science
Director, Creative Automata Laboratory
The University of Texas at Dallas
Arts & Technology
800 West Campbell Road, AT10
Richardson, TX 75080-3021
Home: utdallas.edu/atec/fishwick
Blog: creative-automata.com






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