free variable

Geoff Pullum writes on the difference between language and communication, against the backdrop of smoke-signals in Rome.

I am reminded of a Swedish poem that I saw on the London Underground once, mainly because it operated from a different definition of “language” than linguists do. I don’t recall the title or the author, but I do remember that the author contrasted “ord med ingen språk” (words with no language) in the city with “språk med ingen ord” (language with no words) on a snow-covered mountain. That is, I suppose, poetic license at work.

I’m currently listening to Ice beuge meine Knie from the album “Heinrich Schutz: Kleine Geistliche Konzerte II” by Heinrich Schutz: Kleine Geistliche Konzerte II