Knowledge of a language enable you to combine words to form phrases, and phrases to form sentences. You can not buy a dictionary of any language with all its sentences, because no dictionary can list all the possible sentences. Knowing a language means being able to produce new sentences never spoken before and to understand sentences never heard before.
The linguist Noam Chomsky refers to ability as part of a language can create great literature, but you, and all persons who know a language, can and do create new sentences when you speak, and understand new sentencesbcreated by others.
To say that we are creative in our use of language means that language use is not limited to stimulus - response behaviour. It's true that if someone steps on our toes we may automatically respond with a scream or a grunt, but these sounds are not part of language. They are involuntary reactions to stimuli. After we reflexively cry out, we can say "Thank you very much for stepping on my toe, because i was afraid like i had elephantiasis and how that I feel it hurt I know I dont, or anyone of an infinite number of sentences that produce is not controlled by any stimulus.
Even some involuntary cries like "ouch" are constrained by our own language system , as are filled pauses that are sprinkled through conversational speech, such as er, uh , and you know, for example, often fill their pauses with the vowel sound that starts with their word for egg - oeuf - a sound that doesn't occur in english.
knowing a language include knowing what sentences are appropiate in various situstions. To say "Hamburger costs $ 4.00 pound" after someone has just stepped on your toenwould hardly been an appropiate response, altough it would be possible.
Our creative ability not only is reflected in what we say but also includes our understanding of our new novel sentences. Consider the following sentence: "Daniel Boone decided to become a pioneer because he dreamed of pigeon-toed giraffes and cross-eyed elephants dancing in pink skirts and green berets on the wind-swept plains of the the Mid-west." You nay believe in the sentences ; you may question its logic; but you can understand it, altough you probably nevr heard or read it before now.
or matched with some sentences that you hear. Novel sentences that never spoken or heard before cannot be stored in your memory.
or matched with some sentences that you hear. Novel sentences that never spoken or heard before cannot be stored in your memory.
simple memorization of all the possible sentences in a language is impossible in principle. If for every sentences in the language a longer sentences can be formed, then there is no limit to the length of any sentences and therefore no limit of sentences. In english you can say :
"This is the house"
or
"This is the malt that lay in the house that jack built"
or
"This is the dog that lay in the house that Jack built"
or
"This is the dog that worried the cat that killed the rat that ate the malt that lay in the house that Jack built"
And you need not stop there. How long, then
Thanks for this futher explanation
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