Efficiency and redundancy are contradictory characteristics of linguistic systems; however, they can be used together...

Mehran on July 25, 2018

@smilde11 sure! First, let's diagram the stimulus:

"If a spoken language is completely efficient, then every possible permutation of its basic language sounds can be an understandable word."

CE ==> EPPUW
not EPPUW ==> not CE

"However, if the human auditory system is an imperfect receptor of sounds, then it is not true that every possible permutation of a spoken language's basic language sounds can be an understandable word."

not PRS ==> not EPPUW
EPPUW ==> PRS

PRS = perfect receptor of sounds

Notice that we can combine these two principles using the transitive property as follows:

not PRS ==> not EPPUW ==> not CE

And this is exactly what (E) says, i.e. "If the human auditory system is an imperfect receptor of sounds (i.e. not PRS), then a spoken language cannot be completely efficient (i.e. not CE)."

not PRS ==> not CE

Hope that helps! Please let us know if you have any other questions.