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

Dave December 11, 2014

Diagraming S & N

I diagramed the S as completely efficient (CE) and the N as understood words (UW). Made the contrapositive as not UW - - -Not CE. Premise as not perfect auditory and conclusion as not UW. Then I got stumped. Where did I go wrong? Thanks

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Naz December 11, 2014

Okay so let's diagram this.

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

P1: CE ==> EPU (Completely efficient) ==> (Every permutation understandable)
not EPU ==> not CE

"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."

P2: IRS ==> not EPU
EPU ==> not IRS

We are asked what must be true.

Well, we can connect "P2" to the contrapositive of "P1" like so: IRS ==> not EPU ==> not CE to conclude: IRS ==> not CE, which is exactly what answer choice (E) states: "If the human auditory system is an imperfect receptor of sounds, then a spoken language cannot be completely efficient."

Hope that clears things up! Please let us know if you have any other questions.