Re: CHAT: Umberto Eco and Esperanto

>Brian Betty wrote:
>> Language isn't a social skill.

>Nik Taylor:
>I beg to differ, language most certainly IS a social skill.  While it
>might be true that the ability to acquire language is innate, language
>itself is still a social skill, indeed, arguably, THE social skill,
>since the use of a community's language is a prerequisite to being a
>part of that community.

Hey, guys:

I differ with you both!

I'm not sure that there is a sovereign definition of "social skill" that
would settle Nik and Brian's disagreement.

Of course Nik is correct in stating that language is prerequisite to the
social structure of our society.

However, if Brian stated that schizophrenics can speak in a language without
exhibiting much in the way of social skills, that statement would conform
perfectly well to modern English usage.

IMO, pragmatics are social skills by definition;   language as a whole is
used both for social reasons and for certain kinds of thinking.

Jim