Trial-and-Errors in Understanding and Creating Meanings:A Consideration from Evolinguistics

Abstract

In this article, we discuss possibilities of trial-and-error in understanding and creating meanings with symbols, as a fundamental micro process of innovation. Symbols, which play a critical role in thought and communication, in human language are not only grounded on bodily experiences but also abstracted from concrete experiences. The abstraction of symbols suggests the existence of certain mechanisms to associate indirectly between sensori-motor input-output (symbolic expressions) and internal representations (meanings). The indirect association contributes to make new meanings by recombining or extending existing symbolic relationships, which is called symbol de-grounding, and therefore, there may be possibilities of trial-and-error through the mechanisms of de-grounding.