Code-talker paradox

The code-talker paradox is an issue in linguistics that brings into question some fundamental ideas of the nature of languages. Specifically, the fact that language can both facilitate and block communication.

This term, coined by Mark Baker raises the issue of how Philip Johnston and the code talker were able to communicate in a way such that human beings created references that were mutually intelligible to each other but completely unintelligible to everyone who was not familiar with the structure and meaning of the signals.

See also

• Drift (linguistics)
• List of Paradoxes
• Plato's problem
• The Analysis of Verbal Behavior
• Tower of Babel