Languages can be simple in at least three respects. One natural language can be simpler than another one in terms of its structural properties given a certain domain or function as, for instance, the system of personal pronouns or the paradigms of nominal case inflection. In this sense, the Chinese system of temporal reference is simpler than that of German and all other Indo-European languages.
... [Show full abstract] Second, a given subject-matter can be described by more or less simple, i.e. understandable linguistic means. Finally, there are simple codes, simplified varieties within a given natural language as, for instance, the telegram style, foreigner talk, and the language of the weather forecast. In simple codes-communication, the balance between the information that is verbally coded and the information that the interlocutor can retrieve from contextual knowledge is significantly shifted towards the latter. Elementary learner languages, the language acquired by people under conditions of everyday communication within the target society, constitute a typical class of simple codes.