The Language Builder
An essay on the human signature in linguistic morphogenesis
Linguistics, as a social science, should have something to teach us about humans as social beings. However, modern grammatical theories regard languages as autonomous systems, so these theories are little concerned with speakers and hearers, their interactions, and their relationship to the world around them. Further, these theories tend toward excessive concern with methodology and the properties of linguistic systems, neglecting, in fact, the languages themselves and those who use them in everyday life. Even the shift toward cognitive approaches, promising for their new insights into the brain, still misses an equally important aspect of language, namely a framework which would account for the social activity by which speakers build linguistic structures in order to meet the requirements of communication. Based on a wide range of languages, Hagège's work sheds light on the human language building activity. He argues that the conscious and unconscious 'signatures' of human nature are written everywhere in language. The study of these signatures gives insight into basic characteristics of human beings, tends to re-humanize linguistics, and stresses the importance of language as a dynamic activity as opposed to a self-contained system.
[Current Issues in Linguistic Theory, 94] 1993. xii, 283 pp.
Publishing status: Available
Published online on 18 October 2011
Published online on 18 October 2011
© John Benjamins Publishing Company
Table of Contents
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Preface | p. ix
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List of abbreviations used in glosses | p. xi
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Introduction | p. 1
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I: Levels of linguistic consciousness and human intervention in language
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1. The problem of consciousness in Language building | p. 9
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2. Adaptation of linguistic systems to meet LBs’ needs | p. 41
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II: The place of humans in language morphogenesis
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3. Languages as anthropocentric systems | p. 91
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4. The presence of LBs in creologenesis | p. 121
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5. LBs and the linguistic cycle | p. 147
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III: Two aspects of language morphogenesis
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6. Lexicalization | p. 173
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7. Grammaticalization | p. 231Conclusion
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Notes | p. 233
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Index of subjects | p. 264
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Index of languages | p. 269
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Index of names | p. 279
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Subjects
Main BIC Subject
CF: Linguistics
Main BISAC Subject
LAN009000: LANGUAGE ARTS & DISCIPLINES / Linguistics / General