Article published In:
Historiographia LinguisticaVol. 10:3 (1983) ► pp.195–207
The trivium arts and contemporary linguistics
The contiguity/similarity distinction and the question of word order
In the Prague School, and particularly in its most illustrious representative, Roman Jakobson, two discrete yet somewhat convergent themes of linguistic speculation appear to have come together. First, the notion that word order is a crucial testing ground for observation of the structures of thought and language. Second, the borrowing of rhetorical figures to explain contrasting modes of expression on the mental, linguistic, as well as stylistic-poetic levels. Both themes ultimately derive from traditional speculation on style and language in a characteristic and exemplary process of joining rhetoric and grammar.
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