LINGUIST List 13.1904

Fri Jul 12 2002

Books: Ling Theories:The Practice of Language

Editor for this issue: Dina Kapetangianni <dinalinguistlist.org>

Directory

1. kap-listman, The Practice of Language edited by Martin Gustafsson & Lars Hertzberg

The Practice of Language
edited by
Martin Gustafsson
Uppsala University, Sweden
Lars Hertzberg
Abo Academy, Finland

How is linguistic theory related to linguistic practice? What do
theoretical notions and models tell us about real-life language use?
Are there any limits to what such notions and models can reasonably be
taken to accomplish? These questions are fundamental to any serious
investigation into the phenomena of human communication. The essays
in this book show that philosophers and linguists of quite different
brands have tended to give undue priority to their own favourite
theoretical framework, and have presupposed that the descriptive
scheme invoked by that framework constitutes a pattern to which any
linguistic practice somehow has to conform. What unites the
contributors to this volume is a critical attitude towards such
essentialist aspirations. By investigating several concrete examples
of this tendency - examples collected from such seemingly disparate
areas as structuralism, contemporary analytic philosophy and feminist
epistemology - the authors collectively manage to cast doubt on the
very attempt to fit the whole of linguistic practice into a general
theoretical mould.

CONTENTS

Acknowledgments. Introduction. Part I: Historical Perspectives. On the
Linguistic Turn in Philosophy; S. Stenlund. Humboldt: Grammatical
Form and `Weltansicht'; O. Gundersen. Language as Sign and Use: A
Study of Certain Aspects of Saussure's View of Language;
M. Gustavsson. Part II: Prejudiced Preconceptions: Notions of Language
Within Linguistics and Feminist Epistemology. Expression and Content
in Linguistic Theory; S. Ohman. The History of Swedish Grammar and
Professor Chomsky; S. Haapamaki. How Ordinary is Ordinary Experience?
Language in Feminist Epistemology and Philosophy of Science;
S. Rider. Part III: The Practice of Meaning and Truth. Putnam on
Truth; F. Stoutland. Meaning, Saying, Truth; M. Gustafsson. Part IV:
Themes from Wittgenstein. Wittgenstein, Meursault and the Difficulty
of Philosophy; P. Segerdahl. Wittgenstein, Logical Form and
Grammatical Remarks; T. Johansson. On Rule-Following; J.
Wilhelmi. Are We all Trapped in Nonsense? G. Steingrimsson. On the
Need for a Listener and Community Standards;
L. Hertzberg. References. Notes on the Contributors. Index.

Hardbound, ISBN 1-4020-0691-8, June 2002, 273 pp.
EUR 95.00 / USD 88.00 / GBP 57.00

URL of this book: http://www.wkap.nl/book.htm/1-4020-0691-8


 
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