The Sign Theory of Language and the form-meaning interface / La Théorie du langage basée sur le signe et l’interface forme-sens

2019 ◽  
Vol 64 (02) ◽  
pp. 171-215
Author(s):  
Frederick J. Newmeyer
Keyword(s):  
Significant Degree ◽  
Linguistic Theory ◽  
Sign Theory ◽  
External Pressures ◽  
Theory Of Language ◽  
External Motivation

AbstractThis article examines a key feature of Denis Bouchard's Sign Theory of Language, namely theSubstantive Hypothesis(SH), the idea that “the most explanatory linguistic theory is one that minimizes the elements (ideally to zero) that do not have an external motivation in the prior properties of the perceptual and conceptual substances of language”. The article argues that the strongest form of the SH is challenged by two widespread classes of phenomena: morphosyntactic generalizations that are not sign-based, and non-sign-based external pressures on grammars. It concludes with some speculative remarks on why, to a significant degree, grammatical patterning is not sign-based.

The Aesthetics of Exodus

2020 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. 253-269 ◽  
Author(s):  
Derek R. Ford
Keyword(s):  
Linguistic Theory ◽  
Entry Point ◽  
Theory Of Language ◽  
The Aesthetic ◽  
General Intellect

While the general intellect continues to provide a rich resource for understanding post-Fordism and for theorizing resistance, there remains a neglected aesthetic dimension to the general intellect and the role that art can play in resistance based on it. This article develops the general intellect along these lines by drawing on two theorists who are rarely thought together: Paolo Virno and Jean-François Lyotard. The article begins by introducing the general intellect and Virno’s reconceptualization of it as the general or generic intellect. It then introduces a relationship between art and the general intellect by reading Virno’s theory of language, speech, and communication. From here, it goes to his theory of exodus, which is then read back through his linguistic theory to draw out the key role that subjective defection plays in the project. Although Virno doesn’t spend much time discussing art, his brief remarks are used as an entry point to move to Lyotard’s writings on music and art, where the author fleshes out an aesthetic dimension to the general intellect and the project of exodus. The argument focuses on the artistic gesture (the “art” in/of the artwork) and especially timbre as witnesses and eruptions of the potentiality of the general intellect that can never be properly actualized. By analyzing timbre as a fugitive force that desubjectifies those gathered around music, the author argues that it provides an example of the opening necessary for the subjective defection that inaugurates exodus. In this way, the aesthetic dimension added to the general intellect is the generic capacity to be affected and disindividuated.

Why does polysemy vary across languages? An explanation in the framework of the Sign Theory of Language / Pourquoi la polysémie varie-t-elle d'une langue à l'autre? Une explication dans le cadre de la Théorie du langage basée sur le signe

2019 ◽  
Vol 64 (02) ◽  
pp. 281-325
Author(s):  
Beau Zuercher
Keyword(s):  
Semantic Representation ◽  
Lexical Meaning ◽  
Sign Theory ◽  
Linguistic Sign ◽  
Single Difference ◽  
Theory Of Language ◽  
Crosslinguistic Variation ◽  
The Way

AbstractMany pairs of words traditionally treated as crosslinguistic equivalents do not share the same set of senses, and dominant theories fail to account for this asymmetry. This article proposes an explanation for the crosslinguistic variation of polysemy based on two key insights from Bouchard's Sign Theory of Language. First, multifunctional words have only a single, abstract meaning, and second, properties of the linguistic sign follow from properties of the external systems with which language interfaces. The article describes the content of the English and French deictic verbs go, aller, come, and venir, showing that each possesses a simple semantic representation composed of primitives from general cognition. It then examines several specific semantic uses of go and aller, showing that differences in the surface polysemy of these verbs follow directly from a single difference in their abstract lexical meaning and the way the latter interacts with context, extralinguistic knowledge and grammar.

Linguistics and communication

2020 ◽  
Vol 17 (3) ◽  
pp. 293-313
Author(s):  
Keith Allan
Keyword(s):  
Linguistic Theory ◽  
Object Language ◽  
Human Language ◽  
Primary Function ◽  
Theory Of Language ◽  
The Relationship

AbstractThis essay begins by identifying what communication is and what linguistics is in order to establish the relationship between them. The characterization of linguistics leads to discussion of the nature of language and of the relationship between a theory of language, i. e., linguistic theory, and the object language it models. This, in turn, leads to a review of speculations on the origins of human language with a view to identifying the motivation for its creation and its primary function. After considering a host of data, it becomes clear that, contrary to some approaches, the primary function of human language is to function as a vehicle of communication. Thus, linguistics studies what for humans is their primary vehicle of communication.

Linguistic Theory of Language Learning as Related to Machine Teaching

1970 ◽  
Vol 54 (8) ◽  
pp. 617
Author(s):  
Charles N. Staubach ◽  
Richard Barrutia
Keyword(s):  
Language Learning ◽  
Linguistic Theory ◽  
Theory Of Language

scholarly journals Saussurian biolinguistics? Bouchard’s offline brain systems and Sign Theory of Language

2018 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew Feeney
Keyword(s):  
Language Evolution ◽  
Human Cognition ◽  
Dual Processing ◽  
Evolution Of Language ◽  
Language Faculty ◽  
Sign Theory ◽  
Oxford University ◽  
Proposed Model ◽  
Real Entity ◽  
Theory Of Language

AbstractThis article examines Bouchard’s (e.g. Bouchard, D. 2010. From neurons to signs. In A. D. M. Smith, M. Schouwstra, B. de Boer & K. Smith (ed.), Proceedings of the 8th International conference on the evolution of language, 42–49. Singapore: World Scientific; Bouchard, D. 2013. The nature and origin of language. Oxford: Oxford University Press; Bouchard, D. 2015. Brain readiness and the nature of language. Frontiers in Psychology 6.) discussion of the nature of language as ‘Saussurian Biolinguistics.’ A fundamental assumption of Bouchard, that of the existence of the Saussurian sign as a psychologically real entity in language, is disputed and an alternative understanding of the semiotic function of language is stressed. The consequences of Bouchard’s adoption of double interface signs for the relation of language to thought are also discussed and it is argued that such an approach leads inexorably to a form of linguistic relativity, and that positing a language independent ‘mentalese’ resolves this problem. The proposed model of language evolution, in which Bouchard is sceptical of protolanguage, is challenged, as are his claims regarding the properties of the language faculty. Bouchard presents a theory of the cognitive underpinning of language, ‘Offline Brain Systems,’ which is inadequate in accounting for the unique properties of human cognition. Instead, a more insightful and explanatorily comprehensive theory is presented here:dual-processingand theRepresentational Hypothesis.

Actants and aktionsart: The Norwegian verb få as the dynamic counterpart to ha / Actants et mode d'action : le verbe norvégien få comme contrepartie dynamique de ha

2019 ◽  
Vol 64 (02) ◽  
pp. 216-280
Author(s):  
Madeleine Halmøy
Keyword(s):  
Contrastive Analysis ◽  
Sign Theory ◽  
Main Verb ◽  
Semantic Value ◽  
Theory Of Language ◽  
Dynamic Version ◽  
The Many ◽  
Mode D’Action ◽  
English Verb

AbstractFollowing Denis Bouchard's neo-Saussurean Sign Theory of Language, with a focus on the notion of Grammar Semantics, this article sketches a proposal for a unified understanding of the most multifunctional among Norwegian verbs, namely få ‘get’. Based on Bouchard's analysis of French être ‘be’ and avoir ‘have’ and corresponding signs in other languages, I propose that få is the dynamic version of ha ‘have’, which is a bivalent transitive copula. This abstract semantic value is shown to form the basis for the many contextual interpretations få receives, in its use both as a main verb and as an auxiliary. To my knowledge, a monosemic, unified understanding of få that covers all its uses and interpretations has not yet been proposed, especially not one that highlights its relationships with være ‘be’, ha ‘have’ and bli ‘be, become, get’. The study also includes a contrastive analysis of få and the English verb get.

The relevance of introspective data

2020 ◽  
pp. 149-164
Author(s):  
Frederick J. Newmeyer
Keyword(s):  
Real Life ◽  
Linguistic Theory ◽  
Theory Of Language ◽  
Number Of Publications

Introspective judgments of acceptability have long been criticized for being both inconsistent and irrelevant. A number of publications have addressed the former issue and have argued that such judgments, carefully collected, are generally consistent. It remains the case, however, that many linguists question whether introspective data are or can be relevant to the construction of the correct theory of language. In the view of many usage-based grammarians, the sentences made up by analysts rather than real-life utterances lead inevitably to the supposedly unrealistic and complex abstract structures posited by generative grammarians. The chapter challenges that view. Appealing to a 170 MB corpus of conversational English, it argues that introspective data and conversational data do not lead to different conclusions about the nature of linguistic theory.

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