The Emergence of Functions in Language

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zygmunt Frajzyngier ◽  
Marielle Butters
Keyword(s):  
Social Structure ◽  
Goal Orientation ◽  
Language Contact ◽  
Religious Beliefs ◽  
Geographical Area ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Main Question ◽  
Present Book ◽  
New Meanings ◽  
The Subject

Why do grammatical systems of various languages express different meanings? Given that languages spoken in the same geographical area by people sharing similar social structure, occupations, and religious beliefs differ in the kinds of meaning expressed by the grammatical system, the answer to this question cannot invoke differences in geography, occupation, social and political structure, or religion. The present book aims to answer the main question through language internal analysis. This book offers a methodology to discover meaning in a way that is not based on inferences about reality. The book also offers a methodology to discover motivations for the emergence of meanings. The grammatical system at any given time constitutes a base from which new meanings emerge. The motivations for the emergence of functions include: the communicative need triggered when the grammatical system inherently produces ambiguities; the principle of functional transparency whereby every function encoded in the grammatical system must be expressed if it is in the scope of the situation described by the proposition; opportunistic emergence of meaning whereby unoccupied formal niches acquire a new function; metonymic emergence whereby a property of an existing function receives a formal means of its own, thus creating a new function; emergence of functions through language contact. Several phenomena, such as benefactive and progressive in English, as well as point of view of the subject and goal orientation in several languages, receive new analyses.

The emergence of the point-of-view of the subject

2020 ◽  
pp. 119-138
Author(s):  
Zygmunt Frajzyngier ◽  
Marielle Butters
Keyword(s):  
Goal Orientation ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Initial State ◽  
Semantic Function ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Semantic Properties

Chapter 6 defines semantic properties of the point of view of the subject, illustrating the issue on languages familiar to many readers. The category point of view of the subject instructs the listener to consider how the event concerns the subject. This semantic function does not depend on the number and type of arguments with which the verb occurs or on the type of the event described. The chapter demonstrates how the point of view of the subject emerged from the initial state that either coded goal orientation or allowed the proposition to be interpreted as having a goal. The category point of view of the subject can be encoded regardless of whether the subject has control over the event. In German, Italian, Spanish, French, the point of view of the subject is marked by forms referred to as ‘reflexive’, and in Russian, Polish by the so-called short reflexive markers.

Methodology

2020 ◽  
pp. 23-56
Author(s):  
Zygmunt Frajzyngier ◽  
Marielle Butters
Keyword(s):  
Goal Orientation ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Functional Domain ◽  
European Languages ◽  
Structural Functions ◽  
The Subject

A prerequisite for the discovery of functions is the determination of formal means of coding within the language. The discovery of functions and motivations for the emergence of functions is based on the claim that each function is a member of some functional domain. A determining characteristic of a function is its contrast with other functions within the domain. The chapter postulates that a distinction should be made between structural functions that allow the listener to identify the types of constituents in the clause and functions encoding meaning. The chapter illustrates the discovery of the functions of the following: the ‘progressive’ and the ‘perfect’ forms in English; ‘reflexives’ in some Indo-European languages; point of view of the subject; and goal orientation in several languages; pronouns in several languages.

GALLERY SPACE AS A PLACE FOR PRESTIGE DEMONSTRATION (BASED ON THE MATERIALS FROM AUTHOR'S RESEARCH STUDIES, INTERVIEWS, AND ART GALLERIESWEBSITES)

2020 ◽  
pp. 19-28
Author(s):  
VICTORIA NESTEROVA ◽  
VALENTINA SAMKOVA
Keyword(s):  
Creative Industries ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Main Function ◽  
Professional Interest ◽  
New Meanings ◽  
Social Statistics ◽  
Image Building ◽  
Creative Space ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Intellectual Elites

Our professional interest is determined by the format of creativity in the urban environment and the motives of a creative subject. Today, there is apparent interest in the formation of new incentives for the creative activity of the subject. The main function of creative urban spaces is to arrange a creative environment where new creative ideas are being formed. From the point of view of social statistics, marketing and management, image building and geo-branding, the creative space can be defined, as a special infrastructure where you can create not only events, but also find supporters, employees, as well as partners for the implementation of innovative socially significant projects. Art projects of gallery spaces are a platform for creative industries producing new meanings, and the image of gallery spaces is increasingly becoming an iconic place or place (podium) for demonstrating the prestige of intellectual elites.

scholarly journals Language-Internal versus Contact-Induced Change: The Split Coding of Person and Number: A Stefan Elders Question

2008 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 274-296
Author(s):  
Erin Shay ◽  
Zygmunt Frajzyngier
Keyword(s):  
Language Contact ◽  
Small Area ◽  
Test Problem ◽  
Geographical Area ◽  
Formal Structure ◽  
Internal Development ◽  
Rare Phenomenon ◽  
Northern Cameroon ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Linguistic Phenomenon

AbstractThe aim of this study is to contribute to the methodology for determining whether a given characteristic of a language is a product of language contact or of language-internal grammaticalization. We have taken as a test problem a formal structure that is relatively rare across languages but that occurs in a few geographically proximate languages belonging to different families. The presence of a typologically rare phenomenon in neighboring but unrelated languages raises the question of whether the structure may be a product of cross-linguistic contact.The structures that we examine involve the split coding of person and number of the subject, in which a pronoun preceding the verb codes person only. Plurality of the subject is coded by a suffix to the verb, usually the same suffix for all persons. In some languages the split coding of person and number operates for all persons, while in others the split coding is limited to some persons only. This structure has been observed in several languages spoken in a small area of Northern Cameroon. Three of these languages, Gidar, Giziga, and Mofu-Gudur, belong to the Central branch of the Chadic family, while two other languages, Mundang and Tupuri, belong to the Adamawa branch of the Niger-Congo family. Outside of this geographical area, this structure has been observed in Egyptian, some Cushitic languages, and in some languages of North America.Since every linguistic phenomenon must have been grammaticalized in some language at some point, we must consider first whether there are language-internal prerequisites for such grammaticalization. For each language of the study, we show that the split coding of person and number may represent a product of language-internal development. The presence of the phenomenon in a language that does not have language-internal prerequisites can then be safely considered to be a product of language contact.

The Inter-Relations of Castes and Ethnic Groups in Nepal

1957 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 243-253 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christoph Von Fürer-Haimendorf
Keyword(s):  
Social Structure ◽  
Ethnic Groups ◽  
Social Life ◽  
Historical Perspective ◽  
Max Weber ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Structure Characteristic ◽  
Historic Development ◽  
The Subject

The system of endogamous castes arranged in a hierarchic order is a form of social structure characteristic of India and certain neighbouring countries affected by the influence of Hinduism. Its origin and historic development is the subject of a large literature based primarily on Sanskrit sources stemming from ancient and medieval times. Our knowledge of Indian social life in those times is due almost entirely to the work of Sanskrit scholars, and studies of the phenomenon of caste from a sociological point of view, such as that of Max Weber, remained few in numbers compared to the volume of treatises viewing the system in a purely historical perspective.

scholarly journals PSYCHOLOGICAL SPACE-TIME AND BASIC CULTURAL SCENARIOS OF THE EDUCATIONAL EVENT

2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (4/2) ◽  
pp. 134-149
Author(s):  
Vladlen IGNATOVICH
Keyword(s):  
Space Time ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Significant Other ◽  
Creative Imagination ◽  
Psychological Space ◽  
Semantic Level ◽  
Leading Role ◽  
New Meanings ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The Difference

The article is devoted to the problem of designing an educational event as a joint action of participants aimed at solving a creative task and accompanied by the emergence of new meanings of the activities carried out by them. To do this, we introduce concepts of psychological space-time and the basic cultural scenario of an educational event. Possible variants of psychological space-time are described on the basis of the difference in the internal positions of the participants of the event in relation to the significant Other, to whom the creative action is directed. The thesis is substantiated that the psychological space-time arises as the effect of the reversal of the joint activity of the participants of the event to this Other, the communication with which occurs at the value-semantic level. It is shown that this space is characterized by the direction of streams of subjectively perceived time in the system Past ‑ Future ‑ Present. Various types of basic cultural scenarios (object-object, subject-subject, subject-object and subject-subject) are considered, the dominance of one of which depends on the localization of the subject's pole in the system of relations between the personality of participants and Culture. These scenarios are described from the point of view of the concept of the three types of cultures of M. Mead. It is proved that only the subject-subject basic cultural scenario is able to ensure the authentic events of the relations between the participants of the educational event. The leading role of the creative imagination is substantiated, thanks to which the subject-subject dialogue of the participants of the event with the Past and the Future is possible.

The emergence of goal-orientation

2020 ◽  
pp. 139-154
Author(s):  
Zygmunt Frajzyngier ◽  
Marielle Butters
Keyword(s):  
Goal Orientation ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Initial State ◽  
Effect Relationship ◽  
Indirect Object ◽  
Specific Goal ◽  
The Subject

The category ‘goal orientation’ tells the listener to interpret the event from the point of view of the goal. The goal could be either an argument, such as object, indirect object, or a directional locative complement. In some languages, the marker of goal orientation is used when the clause does not overtly code a specific goal. The Chapter defines the category ‘goal orientation’ and describes some motivations for the emergence of the goal orientation as an overtly coded function. Two motivations are considered: the initial state representing the point of view of the subject and the initial state that does not code any point of view. To demonstrate this cause-effect relationship in the emergence of functions, the Chapter first demonstrates that the function ‘goal orientation’ is encoded in the grammatical system of some languages. The Chapter also explains why the function goal orientation emerged in some languages but no others.

Conclusions and implications

2020 ◽  
pp. 297-308
Author(s):  
Zygmunt Frajzyngier ◽  
Marielle Butters
Keyword(s):  
Language Contact ◽  
Geographical Area ◽  
Physical Characteristics ◽  
Social Needs ◽  
Initial State ◽  
Open Questions ◽  
Present Book ◽  
Lexical Items

The descriptions of individual languages demonstrate that their grammatical systems encode different functions. Given common physiological make up, common biological and social needs, and common physical characteristics of the environment (for languages spoken in the same geographical area), one must ask why grammatical systems encode different functions. The present book has offered methodology to study this question as well as a number of conditions and motivations for the emergence of functions which include: forced interpretation; avoiding systemic ambiguity; initial state; principle of functional transparency; properties of lexical items; metonymic change; opportunistic emergence of functions; and language contact. The study also postulates that the availability of rich inflectional systems provides opportunities for the emergence of new types of functions. The study concludes with a set of open questions, viz. whether there is a hierarchy of which functions are grammaticalized more often, and under what conditions a given function becomes a default value of a given formal means.

scholarly journals Jacques Lacan’s Theory of Rupture: the Perspective of the Real

Problemos ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 100 ◽  
pp. 100-113
Author(s):  
Kasparas Pocius
Keyword(s):  
The Other ◽  
Main Question ◽  
Alternative Scenario ◽  
The Real ◽  
Political Subject ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
New Meanings ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The Creation ◽  
The One

The article analyses Jacques Lacan’s theory of rupture that encompasses the three planes – the imaginary, the Symbolic and the Real – that comprise his topology. It is named the theory of rupture because it allows grasping the unfinished Lacanian subject as it encounters Other in all of those planes. The main question is whether this lack could be considered as positive. The attention is paid to the phallic signifier; the hypothesis is that this signifier, by linking the symbolic and the Real, allows the creation of new meanings and the resistance towards the fundamental fantasy.The Lacanian ternary conception of topology helps us to analyse the field of politics. While grasping this field from the “ex-sisting” perspective of the Real, we can observe the two scenarios of the development of (political) subject. On the one hand, there is a possible link between the subject and fantasy, in which one tries to compensate for the lack of the Real by “comforting” itself in the plane of symbolic discourse. On the other hand, in the alternative scenario, the subject consciously admits its lack, rejects the fantasy and begins to create new names which “hole” the symbolic discourse itself as well as the insufficiency of the symbolic field. The Real is defended by the phallic signifier, which helps to maintain the subject’s negativity and militancy. By enclosing the Real into the Symbolic we create the new consistency as the subject seeks not to maintain a passive form and place inside the structure, but names the positive lack in the structure itself and thereby creates the new political content.

A Modified Chair Geometry for Whole Body Counting

1976 ◽  
Vol 15 (05) ◽  
pp. 246-247
Author(s):  
S. C. Jain ◽  
G. C. Bhola ◽  
A. Nagaratnam ◽  
M. M. Gupta
Keyword(s):  
Marked Improvement ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Whole Body ◽  
Spatial Response ◽  
Body Counting ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Whole Body Counting ◽  
The Buddha

SummaryIn the Marinelli chair, a geometry widely used in whole body counting, the lower part of the leg is seen quite inefficiently by the detector. The present paper describes an attempt to modify the standard chair geometry to minimise this limitation. The subject sits crossed-legged in the “Buddha Posture” in the standard chair. Studies with humanoid phantoms and a volunteer sitting in the Buddha posture show that this modification brings marked improvement over the Marinelli chair both from the point of view of sensitivity and uniformity of spatial response.

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