Language or Dialect?

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Raf Van Rooy
Keyword(s):  
Middle Ages ◽  
Linguistic Diversity ◽  
Early Modern Period ◽  
Simple Fact ◽  
The Enlightenment ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
The Difference ◽  
Political Interpretation ◽  
Political Question ◽  
Shed Light

‘What is the difference between a language and a dialect?’ is one of the questions most frequently asked of linguists. A notorious and oft-repeated answer is ‘A language is a dialect with an army and navy’, wrongly attributed to Max Weinreich. Linguists have mostly used this witticism as a handy way to end the discussion and dismiss the distinction between language and dialect as a political question irrelevant to their discipline. This book does not attempt to answer this seemingly unsolvable puzzle either but aims to shed light on a simple fact usually overlooked by linguists and laypeople alike: the conceptual pair is not a timeless given but has a history, and a much shorter one than one might assume. It starts not in Greek antiquity, as the origin of the word dialect may suggest, but in the sixteenth century. Taking the Weinreich witticism as its starting point, this book guides the reader on the remarkable journey which the conceptual pair has made. It begins with the prehistory of the language/dialect distinction in antiquity and the Middle Ages. The core of the book surveys the emergence, establishment, and elaboration of the conceptual pair during the early modern period, from the Renaissance to the Enlightenment, when linguistic diversity first became an object of intense study. Finally, the much-contested and ambiguous fate of the language / dialect distinction in modern linguistics is outlined, with special reference to the persistence of earlier ideas and the rise to prominence of the political interpretation crystallized in the Weinreich quip.

scholarly journals Ιστορίες πρόσληψης έργων της Κρητικής Αναγέννησης. Ο Byron και η Βοσκοπούλα: Η διαιώνιση μιας παρεξήγησης

The Gleaner ◽  
2011 ◽  
Vol 28 ◽  
pp. 287
Author(s):  
Αλέξανδρος Κατσιγιάννης
Keyword(s):  
19Th Century ◽  
Don Juan ◽  
Literary Works ◽  
The Enlightenment ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
Renaissance Poetry ◽  
The 19Th Century ◽  
Shed Light

<br />BYRON AND THE RECEPTION<br />OF THE CRETAN PASTORAL POEM VOSKOPOULA<br />The Prolonging of a Misunderstanding<br /><br /><br />In this essay I will discuss whether Byron was indeed influenced by the Cretan pastoral poem Voskopoula in some cantos of his epic-satiric poem Don Juan (published in 1819), as argued by D.C. Hesseling in 1938 and by several researchers after him. This discussion stands as a starting point to analysing the reception of the literary works of the Cretan Renaissance by English scholars in the first two decades of the 19th century. In parallel, I hope that this article will shed light upon the troubling matter of the popular reception of Cretan Renaissance poetry and demotic songs by the scholars of the Enlightenment and Romanticism, which led to several misunderstandings concerning the character, origin and dissemination of Cretan Renaissance poetry in the scholars’ discourse network throughout the 19th century. <br /><br />ALEXANDER KATSIGIANNIS<br />

Animatio

2021 ◽  
pp. 3-10
Author(s):  
Michael Obladen
Keyword(s):  
Middle Ages ◽  
Developmental Stages ◽  
Human Life ◽  
Self Awareness ◽  
Church Fathers ◽  
The Enlightenment ◽  
Biological Reality ◽  
Fetal Movements ◽  
History Of ◽  
Shed Light

The onset of individual human life has fascinated thinkers of all cultures and epochs and the history of their ideas may shed light on an unsettled debate. Aristotle attributed three different souls to subsequent developmental stages. The last, rational soul, was associated with the formed fetus, and entailed fetal movements. With some modifications, the concept of delayed ensoulment—at 30, 42, 60, or 90 days after conception—was adopted by several Christian church fathers and remained valid throughout the Middle Ages. During the Enlightenment, philosophers began to replace the rational soul by the term personhood, basing the latter on self-awareness. Biological reality suggests that personhood accrues slowly, not at a specific date during gestation. Requirements for personhood are present in the embryo, but not in the pre-embryo before implantation: anatomic substrate; no more totipotent cells; and decreased rate of spontaneous loss. But biological facts alone cannot determine the embryo’s moral status. Societies must negotiate and decide on the extent of protection of unborn humans. In the 21st century, fertilization, implantation, extrauterine viability, and birth have become landmarks of change in ontological status.

Introduction

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-12
Author(s):  
Raf Van Rooy
Keyword(s):  
Early Modern ◽  
Linguistic Diversity ◽  
Early Modern Period ◽  
History Of Ideas ◽  
Pivotal Role ◽  
West Germanic ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
History Of ◽  
Western Scholarship ◽  
First Time

‘A language is a dialect with an army and navy.’ This witticism, associated with Max Weinreich, constitutes the starting point of both the entire book and this first chapter. The distinction between language and dialect implicit in the witticism, the chapter argues, is not a self-evident and timeless given, as is widely assumed, but has had a complex history. In this history, the early modern period played a pivotal role, as linguistic diversity was problematized for the first time during this era. Earlier and later developments cannot, however, be overlooked. The chapter also outlines the focus on Western scholarship, with a slight West-Germanic tilt, as well as the main approach and structure of the book. Presented as a history of ideas, it falls into five parts, which coincide with the main episodes in the history of the conceptual pair. Finally, this chapter briefly surveys the contents of all subsequent chapters.

Estetyka wobec feminizmu

2019 ◽  
Vol 25 (25) ◽  
pp. 40-66
Author(s):  
Grzegorz Dziamski
Keyword(s):  
Virginia Woolf ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Feminist Art ◽  
Women's Art ◽  
The Enlightenment ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
Judy Chicago ◽  
The Difference ◽  
In The Beginning ◽  
Feminist Aesthetics

When we talk today about women’s art, we think about three phemonena, quite loosely related. We think about feminist art, about the way that the feminist’s statements and demands were expressed in the creativity of Judy Chicago and Nancy Spero, Carolee Scheemann and Valie Export, Miriam Schapiro and Mary Kelly, and in Poland in the creativity of Maria Pinińska-Bereś, Natalia LL or Ewa Partum. We think about female art, the forgotten, abandoned, neglected artists brought back to memory by the feminists with thousands of exhibitions and reinterpretations. Lastly, we think about the art created by women – women’s art. However, we do not know and will never know, whether the latter two phenomena would develop without the feminist movement. What is more, it is about the first wave of feminism called “the equality feminism”, as well as the dominating in the second wave – “the difference feminism”. The feminist art was in the beginning a critique of the patriarchal world of art. In a sense it remains as such (see: the Guerilla Girls), yet today we are more interested in the feminist deconstruction of thinking about art, and thus the question arises: should feminism create its own aesthetics – the feminist aesthetics, or should it develop the gender aesthetics, and as a result introduce the gender point of view to thinking about art? In this moment the androgynous feminism regains its importance, one represented by Virginia Woolf, and referring – in the theoretical layer – to Freud as read by Lucy Irigaray. Freudism, which the feminists became aware of in the 1970s, is the only philosophical movement, which assumes a dual subject, that is, in the starting point assumes the existence of two subjects – man and woman, even if the woman is defined in a purely negative way, by the deficit, as a “not a man”. Freudism replaces the Cartesian thinking subject (consciousness) by the corporeal and sexual being, and forces us to re-think the Enlightenment beginnings of the European aesthetics.

scholarly journals Library and Librarian in the Encyclopedia of D. Diderot and J. d’Alembert

2020 ◽  
Vol 69 (2) ◽  
pp. 158-165
Author(s):  
Taisiia M. Demicheva
Keyword(s):  
French Revolution ◽  
18Th Century ◽  
Public Libraries ◽  
Early Modern Period ◽  
Modern Concept ◽  
Transfer Of Knowledge ◽  
The Enlightenment ◽  
Ancient Times ◽  
Age Of Enlightenment ◽  
The Difference

The article discusses peculiarities of perception of library and librarian in France during the age of Enlightenment using the example of Encyclopedia of D. Diderot and J. d’Alembert. The author notes that this article considers the period of the 18th century before the French revolution and only on the territory of France. The author notes that the idea of continuity in obtaining and possessing the knowledge was built by enlighteners using the examples of public libraries in ancient times. The article focuses attention on the difference between the concepts of librairie/ bibliothèque and their transformation during the early Modern period. The author analyzes the main features and peculiarities of the librarian profession that were highlighted by French enlighteners, and their difference from the modern concept. The article emphasizes the question of the prestige of this profession in the 18th century. The author concludes that the understanding of the profession of librarian in the age of Enlightenment differs from the modern one. The study of the role of librarian in the 18th century allows to explore the features of the library in the Enlightenment, whose tasks included collection and transfer of knowledge.

ESTHETICS TOWARDS FEMINISM

2019 ◽  
Vol 25 (25) ◽  
pp. 40-66
Author(s):  
Grzegorz Dziamski
Keyword(s):  
Virginia Woolf ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Feminist Art ◽  
Women's Art ◽  
The Enlightenment ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
Judy Chicago ◽  
The Difference ◽  
In The Beginning ◽  
Feminist Aesthetics

When we talk today about women’s art, we think about three phemonena, quite loosely related. We think about feminist art, about the way that the feminist’s statements and demands were expressed in the creativity of Judy Chicago and Nancy Spero, Carolee Scheemann and Valie Export, Miriam Schapiro and Mary Kelly, and in Poland in the creativity of Maria Pinińska-Bereś, Natalia LL or Ewa Partum. We think about female art, the forgotten, abandoned, neglected artists brought back to memory by the feminists with thousands of exhibitions and reinterpretations. Lastly, we think about the art created by women – women’s art. However, we do not know and will never know, whether the latter two phenomena would develop without the feminist movement. What is more, it is about the first wave of feminism called “the equality feminism”, as well as the dominating in the second wave – “the difference feminism”. The feminist art was in the beginning a critique of the patriarchal world of art. In a sense it remains as such (see: the Guerilla Girls), yet today we are more interested in the feminist deconstruction of thinking about art, and thus the question arises: should feminism create its own aesthetics – the feminist aesthetics, or should it develop the gender aesthetics, and as a result introduce the gender point of view to thinking about art? In this moment the androgynous feminism regains its importance, one represented by Virginia Woolf, and referring – in the theoretical layer – to Freud as read by Lucy Irigaray. Freudism, which the feminists became aware of in the 1970s, is the only philosophical movement, which assumes a dual subject, that is, in the starting point assumes the existence of two subjects – man and woman, even if the woman is defined in a purely negative way, by the deficit, as a “not a man”. Freudism replaces the Cartesian thinking subject (consciousness) by the corporeal and sexual being, and forces us to re-think the Enlightenment beginnings of the European aesthetics.

From Craft to Institution: Accounting in Italy from the Middle ages to the Early Modern Period

2012 ◽  
pp. 135-152 ◽  
Author(s):  
O. Volkova
Keyword(s):  
Early Modern ◽  
Middle Ages ◽  
Social Economic ◽  
Early Modern Period ◽  
Social Institution ◽  
Business Environment ◽  
Technical Standards ◽  
Medieval Italy ◽  
Modern Period ◽  
Professional Field

The article describes the evolution of accounting from the simple registration technique to economic and social institution in medieval Italy. We used methods of institutional analysis and historical research. It is shown that the institutionalization of accounting had been completed by the XIV century, when it became a system of codified technical standards, scholar discipline and a professional field. We examine the interrelations of this process with business environment, political, social, economic and cultural factors of Italy by the XII—XVI centuries. Stages of institutionalization are outlined.

Serge Moscovici's "Réflexions sur la popularité des conspiracy mentalities"

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Olivier Klein
Keyword(s):  
Middle Ages ◽  
French Revolution ◽  
Social Representations ◽  
Social Representation ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Conspiracy Theories ◽  
The Enlightenment ◽  
The People ◽  
Social Representation Theory ◽  
The Masses

This is a pdf of the original typed manuscript of a lecture made in 2006. An annotated English translation will be published by the International Review of Social Psychology. I this text, Moscovici seeks to update his earlier work on the “conspiracy mentality” (1987) by considering the relationships between social representations and conspiracy mentality. Innovation in this field, Moscovici argues, will require a much thorough description and understanding of what conspiracy theories are, what rhetoric they use and what functions they fulfill. Specifically, Moscovici considers conspiracies as a form of counterfactual history implying a more desirable world (in which the conspiracy did not take place) and suggests that social representation theory should tackle this phenomenon. He explicitly links conspiracy theories to works of fiction and suggests that common principles might explain their popularity. Historically, he argues, conspiracism was born twice: First, in the middle ages, when their primary function was to exclude and destroy what was considered as heresy; and second, after the French revolution, to delegitimize the Enlightenment, which was attributed to a small coterie of reactionaries rather than to the will of the people. Moscovici then considers four aspects (“thematas”) of conspiracy mentality: 1/ the prohibition of knowledge; 2/ the duality between the majority (the masses, prohibited to know) and “enlightened” minorities; 3/ the search for a common origin, a “ur phenomenon” that connects historical events and provides a continuity to History (he notes that such a tendency is also present in social psychological theorizing); and 4/ the valorization of tradition as a bulwark against modernity. Some of Moscovici’s insights in this talk have since been borne out by contemporary research on the psychology of conspiracy theories, but many others still remain fascinating potential avenues for future research.

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