Chapter 4. Some thoughts on the foundations of the theory of language use

2014 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Language Use ◽  
Theory Of Language

Idiomaticity and functional variation: A case study of international amateur radio talk

1981 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 21-42 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dafydd Gibbon
Keyword(s):  
General Theory ◽  
Language Use ◽  
Functional Variation ◽  
Language Form ◽  
Amateur Radio ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
Theory Of Language ◽  
Radio Talk

The linguistic domain of idiomaticity poses many problems for the study of language form, use, and variation. With selected aspects of idiomaticity as a starting point, I will attempt in this paper to develop a description of the use of idioms as a segment of a more general theory of language use. Evidence for this approach is drawn from international amateur radio talk (IART) in English.

Typology and the future of Cognitive Linguistics

2016 ◽  
Vol 27 (4) ◽  
pp. 587-602 ◽  
Author(s):  
William Croft
Keyword(s):  
Discourse Analysis ◽  
Cognitive Linguistics ◽  
Language Use ◽  
Historical Linguistics ◽  
Linguistic Variation ◽  
Theory Of Language ◽  
The Individual ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Individual Speaker

AbstractThe relationship between typology and Cognitive Linguistics was first posed in the 1980s, in terms of the relationship between Greenbergian universals and the knowledge of the individual speaker. An answer to this question emerges from understanding the role of linguistic variation in language, from occasions of language use to typological diversity. This in turn requires the contribution of discourse analysis, sociolinguistics, and evolutionary historical linguistics as well as typology and Cognitive Linguistics. While Cognitive Linguistics is part of this enterprise, a theory of language that integrates all of these approaches is necessary.

scholarly journals Surface Features of Code-switching in ‘The Nigerian Online Community’ Page on Facebook

2021 ◽  
Vol 4 ◽  
pp. 26
Author(s):  
Layo Olaluwoye
Keyword(s):  
Online Community ◽  
Language Use ◽  
Code Switching ◽  
Linguistic Features ◽  
Functional Theory ◽  
Distinctive Features ◽  
Surface Features ◽  
Surface Errors ◽  
Code Mixing ◽  
Theory Of Language

Existing studies on code-switching have mainly been carried out among English/Chinese bilinguals. Studies on English/Yoruba/Pidgin English bilinguals with emphasis on code-mixing and code-switching on the Internet have been grossly insufficient. Therefore, this study reveals the surface features of code-switching among Yoruba/English/Pidgin English bilinguals in the Nigerian Online Community on Facebook. For theoretical framework, we relied on insights from Halliday’s (1994) functional theory of language.  Five types of surface features were identified: simplified lexicon and sentences, non-adherence to the use of tones/diacritics, inconsistencies of spellings and words, unnecessary lengthening of letters, and tolerance of surface errors. The study has revealed the distinctive features of code-switching in the Nigerian Online Community page on Facebook. These linguistic features have thrown more light on the characteristics of the language use on the Facebook forum and how the posters use the codes in their speech repertoire to achieve this

scholarly journals On the Formal Approach to Describing Natural Language. Notes on the Margin of Leśniewski’s Ontology

2015 ◽  
Vol 42 (1) ◽  
pp. 67-78
Author(s):  
Halina Święczkowska
Keyword(s):  
Natural Language ◽  
Language Use ◽  
Ordinary Language ◽  
Formal Theory ◽  
Formal Approach ◽  
Proper Understanding ◽  
Ethnic Language ◽  
Polish Language ◽  
Theory Of Language

Abstract This article is an attempt to recreate the intuitions which accompanied Leśniewski when he was creating his calculus of names called Ontology. Although every reconstruction is to some extent an interpretation, and as such may be defective, still, there are reasons justifying such reconstruction. The most important justification is the fact that both Leśniewski and his commentators stressed that ontology originated from reflections about ordinary language, in which sentences such as A is B appear in one of the meanings associated with them in Ontology, and that the users of the Polish language use such sentences accordingly and properly identify them. Assumed it is so, let us try, based on Leśniewski’s guidelines as well as comments and elaborations on Ontology (Leśniewski 1992: 364-382, 608-609; Kotarbiński 1929: 227-229; Rickey 1977: 414-229; Simons 1992: 244; Lejewski 1960: 14-29), to evaluate the accuracy of this approach, referring also to certain knowledge of the Polish language. To make it clear, this article is not about Ontology as a formal theory of language. It is solely an attempt to assess whether some syntactical constructs of the Polish language and this language’s properties are significant conditions of a proper understanding of Ontology, and whether Ontology is, in fact, in a relationship with the ethnic language of its author.

Synoptic and dynamic analyses of classroom discourse

1991 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 1-29 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jennifer Hammond
Keyword(s):  
Education Program ◽  
Classroom Discourse ◽  
Language Use ◽  
Language Education ◽  
Dynamic Analyses ◽  
Educational Implications ◽  
Theory Of Language ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Three Components

Abstract This paper explores the relationship between teachers’ theories of language and learning and the nature of classroom discourse. Through analysis of data collected from two year 3 classes, it is argued that there are three components functioning simultaneously in all lessons. These are the interpersonal, the content and the metalanguage components. The focus of the paper is on how the content and the metalanguage components are realized in the classroom discourse, and on the educational implications of the metalanguage component in particular. It is suggested that the quality of the metalanguage component has an impact on the overall quality of the language education program and that this impact derives from an appropriate theory of language use.

Cognitive Linguistics and interactional discourse: time to enter into dialogue

2015 ◽  
Vol 7 (4) ◽  
pp. 485-498 ◽  
Author(s):  
ELISABETH ZIMA ◽  
GEERT BRÔNE
Keyword(s):  
Language Processing ◽  
Cognitive Linguistics ◽  
Language Use ◽  
Logical Consequence ◽  
Communication Research ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
Theory Of Language ◽  
Further Development ◽  
Interactional Discourse ◽  
Human Sense

abstractUsage-based theories hold that the sole resource for language users’ linguistic systems is language use (Barlow & Kemmer, 2000; Langacker, 1988; Tomasello, 1999, 2003). Researchers working in the usage-based paradigm, which is often equated with cognitive-functional linguistics (e.g., Ibbotson, 2013, Tomasello, 2003), seem to widely agree that the primary setting for language use is interaction, with spontaneous face-to-face interaction playing a primordial role (e.g., Bybee, 2010; Clark, 1996; Geeraerts & Cuyckens, 2007; Langacker, 2008; Oakley & Hougaard, 2008; Zlatev, 2014). It should, then, follow that usage-based models of language are not only compatible with evidence from communication research but also that they are intrinsically grounded in authentic, multi-party language use in all its diversity and complexities. This should be a logical consequence, as a usage-based understanding of language processing and human sense-making cannot be separated from the study of interaction. However, the overwhelming majority of the literature in Cognitive Linguistics (CL) does not deal with the analysis of dialogic data or with issues of interactional conceptualization. It is our firm belief that this is at odds with the interactional foundation of the usage-based hypothesis. Furthermore, we are convinced that an ‘interactional turn’ is not only essential to the credibility and further development of Cognitive Linguistics as a theory of language and cognition as such. Rather, CL-inspired perspectives on interactional language use may provide insights that other, non-cognitive approaches to discourse and interaction are bound to overlook. To that aim, this special issue brings together four contributions that involve the analysis of interactional discourse phenomena by drawing on tools and methods from the broad field of Cognitive Linguistics.

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