What can historical linguistics and experimental pragmatics offer each other?

2015 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Eitan Grossman ◽  
Ira Noveck
Keyword(s):  
Language Change ◽  
Historical Linguistics ◽  
Short Version ◽  
Potential Explanation ◽  
Experimental Pragmatics ◽  
Central Concern ◽  
Research Questions ◽  
New Research ◽  
Shed Light ◽  
The Way

AbstractLanguage change is a central concern for any linguistic theory. For one thing, it is often assumed that language change is explanatory, in that it provides a reasonable answer to what Haspelmath dubbed ‘Greenberg’s Problem’ in 2014: why are languages the way they are? A short version of the Greenbergian answer is: ‘Because they became that way through processes of language change.’ However, this sort of answer throws into focus the fact that language change is not only a potential explanation for language structures. Rather, it is a set of problems that itself calls for explanation. In fact, this could be called ‘Greenberg’s Second Question’: why do languages change the way they do? In this article, we explore some ways in which the field of experimental pragmatics might shed light on the second question, by providing a set of methods that could investigate existing hypotheses about language change by developing falsifiable predictions to be evaluated in experimental settings. Moreover, these hypotheses can provide new research questions and data for experimentalists to work on, beyond the rather restricted set of questions that experimental pragmatics has confronted to date.

scholarly journals Language change and language evolution: Cousins, siblings, twins?

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stefan Hartmann
Keyword(s):  
Adaptive Systems ◽  
Language Change ◽  
Historical Linguistics ◽  
Language Evolution ◽  
Integrated Approach ◽  
Data Driven ◽  
Historical Time ◽  
Research Questions ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Cross Fertilization

The relationship between “language change” and “language evolution” has recently become subject to some debate regarding the scope of both concepts. It has been claimed that while the latter used to refer to language origins in the first place, both terms can now, to a certain extent, be used synonymously. In this paper, I argue that this can partly be explained by parallel develop-ments both in historical linguistics and in the field of language evolution research that have led to a considerable amount of convergence between both fields. Both have adopted usage-based approaches and data-driven methods, which entails similar research questions and similar perspectives on the phenomena under investigation. This has ramifications for current models and theories of language change (or evolution). Two approaches in particular – the concept of com-plex adaptive systems and construction grammar – have been combined in integrated approaches that seek to explain both language emergence and language change over historical time. I discuss the potential and limitations of this integrated approach, and I argue that there is still some unex-plored potential for cross-fertilization.

scholarly journals Language change and language evolution: Cousins, siblings, twins?

Glottotheory ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Stefan Hartmann
Keyword(s):  
Complex Adaptive Systems ◽  
Adaptive Systems ◽  
Language Change ◽  
Historical Linguistics ◽  
Language Evolution ◽  
Integrated Approach ◽  
Complex Adaptive ◽  
Research Questions ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Cross Fertilization

AbstractThe relationship between “language change” and “language evolution” has recently become subject to some debate regarding the scope of both concepts. It has been claimed that while the latter used to refer to the language origins in the first place, both terms can now, to a certain extent, be used synonymously. In this paper, I argue that this can partly be explained by parallel developments both in historical linguistics and in the field of language evolution research that have led to a considerable amount of convergence between both fields. Both have adopted usage-based approaches and data-driven methods, which entails similar research questions and similar perspectives on the phenomena under investigation. This has ramifications for current models and theories of language change (or evolution). Two approaches in particular, the concept of complex adaptive systems and construction grammar, have been combined in integrated approaches that seek to explain both language emergence and language change over historical time. I discuss the potential and limitations of this integrated approach, and I argue that there is still some unexplored potential for cross-fertilization.

scholarly journals Multimodal Metaphors and Advertising: A Cross-Cultural Comparison of the Use of Behavioural Multimodal Metaphors

2018 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 91-113
Author(s):  
John Fredy Gil Bonilla
Keyword(s):  
Cross Cultural ◽  
Influential Factor ◽  
Cultural Comparison ◽  
Cultural Perspective ◽  
Cross Cultural Comparison ◽  
Research Questions ◽  
Societal Experiences ◽  
Different Cultures ◽  
Shed Light ◽  
The Way

Summary The main purpose of this paper is to analyze how culture is embedded in the way viewers from different language backgrounds conceptualize and interpret the same multimodal metaphors. Therefore, interaction between metaphor and culture is hence a crucial aspect of research in this study. Following Lakoff and Johnson’s (1980) and Forceville’s (1996, 2009) approaches, this paper examines how a comparative study undertaken from a cross-cultural perspective can shed light on how culture is an influential factor that can trigger changes in interpretations and reactions in the viewers. Data for this research were gathered with the help of 240 participants taken from 8 different language backgrounds. The subjects of this study were supplied with a questionnaire which consisted of three multimodal metaphors and 8 questions. In particular, I want to focus on the following research questions: (1) Which figurative B-term do different cultures conceptualize in a multimodal metaphor? (2) How aggressive are these multimodal metaphors considered by the participants of the study? On the basis of the results of this research, it can be concluded that not only the cultural background but also the personal has some influence on the way respondents interpret multimodal metaphors. The reactions identified in the responses of the subjects are influenced by different factors: religion, personal and societal experiences, beliefs, etc.

scholarly journals Testing the Semantic Homogeneity Constraint

2014 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 161-191 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tore Nesset ◽  
Anastasia Makarova
Keyword(s):  
Empirical Evidence ◽  
Present Article ◽  
Crucial Role ◽  
Language Change ◽  
Historical Linguistics ◽  
Semantic Factor ◽  
Homogeneous Domains ◽  
General Linguistics ◽  
Shed Light

Although it has been widely assumed in historical linguistics that semantics plays a crucial role in analogical change, it is difficult to pinpoint the contribution of the semantic factor, since meaning and form work closely together in bringing about language change. The purpose of the present article is to shed light on the issue by means of two case studies from Russian, which enable us to isolate the role of semantics. The hypothesis we test is that analogical change is restricted to semantically homogeneous domains. We call this the Semantic Homogeneity Constraint. Two phenomena from Russian conjugation are explored: suffix shift and NU-drop. Although they seem parallel, analogical change occurs in the former, but not in the latter. It is argued that this is because the verbs involved in suffix shift constitute a semantically homogeneous domain, within which analogical change can take place. By contrast, NU-verbs are semantically diverse, and these semantic differences create boundaries which block analogical change. The findings have implications both for Russian and general linguistics. While suffix shift and NU-drop are well-known phenomena in Russian conjugation, they have not been juxtaposed and compared before. Our comparison provides new insights about the differences and similarities of the two phenomena. From the perspective of historical linguistics, the present article contributes to the theory of analogy, insofar as we provide empirical evidence for the Semantic Homogeneity Constraint, which places restrictions on semantic domains where analogical change can take place.

scholarly journals Behavioral Visibility: A new paradigm for organization studies in the age of digitization, digitalization, and datafication

2020 ◽  
Vol 41 (12) ◽  
pp. 1601-1625 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul M. Leonardi ◽  
Jeffrey W. Treem
Keyword(s):  
Artificial Intelligence ◽  
Learning Algorithms ◽  
New Paradigm ◽  
Organization Studies ◽  
Central Concern ◽  
Important Phenomenon ◽  
The Social ◽  
Research Questions ◽  
The Way

The digitization, digitalization, and datafication of work and communication, coupled with social and technical infrastructures that enable connectivity, are making it increasingly easy for the behaviors of people, collectives, and technological devices to see and be seen. Such digital connectivity gives rise to the important phenomenon of behavioral visibility. We argue that studying the antecedents, processes, and consequences of behavioral visibility should be a central concern for scholars of organizing. We attempt to set the cornerstones for the study of behavioral visibility by considering the social and technological contexts that are enabling behavioral visibility, developing the concept of behavioral visibility by defining its various components, considering the conditions through which it is commonly produced, and outlining potential consequences of behavioral visibility in the form of three paradoxes. We conclude with some conjectures about the kinds of research questions, empirical foci, and methodological strategies that scholars will need to embrace in order to understand how behavioral visibility shapes and is shaped by the process of organizing as we catapult, swiftly, into an era where artificial intelligence, learning algorithms, and social tools are changing the way people work.

What Is Positive Evolutionary Psychology?

2019 ◽  
pp. 3-18
Author(s):  
Glenn Geher ◽  
Nicole Wedberg
Keyword(s):  
Positive Psychology ◽  
Evolutionary Psychology ◽  
Good Life ◽  
The Good Life ◽  
Psychological Phenomena ◽  
Basic Assumptions ◽  
Scientific Approach ◽  
Research Questions ◽  
New Research ◽  
Shed Light

Positive evolutionary psychology is the marriage of positive psychology and evolutionary psychology. Evolutionary psychology focuses on using Darwin’s big idea to shed light on all kinds of psychological phenomena. Positive psychology seeks to use the scientific approach to understanding psychological phenomena to help people lead richer lives. Positive evolutionary psychology thus is the use of evolutionary principles to help guide people toward living richer lives. This first chapter spells out the basics of this approach to help set the reader on a journey toward understanding Darwin’s implications for living the good life. Laying the groundwork for the basic assumptions and parameters of positive evolutionary psychology, then, should have the capacity to lead to new research questions and new insights into the positive aspects of the human experience.

Multisensory analysis and wine marketing: systematic review and perspectives

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Raffaele Campo ◽  
Pierfelice Rosato ◽  
Enrico Battisti
Keyword(s):  
Systematic Review ◽  
Current Status ◽  
Food Science ◽  
Review Of Literature ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Five Senses ◽  
Research Questions ◽  
New Research ◽  
Shed Light

PurposeThis paper is aimed at examining and critically analyzing systematical literature on wine and cross-modality between the five senses. In particular, the researchers want to highlight the role of multisensory analysis on wine marketing and consumer behavior studies.Design/methodology/approachThis paper is based on a systematic review of literature conducted on peer-reviewed journals.FindingsResults highlight how multisensory analysis of wine is a growing topic insomuch that research on this kind of topic is exploded in the last years. Nevertheless, wine and cross-modality is more analyzed on food science journals than in marketing ones.Originality/valueThe paper examines a field of research moderately explored in order to shed light to the current status of scientific studies and to propose new research questions to develop.

scholarly journals Features of the study of language as an aspect of religious consciousness

2006 ◽  
pp. 19-28
Author(s):  
Anatolii S. Ivanchenko
Keyword(s):  
Scientific Methods ◽  
Language Functioning ◽  
Religious Consciousness ◽  
New Research ◽  
And Linguistics ◽  
Shed Light ◽  
The Way

The purpose of this article is to shed light on the peculiarities of language functioning in the structure of a person's religious consciousness. The article is an attempt to actualize and rethink some of the scientific methods of contemporary religious discipline in the light of new research in psychology and linguistics. Much has been done along the way. The most notable specialized work of recent years on this topic can be considered "Language and religion" by N.B. Mechkovskaya, which was released in 1998. There are enough works relevant to our topic that should be addressed; in the field of psychology these are the works of Luria, Rubinstein, Leontiev, Vygotsky, Fromm, etc., ethnology and linguistics - Saussure, Levi-Strauss, Potebna, and others.

Creative Practice and the Limits of Knowledge in Reconstructing Lost Songs from Boethius’s On the Consolation of Philosophy

2019 ◽  
Vol 36 (3) ◽  
pp. 261-294
Author(s):  
Sam Barrett
Keyword(s):  
Systematic Study ◽  
Eleventh Century ◽  
Early Medieval ◽  
Creative Practice ◽  
Limits Of Knowledge ◽  
The Status ◽  
Research Questions ◽  
Consolation Of Philosophy ◽  
New Research ◽  
The Way

This study seeks to reconstruct the music for Boethius’s final and most widely read work, On the Consolation of Philosophy. Although a handful of neumations for Boethius’s thirty-nine poems have long been known, the almost complete absence of surviving pitched versions of the melodies has hindered the task of reconstruction. Following a systematic study of neumed manuscripts dating from the ninth to the eleventh centuries and identification of underlying principles of melodic design, it is now possible to attempt informed reconstructions. Even so, the leap from scholarship to modern performance remains substantial, involving a preliminary need to recreate melodies through experimentation. Collaboration with members of the ensemble Sequentia over a four-year period (2014–17) provided an opportunity to explore ways in which creative practice might supplement scholarly knowledge, whether through posing new research questions, the formation and exploration of hypotheses, or recourse to memorized practices built up through sustained engagement with early medieval repertories and instruments. Taking a recovered mid eleventh-century leaf of the Cambridge Songs as a focus for investigation, songs from the first book of Boethius’s De consolatione philosophiae were newly reconstructed. Although debate continues to surround the status of results obtained through creative practice, comparison with the way other disciplines have proceeded under similar conditions reveals acceptance of experimentation as a mode of inquiry. This essay proposes that performance can fruitfully supplement philology in seeking to reconstruct lost songs from notated traces.

Géographie et cartographie fictionnelles dans l’Utopie (1516) de Thomas More

Moreana ◽  
2010 ◽  
Vol 47 (Number 181- (3-4) ◽  
pp. 9-68
Author(s):  
Jean Du Verger
Keyword(s):  
Complex Network ◽  
Narrative Strategies ◽  
Thomas More ◽  
The Third ◽  
Editio Princeps ◽  
Shed Light ◽  
The Way

The philosophical and political aspects of Utopia have often shadowed the geographical and cartographical dimension of More’s work. Thus, I will try to shed light on this aspect of the book in order to lay emphasis on the links fostered between knowledge and space during the Renaissance. I shall try to show how More’s opusculum aureum, which is fraught with cartographical references, reifies what Germain Marc’hadour terms a “fictional archipelago” (“The Catalan World Atlas” (c. 1375) by Abraham Cresques ; Zuane Pizzigano’s portolano chart (1423); Martin Benhaim’s globe (1492); Martin Waldseemüller’s Cosmographiae Introductio (1507); Claudius Ptolemy’s Geographia (1513) ; Benedetto Bordone’s Isolario (1528) ; Diogo Ribeiro’s world map (1529) ; the Grand Insulaire et Pilotage (c.1586) by André Thevet). I will, therefore, uncover the narrative strategies used by Thomas More in a text which lies on a complex network of geographical and cartographical references. Finally, I will examine the way in which the frontispiece of the editio princeps of 1516, as well as the frontispiece of the third edition published by Froben at Basle in 1518, clearly highlight the geographical and cartographical aspect of More’s narrative.

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