General linguistics and the nature of human language

Abstract This paper highlights the importance of the distinction between general linguistics (the study of Human Language) and particular linguistics (the study of individual languages), which is often neglected. The term “theoretical linguistics” is often used as if it entailed general claims. But I note that (unless one studies non-conventional aspects of language, e.g. reaction times in psycholinguistics) one must study universals if one wants to make general claims. These universals can be of the Greenbergian type, based on grammatical descriptions of the speakers’ social conventions, or they can be based on the natural-kinds programme, where linguists try to describe mental grammars as made up of universal building blocks of an innate grammar blueprint. The natural-kinds programme is incompatible with Chomsky’s claims about Darwin’s Problem, but it is indispensable for a general linguistics in the generative tradition. The Greenbergian programme, by contrast, can make use of framework-free descriptions because its comparisons are based on independently defined universal yardsticks.

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Ergativity and depth of analysis

Rhema ◽

10.31862/2500-2953-2019-4-108-130 ◽

2019 ◽

pp. 108-130 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Martin Haspelmath

Keyword(s):

Building Blocks ◽

Quantitative Comparison ◽

Human Language ◽

Dependent Case ◽

Uniform Measurement ◽

Cautious Approach ◽

Efficiency Theory ◽

General Linguistics ◽

Language Description ◽

The Prestige

In this paper, I argue that “depth of analysis” does not deserve the prestige that it is sometimes given in general linguistics. While language description should certainly be as detailed as possible, general linguistics must rely on worldwide comparison of languages, and this cannot be based on language-particular analyses. Rigorous quantitative comparison requires uniform measurement, and this implies abstracting away from many language-particular peculiarities. I will illustrate this on the basis of ergative patterns, starting out from I.A. Mel’čuk’s (1981) proposal for Lezgian. This proposal was not successful, but why not? And why is Baker’s (2015) theory of dependent case likewise unsuccessful? By contrast, quantitative worldwide research has found striking similarities of ergative coding patterns, which can be explained by the efficiency theory of asymmetric coding. I will argue that this success is due to a more cautious approach to understanding Human Language, which does not rely on the Mendeleyevian vision for grammar (that all grammars are made from the same innate building blocks).

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Philosophical Origins of Methodological Nomothetism of F. de Saussure’s Concept

Respectus Philologicus ◽

10.15388/respectus.2021.40.45.88 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 40 (45) ◽

pp. 11-21

Author(s):

Alla Luchyk ◽

Oksana Prosianyk ◽

Ivan Stepanchenko

Keyword(s):

Conceptual Analysis ◽

Psychological Theory ◽

Abstract Entity ◽

Human Language ◽

Systemic Nature ◽

General Linguistics ◽

First Time

The article raises the problem of philosophical principles and origins of Ferdinand de Saussure’s views. The editors of “Course in General Linguistics”, C. Bally and A. Sechehaye, contributed to the emergence of stereotypes about Saussure as the founder of structuralism, who for the first time conceptually distinguished language and speech based on dichotomy, established the systemic nature of language as an abstract entity, developed a bilateral psychological theory of sign and divided linguistics into the synchronous and the diachronic. This prevented the synthesis of Saussure’s concept as a holistic and internally consistent anthropocentric system of views. The conceptual analysis of the fundamental theses of Saussure’s concept, given in Saussure’s autographed materials, which appeared in 2002, showed that its most important feature is that it was an anthropocentric nomothetic proposition aimed at creating the foundations for the study of human language activity as such, language as such and speech as such. The Kantian idea of anthropocentric transcendentalism can be considered the principal philosophical source of Saussure’s nomothetic project.

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THE FEATURES OF IDEOLOGIZATION OF GENERAL LINGUISTICS IN UKRAINIAN AND ROMANIAN SCIENCE ABOUT LANGUAGE (THE XXST CENTURY)

Studia Linguistica ◽

10.17721/studling2019.14.107-117 ◽

2019 ◽

pp. 107-117

Author(s):

Sergiy Luchkanyn

Keyword(s):

Language Learning ◽

20Th Century ◽

Human Language ◽

Linguistic Research ◽

Linguistic System ◽

Theoretical Linguistics ◽

History Of ◽

The Subject ◽

General Linguistics ◽

Class Nature

The imposition of official state ideology (Marxism-Leninism) is characteristic for Ukrainian and Romanian theoretical linguistics of the middle and second half of the 20th century. It was the leading methodology for solving the problems of nature and essence of the human language. With its help, it was possible to study internal structure of the linguistic system and use linguistic research methods, which are the subject of general linguistics. Issues that are related to the problems of ideology and specific linguistics (Ukrainization, Russification, Romanization, Magyarization, etc.) are not considered and addressed. The subject of research is the penetration of official state ideology into linguistic questions about the nature and essence of language, its reflection in the methods of linguistic research. In Ukrainian Soviet theoretical linguistics of the 1930–1940s, Marism was officially propagated as a proletarian ideology directed against bourgeois comparative studies. Some Ukrainian linguists, following Ivan Meshchaninov (which then was the official head of Soviet linguistics), used the name Marr as a “shield”. They started with quoting Marr in their own works, but that did not affect much the language material investigation (for example, Academician Mykhailo Kalynovych (1888-1949) and others). After appearance of Stalin’s work “Marxism and Problems of Linguistics” (1950), well-known quotes from this work occured widely in Ukrainian and Romanian theoretical linguistics. They were about the class nature of the language, developed the ideas of revolutionary upheavals in it, stated the need for a dialectical combination of language learning with the history of the society. They have been quoted in the linguistic literature of Ukraine until the 22nd Congress of the CPSU (1961). In Romania, they have been quoted until the death of Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej (1965). Only by this time the development of linguistic structuralism had begun, because the linguistic outlook of the “leader” allowed comprehending lingual facts exclusively within the framework of comparative-historical and descriptive paradigm.

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Emergence and Development of Contact Idioms in the Frame of Philosophy of Global Evolutionism

Vestnik Volgogradskogo gosudarstvennogo universiteta Serija 2 Jazykoznanije ◽

10.15688/jvolsu2.2021.5.5 ◽

2022 ◽

pp. 56-66

Author(s):

Petr Makuhin ◽

Stepan Kalinin

Keyword(s):

The Other ◽

Evolutionary Strategies ◽

Human Language ◽

Evolutionary Linguistics ◽

The Law ◽

General Linguistics ◽

Linguistic Evolution ◽

Creole Languages ◽

Linguistic Material ◽

Discursive Approach

Based on observations of the emergence of pidgins, their further extension and transformation into creole languages (all these forms of language are denoted by the term "contact idioms" in this article), the hypothesis is put forward in this part of the exploration that the origin and development of the human language seem to be similar in many dimensions to the emergence and development of contact idioms. In support of that hypothesis, both the general conceptions of some contemporary evolutionary linguists (in particular, D. Bickerton, W.T. Fitch, T. Nikolaeva, B. Bichakjian) are described and evolutionary strategies for some particular languages and language families are surveyed. The similarity of evolutionary vectors of pidgins and creole languages and several of the other language families is assumed. Based on the considered linguistic material, it is postulated that the law "ontogeny manifests a repetition of several phylogenetic stages" or the recapitulationist theory – with all its ambiguousness from the standpoint of present-day biology – seems to be true for linguistic evolution. Attention is focused on the importance of using a comprehensive communicative-discursive approach to the study of glottogenesis, as described in the works of domestic and international linguists who specialize in evolutionary linguistics and general linguistics and whose names are mentioned above. The relevance of the material of contact idioms and languages of other groups and families listed in this paper for such purposes is emphasized.

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