Wittgenstein, Ordinary Language, and Poeticity

The later Wittgenstein famously holds that an understanding which tries to run up against the limits of language bumps itself and results in nothing but plain nonsense. Therefore, the task of philosophy cannot be to create an ‘ideal’ language so as to produce a ‘real’ understanding for the first time; its aim must be to remove particular misunderstandings by clarifying the use of our ordinary language. Accordingly, Wittgenstein opposes both the sublime terms of traditional philosophy and the formal frameworks of modern logics—and adheres to a pointedly casual, colloquial style in his own philosophizing. However, there seems to lurk a certain inconsistency in Wittgenstein’s ordinary language approach: his philosophical remarks frequently remain enigmatic, and many of the terms Wittgenstein coins seem to be highly technical. Thus, one might wonder whether his verdicts on the limits of language and on philosophical jargons might not be turned against his own practice. The present essay probes the extent to which the contravening tendencies in Wittgenstein’s mature philosophy might be reconciled. Section 2 sketches Wittgenstein’s general approach to philosophy and tracks the special rôle that the language of everyday life occupies therein. Section 3 reconstructs Wittgenstein’s preferred method for philosophy, which he calls perspicuous representation, and argues that this method implements an aesthetic conception of philosophy and a poetic approach to philosophical language, in which philosophical insights are not explicitly stated, but mediated through well-worded and creatively composed descriptions. Section 4 discusses how Wittgenstein’s philosophical poetics relates to artificial terminologies and grammars in philosophy and science.

Recipe for an Ideal Language: Proezia as a stylistic concept in Sasha Sokolov's "Triptych"

The article considers the book of Sasha Sokolov "Triptych", which reflects his views on the language system. The author explores the term "proezia", formulated by the writer, and analyzes the origins of "proetic" stylistics using the example of the work of Gongora, Simeon Polotsky, N.V. Gogol, I.S. Turgenev, V.V. Nabokov. The results reflect an attempt to establish an analytical order in the lyrical nature of the Sokolov's prose.

The Ideal Language Student ‒ Myth or Reality

The image of the ideal student, existing in the era of new technologies, ubiquitous Twitter and Facebook, messengers and commercials, undoubtedly attracts the attention of researchers both at home and abroad. This is a cumulative image of cognitive abilities, business qualities, psycho-physiological peculiarities, appearance and interpersonal skills. This study aims to identify the main characteristics of the image of the ideal language student as perceived by the teachers of foreign languages from three leading universities: Lomonosov Moscow State University (MSU), Plekhanov Russian Economics University and The Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration. The relevance of the study is determined by insufficient research of the problem and qualitative changes which have been occurring over the 21st century in education in general and tertiary education in particular. The article attempts to describe and analyse the results of an anonymous survey pertaining to the image of ideal language students as perceived by the practicing instructors of foreign languages. The total number of respondents was 79, including 42 instructors from Plekhanov University, 22 from the Presidential Academy and 15 from MSU. The analysis of the responses showed that the ideal student as perceived by the teachers is the one who possesses good critical thinking skills, is motivated and disciplined with a serious attitude to study. The obtained results do not allow drawing conclusions about specific features of the ideal student depending on the length of pedagogical experience. Each age group included all possible sets of characteristics. It is noteworthy that teachers from MSU valued both social qualities (team work, sociability) and personality traits (diligence, decency); the instructors from the Presidential Academy ranked first adequate reaction to critique and willingness to listen and hear; while their counterparts from Plekhanov University emphasized the importance of good presentation skills, speaking and communication competency alongside the interest in the subject. The statement “There are no ideal students” also came from among the practitioners of Plekhanov University.

Native Speaker vs Vernacular Speaker: Assessing Foreigners’ Language Competence

This article deals with an important issue in the field of language policy, i.e. determining the status of a “non-ideal” language user as a native speaker. The material includes: a) records of the speech of people participating in an official interview to confirm their status as a native speaker; b) regulatory framework that defines the content of the “native speaker” term. The authors focus on vernacular and dialect speakers for whom Russian is the only or main system of verbal communication. The article proves the linguodidactic criteria listed in the normative documents to be invalid. The authors identify speech facts that formally prevent a person from qualifying as a native speaker but, within the sociolinguistic approach, do not exclude him/her as a linguistic personality from the circle of Russian native speakers. Further, a standard methodological prototype of speech personality “native speaker” appropriate for linguodidactic testing is modelled. The authors describe the experience of evaluating language (speech) competence using criteria scales within the framework of the level approach. Based on the material of one script, features of the speech of the “non-ideal” language user are singled out and a model of competence assessment by correlation with the “native speaker” prototype is presented. This technology includes two stages: 1) identification of speech facts that lie outside the scope of the literary norm; 2) identification of the basic characteristics of a native speaker within the framework of the sociolinguistic and functional approaches. The authors consider knowledge of precedent texts (on the social and national levels), proficiency in the language system, including its sub-standard forms (vernacular and dialect) and knowledge of the usage to be the main characteristics of a native speaker. In addition, the authors list accentuating discursive means that are typical of the speech of native speakers: rhetorical questions, metatextual reflexive questions, synonymic correction of naming units, etiquette correction of appellatives, language-game, etc. The results can be used to develop uniform criteria for evaluating language (speech) competencies during interviews with foreign citizens and stateless persons.

THE DEVELOPMENT OF WITTGENSTEIN’S LOGICAL ANALYSIS OF LANGUAGE: FROM IDEAL LANGUAGE THEORY TO LANGUAGE GAMES

The purpose of this article is to elucidate the evolution of Wittgenstein’s philosophy. After having considered in the Tractatus, natural language as suffering from many deficiencies and does not respond to his aspirations which are the establishment of a logically perfect language by the precision and adjusting so that each object should correspond only one word, this position has evolved in Investigations for a reconsideration of natural language as having a particular importance for its infinite uses, that take the form of a "language- game" using specific rules. This new dynamic analysis of language, as opposed to the static analysis of the Tractatus, permitted natural discourse to regain its semantic dimension to remain creative and ingenious. What distinguishes the two theories? And what are the resulting philosophical consequences? This is what we will try to clarify.

LANGUAGE PLANNING

This article will explore linguistic preparation. This paper offers a summary of the various language plans that can be listed. An summary and a revised bibliography of the field of language planing are provided. Language planning is defined as the planning of deliberate changes in the way or the implementation of the variety of languages and is seen as a sociolinguistic sub-discipline. The themes discussed include linguistic planning, ideal language planning, language planning goals, linguistic planning styles and levels, linguist's positions in language planning, language planning research, language planning and linguistic planning implementation and assessment, bilingual training and education policies.

Towards a Trustworthy Semantics-Based Language Framework via Proof Generation

We pursue the vision of an ideal language framework, where programming language designers only need to define the formal syntax and semantics of their languages, and all language tools are automatically generated by the framework. Due to the complexity of such a language framework, it is a big challenge to ensure its trustworthiness and to establish the correctness of the autogenerated language tools. In this paper, we propose an innovative approach based on proof generation. The key idea is to generate proof objects as correctness certificates for each individual task that the language tools conduct, on a case-by-case basis, and use a trustworthy proof checker to check the proof objects. This way, we avoid formally verifying the entire framework, which is practically impossible, and thus can make the language framework both practical and trustworthy. As a first step, we formalize program execution as mathematical proofs and generate their complete proof objects. The experimental result shows that the performance of our proof object generation and proof checking is very promising.

LINGUA CHARACTERICA AND CALCULUS RATIOCINATOR: THE LEIBNIZIAN BACKGROUND OF THE FREGE-SCHRÖDER POLEMIC

After the publication of Begriffsschrift, a conflict erupted between Frege and Schröder regarding their respective logical systems which emerged around the Leibnizian notions of lingua characterica and calculus ratiocinator. Both of them claimed their own logic to be a better realisation of Leibniz’s ideal language and considered the rival system a mere calculus ratiocinator. Inspired by this polemic, van Heijenoort (1967b) distinguished two conceptions of logic—logic as language and logic as calculus—and presented them as opposing views, but did not explain Frege’s and Schröder’s conceptions of the fulfilment of Leibniz’s scientific ideal. In this paper I explain the reasons for Frege’s and Schröder’s mutual accusations of having created a mere calculus ratiocinator. On the one hand, Schröder’s construction of the algebra of relatives fits with a project for the reduction of any mathematical concept to the notion of relative. From this stance I argue that he deemed the formal system of Begriffsschrift incapable of such a reduction. On the other hand, first I argue that Frege took Boolean logic to be an abstract logical theory inadequate for the rendering of specific content; then I claim that the language of Begriffsschrift did not constitute a complete lingua characterica by itself, more being seen by Frege as a tool that could be applied to scientific disciplines. Accordingly, I argue that Frege’s project of constructing a lingua characterica was not tied to his later logicist programme.

Language as an object of rational structuring: from classical philosophy to modern science

This article presents a philosophical analysis of the idea and attempts of rational structuring of the language of science and philosophy. This idea was especially popular in philosophy of the Modern Age. The correlation of this idea with the existing features of New European Philosophy is revealed. It is demonstrated that instrumental approach towards language was not accidental: it stemmed from the idea on the sovereignty of mind, which in the XX century was revived in the logical positivism. It was also implemented in practice of modern science since the beginning of scientific revolution of the XVII century. The authors compare the reasoning of the representatives of classical New European Philosophy and representatives of logical positivism with the practice of modern science. Paradoxes of the concept of ideal language are determined. On the one hand, its formation should become a preliminary means for smoothing the path to cognition; while on the other – it is necessary to cognize the world before building it. Moreover, the introduction of ideal language is possible only on the grounds of the natural. Thus, the flaws of the natural should be eliminated with help of the natural. The dependence of rationally structured language from the natural is retained in the language of modern science. Any of its formalizations and terminologizations is partial. The system of meanings of the traditional language remains the basis and background for interpretation of any scientific theories. Natural languages ensure our affiliation to a certain socio-cultural community with the inherent to it ways of interpreting meanings, within the framework of which the value of scientific cognition becomes evident.