12. The central role of normativity in language and linguistics
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Esa Itkonen
Abstract
‘Any natural language consists of rules which are inherently social and normative.’ It is the purpose of this chapter to establish the truth of this claim and to show that it is significant or non-trivial. The argument is based on the ineluctable place of normativity in any consistent account of language, as shown by Wittgenstein’s private-language argument. Furthermore, the chapter discusses the relation between semantics and pragmatics and elucidates the ontology of “the social”, showing that normativity implies a particular form of intersubjectivity: common knowledge. Finally, I spell out ramifications of the argument for the empirical study of language within diachronic linguistics, psycholinguistics and linguistic typology. I conclude by pointing to the possible sources of the anti-normative bias in much of theoretical linguistics.
Abstract
‘Any natural language consists of rules which are inherently social and normative.’ It is the purpose of this chapter to establish the truth of this claim and to show that it is significant or non-trivial. The argument is based on the ineluctable place of normativity in any consistent account of language, as shown by Wittgenstein’s private-language argument. Furthermore, the chapter discusses the relation between semantics and pragmatics and elucidates the ontology of “the social”, showing that normativity implies a particular form of intersubjectivity: common knowledge. Finally, I spell out ramifications of the argument for the empirical study of language within diachronic linguistics, psycholinguistics and linguistic typology. I conclude by pointing to the possible sources of the anti-normative bias in much of theoretical linguistics.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Foreword. Shared minds and the science of fiction: Why theories will differ vii
- 1. Intersubjectivity: What makes us human? 1
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Part I. Development
- 2. Understanding others through primary interaction and narrative practice 17
- 3. The neuroscience of social understanding 39
- 4. Engaging, sharing, knowing: Some lessons from research in autism 67
- 5. Coming to agreement: Object use by infants and adults 89
- 6. The role of intersubjectivity in the development of intentional communication 115
- 7. Sharing mental states: Causal and definitional issues in intersubjectivity 141
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Part II. Evolution
- 8. Evidence for intentional and referential communication in great apes? 165
- 9. The heterochronic origins of explicit reference 187
- 10. The co-evolution of intersubjectivity and bodily mimesis 215
- 11. First communions: Mimetic sharing without theory of mind 245
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Part III. Language
- 12. The central role of normativity in language and linguistics 279
- 13. Intersubjectivity in the architecture of language system 307
- 14. Intersubjectivity in interpreted interactions: The interpreter's role in co-constructing meaning 333
- 15. Language and the signifying object: From convention to imagination 357
- Author index 379
- Subject index 383
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Foreword. Shared minds and the science of fiction: Why theories will differ vii
- 1. Intersubjectivity: What makes us human? 1
-
Part I. Development
- 2. Understanding others through primary interaction and narrative practice 17
- 3. The neuroscience of social understanding 39
- 4. Engaging, sharing, knowing: Some lessons from research in autism 67
- 5. Coming to agreement: Object use by infants and adults 89
- 6. The role of intersubjectivity in the development of intentional communication 115
- 7. Sharing mental states: Causal and definitional issues in intersubjectivity 141
-
Part II. Evolution
- 8. Evidence for intentional and referential communication in great apes? 165
- 9. The heterochronic origins of explicit reference 187
- 10. The co-evolution of intersubjectivity and bodily mimesis 215
- 11. First communions: Mimetic sharing without theory of mind 245
-
Part III. Language
- 12. The central role of normativity in language and linguistics 279
- 13. Intersubjectivity in the architecture of language system 307
- 14. Intersubjectivity in interpreted interactions: The interpreter's role in co-constructing meaning 333
- 15. Language and the signifying object: From convention to imagination 357
- Author index 379
- Subject index 383
