John Benjamins Publishing Company
Diver’s Theory
Abstract
Diver’s “Theory” (1995) is the most comprehensive and, in fact, the final statement by the founder of the Columbia School of that school’s contribution to an understanding of the essential nature of language. The unifying idea that runs through this statement is Diver’s insistence that a theory of language consist of a set of conclusions drawn from a body of individual analytical successes, that it not be a collection of a priori categories and speculations. Diver’s anti-apriorism opens the way to understanding the workings of language in terms of innovative and language-specific categories, and it brings the normal practice of linguistics into line with that of other natural sciences.
Abstract
Diver’s “Theory” (1995) is the most comprehensive and, in fact, the final statement by the founder of the Columbia School of that school’s contribution to an understanding of the essential nature of language. The unifying idea that runs through this statement is Diver’s insistence that a theory of language consist of a set of conclusions drawn from a body of individual analytical successes, that it not be a collection of a priori categories and speculations. Diver’s anti-apriorism opens the way to understanding the workings of language in terms of innovative and language-specific categories, and it brings the normal practice of linguistics into line with that of other natural sciences.
Kapitel in diesem Buch
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- List of Contributors ix
- Introduction 1
-
Linguistic Theory
- Columbia School and Saussure’s langue 17
- Diver’s Theory 41
-
Phonology
- Phonology as human behavior 63
- Phonological processes of Japanese based on the theory of phonology as human behavior 87
- Phonology as human behavior 107
- Phonology as human behavior 131
- Functional motivations for the sound patterns of English non-lexical Interjections 143
- Phonology without the phoneme 163
-
Grammar and lexicon
- Tell me about yourself 177
- Se without deixis 195
- The difference between zero and nothing 211
- A semantic analysis of Swahili suffix li 223
- The structure of the Japanese inferential system 239
- Structuring cues of conjunctive yet, but, and still 263
-
Beyond Language
- The case for articulatory gestures – not sounds – as the physical embodiment of speech signs 283
- Meaning in nonlinguistic systems 309
- Index of names 335
- Subject index 339
Kapitel in diesem Buch
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- List of Contributors ix
- Introduction 1
-
Linguistic Theory
- Columbia School and Saussure’s langue 17
- Diver’s Theory 41
-
Phonology
- Phonology as human behavior 63
- Phonological processes of Japanese based on the theory of phonology as human behavior 87
- Phonology as human behavior 107
- Phonology as human behavior 131
- Functional motivations for the sound patterns of English non-lexical Interjections 143
- Phonology without the phoneme 163
-
Grammar and lexicon
- Tell me about yourself 177
- Se without deixis 195
- The difference between zero and nothing 211
- A semantic analysis of Swahili suffix li 223
- The structure of the Japanese inferential system 239
- Structuring cues of conjunctive yet, but, and still 263
-
Beyond Language
- The case for articulatory gestures – not sounds – as the physical embodiment of speech signs 283
- Meaning in nonlinguistic systems 309
- Index of names 335
- Subject index 339
