The object of explanation for linguistics
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Wallis Reid
Abstract
What is the ultimate object of explanation in linguistics? What are the pre-analytical observations, the observations against which all theoretical constructs are tested? Columbia School (CS) proposes a radical answer: the observations in linguistics, and hence its ultimate object of explanation, are the acoustic asymmetries of the speech continuum. This fact is responsible for the paradoxical status of meaning and communication in CS theory. CS theory takes the communicative function of language as key to the nature of linguistic structure, yet it does not offer a theory of communication. It analyzes linguistic structure as consisting of inventories of meaning-bearing signs; yet it does not offer a theory of meaning which maps utterances to interpretations. This paper articulates the reasons that CS linguistics declines to treat the interpretations of utterances as linguistic objects in need of explanation. It also provides a detailed description of how a CS grammatical analysis accounts for features of the acoustic asymmetries of a spoken English text, and provides an explanation for them.
Abstract
What is the ultimate object of explanation in linguistics? What are the pre-analytical observations, the observations against which all theoretical constructs are tested? Columbia School (CS) proposes a radical answer: the observations in linguistics, and hence its ultimate object of explanation, are the acoustic asymmetries of the speech continuum. This fact is responsible for the paradoxical status of meaning and communication in CS theory. CS theory takes the communicative function of language as key to the nature of linguistic structure, yet it does not offer a theory of communication. It analyzes linguistic structure as consisting of inventories of meaning-bearing signs; yet it does not offer a theory of meaning which maps utterances to interpretations. This paper articulates the reasons that CS linguistics declines to treat the interpretations of utterances as linguistic objects in need of explanation. It also provides a detailed description of how a CS grammatical analysis accounts for features of the acoustic asymmetries of a spoken English text, and provides an explanation for them.
Kapitel in diesem Buch
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Acknowledgements vii
- Introduction 1
- Using big data to support meaning hypotheses for some and any 33
- The object of explanation for linguistics 73
- The relevance of relevance in linguistic analysis 105
- La estabilización del tema discursivo 123
- Aproximación al significado de la forma española QUE dentro de la Escuela de Columbia 161
- El “juego” intraparadigmático 199
- Re-visitando significados 217
- Being polite in Argentina 233
- A comparative study of the restrictive markings of mandarin Jiù , Cái , and Zhǐ 259
- Evolutionary phonology as human behavior 281
- Name Index 301
- Subject Index 305
Kapitel in diesem Buch
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Acknowledgements vii
- Introduction 1
- Using big data to support meaning hypotheses for some and any 33
- The object of explanation for linguistics 73
- The relevance of relevance in linguistic analysis 105
- La estabilización del tema discursivo 123
- Aproximación al significado de la forma española QUE dentro de la Escuela de Columbia 161
- El “juego” intraparadigmático 199
- Re-visitando significados 217
- Being polite in Argentina 233
- A comparative study of the restrictive markings of mandarin Jiù , Cái , and Zhǐ 259
- Evolutionary phonology as human behavior 281
- Name Index 301
- Subject Index 305
