Why is it so hard to establish gestalt ideas within linguistics?
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Alexander M. Teixeira Kalkhoff
Abstract
I call holistic and relativistic approaches to language gestalt linguistics. Although there have been some efforts to integrate them into linguistics, they have never formed part of mainstream linguistics. This article tackles the “why” of this diagnosis. Historic exclusion of psychology from linguistics, the fact that the perceptual gestalt theory is not a genuine linguistic theory and that it deals with preconscious grouping principles but not with symbolic linguistic units, the vagueness of gestalt concepts, and the lack of a proper formalism are aspects of the answer.
Abstract
I call holistic and relativistic approaches to language gestalt linguistics. Although there have been some efforts to integrate them into linguistics, they have never formed part of mainstream linguistics. This article tackles the “why” of this diagnosis. Historic exclusion of psychology from linguistics, the fact that the perceptual gestalt theory is not a genuine linguistic theory and that it deals with preconscious grouping principles but not with symbolic linguistic units, the vagueness of gestalt concepts, and the lack of a proper formalism are aspects of the answer.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents vii
- Foreword and acknowledgements ix
- Editors’ introduction xiii
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Part I. Notions
- Un essai d’histoire comparée de la grammatisation des langues romanes 3
- Linguistic description and language philosophy in Wilhelm von Humboldt’s North American grammars 21
- La phrase grammaticale moderne 35
- Wegener’s Wortsatz and the notion of sentence 49
- Why is it so hard to establish gestalt ideas within linguistics? 65
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Part II. Representations of language and reception of theories
- Klaproth, Balbi and the language atlas 81
- Nation and race in the twentieth century scientific discourse on Viking Age runestones 101
- L’homme dans la langue 113
- Saussure/Mallarmé 129
- Introducing and translating Otto Jespersen in China in the past 100 years 143
- On the reception and revivification of Cartesian linguistics 157
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Part III. Pedagogy, linguistic policy and codification
- Greek grammatical learning papyri 173
- The history of language learning and teaching (HoLLT) in the history of linguistics 189
- Sprache der Nähe vs. Sprache der Distanz and the nineteenth century codification of Modern Czech 205
- Linguists and lawyers 221
- Name index 237
- Subject index 241
- Name index 237
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents vii
- Foreword and acknowledgements ix
- Editors’ introduction xiii
-
Part I. Notions
- Un essai d’histoire comparée de la grammatisation des langues romanes 3
- Linguistic description and language philosophy in Wilhelm von Humboldt’s North American grammars 21
- La phrase grammaticale moderne 35
- Wegener’s Wortsatz and the notion of sentence 49
- Why is it so hard to establish gestalt ideas within linguistics? 65
-
Part II. Representations of language and reception of theories
- Klaproth, Balbi and the language atlas 81
- Nation and race in the twentieth century scientific discourse on Viking Age runestones 101
- L’homme dans la langue 113
- Saussure/Mallarmé 129
- Introducing and translating Otto Jespersen in China in the past 100 years 143
- On the reception and revivification of Cartesian linguistics 157
-
Part III. Pedagogy, linguistic policy and codification
- Greek grammatical learning papyri 173
- The history of language learning and teaching (HoLLT) in the history of linguistics 189
- Sprache der Nähe vs. Sprache der Distanz and the nineteenth century codification of Modern Czech 205
- Linguists and lawyers 221
- Name index 237
- Subject index 241
- Name index 237
