The normative basis of construal
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Tapani Möttönen
Abstract
Normative and cognitive-linguistic accounts of linguistic meaning are often portrayed and conceived as mutually exclusive alternatives. This dichotomy stems from an insufficient understanding of what the phenomenological accessibility of meaning and usage-basedness of language entail. Namely, the theoretical premises of Cognitive Linguistics actually presuppose socially grounded, normative linguistic meanings. The question remains, what kind of entities normative meanings are like. The present chapter makes a case for construal, linguistic perspective-taking usually analyzed as a conceptual phenomenon, as a normative facet of meaning. Analysis presented here suggests that construal emerges as an inherent property of linguistic expressions via conventionalization of intentionality. This analysis does not only expand the area of linguistic normativity but also points to the integral relation between linguistic norms and intentionality.
Abstract
Normative and cognitive-linguistic accounts of linguistic meaning are often portrayed and conceived as mutually exclusive alternatives. This dichotomy stems from an insufficient understanding of what the phenomenological accessibility of meaning and usage-basedness of language entail. Namely, the theoretical premises of Cognitive Linguistics actually presuppose socially grounded, normative linguistic meanings. The question remains, what kind of entities normative meanings are like. The present chapter makes a case for construal, linguistic perspective-taking usually analyzed as a conceptual phenomenon, as a normative facet of meaning. Analysis presented here suggests that construal emerges as an inherent property of linguistic expressions via conventionalization of intentionality. This analysis does not only expand the area of linguistic normativity but also points to the integral relation between linguistic norms and intentionality.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Foreword vii
- Norms and normativity in language and linguistics 1
- Concerning the scope of normativity 29
- Norms of language 69
- A primer for linguistic normativists 103
- The normative basis of construal 125
- Language as a system of norms and the Voloshinovian critique of abstract objectivism 151
- Linguistic variation and change 183
- Intuition and beyond 213
- Norms of correctness and rationality in research on code-switching 235
- Index 269
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Foreword vii
- Norms and normativity in language and linguistics 1
- Concerning the scope of normativity 29
- Norms of language 69
- A primer for linguistic normativists 103
- The normative basis of construal 125
- Language as a system of norms and the Voloshinovian critique of abstract objectivism 151
- Linguistic variation and change 183
- Intuition and beyond 213
- Norms of correctness and rationality in research on code-switching 235
- Index 269
