What is lost when a language dies?

IF 1.8 2区文学 N/A LANGUAGE & LINGUISTICS

Intercultural Pragmatics Pub Date : 2024-03-29 DOI:10.1515/ip-2024-2004

Anders Søgaard

引用次数: 2

Abstract

Nowak argues that the problem with language loss is not linguists’ loss of data or that the loss of a language is often a result of discrimination against its speakers. Instead, the real problem is its speakers’ loss of illocutionary force. I argue that Nowak’s argument rests on two premises that are both empirically unjustified: that cultural knowledge is a prerequisite for illocutionary force, and that language is a prerequisite for illocutionary force. Languages are among the most fascinating accomplishments of mankind, surpassing Machu Picchu and the Great Wall of China in the eyes of many. I think language loss is comparable to loss of species. The intuition that the death of a language is a significant event, reflects that: Something that evolved gradually over hundreds of years, passed on through hundreds of generations and thousands of individual speakers, is irreversibly gone, once and for all. The illocutionary force of its individual speakers is not.

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当一种语言消亡时，会失去什么？

诺瓦克认为，语言失传的问题不在于语言学家失去了数据，也不在于语言的失传往往是对语言使用者的歧视造成的。相反，真正的问题在于语言使用者丧失了语言的表达力。我认为，诺瓦克的论点建立在两个经验上都不成立的前提之上：文化知识是语言能力的先决条件，语言是语言能力的先决条件。语言是人类最迷人的成就之一，在许多人眼中，它超越了马丘比丘和中国长城。我认为语言的消失堪比物种的消失。一种语言的消亡是一个重大事件，这种直觉反映了这一点：一种经过数百年逐渐演变、通过数百代人和成千上万的个体使用者传承下来的语言，不可逆转地消失了，一去不复返了。而语言使用者个人的表达力却不会消失。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Intercultural Pragmatics Multiple-

CiteScore

3.10

自引率

36.40%

发文量

期刊介绍： Intercultural Pragmatics is a fully peer-reviewed forum for theoretical and applied pragmatics research. The goal of the journal is to promote the development and understanding of pragmatic theory and intercultural competence by publishing research that focuses on general theoretical issues, more than one language and culture, or varieties of one language. Intercultural Pragmatics encourages ‘interculturality’ both within the discipline and in pragmatic research. It supports interaction and scholarly debate between researchers representing different subfields of pragmatics including the linguistic, cognitive, social, and interlanguage paradigms. The intercultural perspective is relevant not only to each line of research within pragmatics but also extends to several other disciplines such as anthropology, theoretical and applied linguistics, psychology, communication, sociolinguistics, second language acquisition, and bi- and multilingualism. Intercultural Pragmatics makes a special effort to cross disciplinary boundaries. What we primarily look for is innovative approaches and ideas that do not always fit into existing paradigms, and lead to new ways of thinking about language. Intercultural Pragmatics has always encouraged the publication of theoretical papers including linguistic and philosophical pragmatics that are very important for research in intercultural pragmatics.

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