Language as a phenomenon of the third kind

IF 1.8 1区 文学 0 LANGUAGE & LINGUISTICS
E. Dąbrowska
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引用次数: 17

Abstract

Abstract While many linguists view language as either a cognitive or a social phenomenon, it is clearly both: a language can live only in individual minds, but it is learned from examples of utterances produced by speakers engaged in communicative interaction. In other words, language is what (Keller 1994. On language change: The invisible hand in language. London: Taylor & Francis) calls a “phenomenon of the third kind”, emerging from the interaction of a micro-level and a macro-level. Such a dual perspective helps us understand some otherwise puzzling phenomena, including “non-psychological” generalizations, or situations where a pattern which is arguably present in a language is not explicitly represented in most speakers’ minds. This paper discusses two very different examples of such generalizations, genitive marking on masculine nouns in Polish and some restrictions on questions with long-distance dependencies in English. It is argued that such situations are possible because speakers may represent “the same” knowledge at different levels of abstraction: while a few may have extracted an abstract generalization, others approximate their behaviour by relying on memorised exemplars or lexically specific patterns. Thus, a cognitively realistic usage-based construction grammar needs to distinguish between patterns in the usage of a particular speech community (a social phenomenon) and patterns in speakers’ minds (a cognitive phenomenon).
作为第三种现象的语言
虽然许多语言学家认为语言要么是一种认知现象,要么是一种社会现象,但它显然是两者兼而有之:一种语言只能存在于个人的脑海中,但它是从参与交际互动的说话者所产生的话语中学习到的。换句话说,语言就是(Keller 1994)。论语言变迁:语言中看不见的手。伦敦:泰勒和弗朗西斯)称之为“第三种现象”,从微观层面和宏观层面的相互作用中出现。这种双重视角帮助我们理解一些其他方面令人困惑的现象,包括“非心理的”概括,或者一种语言中存在的模式在大多数说话者的脑海中没有明确呈现的情况。本文讨论了波兰语中阳性名词的属格标注和英语中远距离依存疑问句的一些限制。有人认为,这种情况是可能的,因为说话者可能在不同的抽象层次上代表“相同”的知识:虽然少数人可能提取了抽象的概括,但其他人可能依靠记忆的范例或词汇特定的模式来近似他们的行为。因此,一个认知现实的基于用法的构式语法需要区分特定言语群体的使用模式(一种社会现象)和说话者的思维模式(一种认知现象)。
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来源期刊
CiteScore
3.30
自引率
17.60%
发文量
21
期刊介绍: Cognitive Linguistics presents a forum for linguistic research of all kinds on the interaction between language and cognition. The journal focuses on language as an instrument for organizing, processing and conveying information. Cognitive Linguistics is a peer-reviewed journal of international scope and seeks to publish only works that represent a significant advancement to the theory or methods of cognitive linguistics, or that present an unknown or understudied phenomenon. Topics the structural characteristics of natural language categorization (such as prototypicality, cognitive models, metaphor, and imagery); the functional principles of linguistic organization, as illustrated by iconicity; the conceptual interface between syntax and semantics; the experiential background of language-in-use, including the cultural background; the relationship between language and thought, including matters of universality and language specificity.
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