Explorations in linguistic relativity / edited by Martin Pütz, Marjolijn H. Verspoor.

Format:

Book

Conference/Event

Contributor:

Pütz, Martin, 1955-

Verspoor, Marjolyn.

Conference Name:

International L.A.U.D.-Symposium (26th : 1998 : Duisburg, Germany)

Series:

Amsterdam studies in the theory and history of linguistic science. Current issues in linguistic theory ; Series IV, v. 199.

Amsterdam studies in the theory and history of linguistic science. Series IV, Current issues in linguistic theory, 0304-0763 ; v. 199

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Sapir-Whorf hypothesis--Congresses.

Sapir-Whorf hypothesis.

Language and culture--Congresses.

Language and culture.

Thought and thinking--Congresses.

Thought and thinking.

Physical Description:

xvi, 369 p. : ill.

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Amsterdam ; Philadelphia : J. Benjamins, 2000.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

About a century after the year Benjamin Lee Whorf (1897-1941) was born, his theory complex is still the object of keen interest to linguists. Rencently, scholars have argued that it was not his theory complex itself, but an over-simplified, reduced section taken out of context that has become known as the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis that has met with so much resistance among linguists over the last few decades. Not only did Whorf present his views much more subtly than most people would believe, but he also dealt with a great number of other issues in his work. Taking Whorf's own notion of linguistic relativity as a starting point, this volume explores the relation between language, mind and experience through its historical development, Whorf's own writing, its misinterpretations, various theoretical and methodological issues and a closer look at a few specific issues in his work.

Contents:

EXPLORATIONS IN LINGUISTIC RELATIVITY

Editorial page

Title page

Copyright page

Table of contents

Preface

Introduction

References

Towards a 'Full Pedigree' of the 'Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis': From Locke to Lucy

1. Introductory remarks

2. The Humboldtian tradition of linguistic worldview

3. Humboldtian ethnolinguistics in North America and SWH

4. Concluding remarks

Notes

How relativistic are Humboldt's "Weltansichten"?

1. Language and thought

2. Relativity

3. Final remark

When is 'Linguistic Relativity' Whorf's Linguistic Relativity?

1. Introductory comments

2. Whorf s definitions of the linguistic relativity principle

3. The role of the construct 'isolate of experience' in Whorf s reasoning

4. The place of analogical projection in the linguistic relativity picture

5. Isolates of experience conceptualized as occurring in the external field

6. Isolates conceptualized as occurring in the egoic or internal field of experience

7. Linguistic relativity in the context of relativisms in general

Linguistic Relativity and Translation

1. Historical overview

2. Culture, context and translatability

3. Conclusion

Humboldt, Whorf and the Roots of Ecolinguistics

1. Introduction

2. On the intellectual roots of ecolinguistics

3. Limits to relativity

Loci of Diversity and Convergence in Thought and Language

1. Constrained diversity in thought and sound

2. Components of thought

3. Ways of organizing thought

4. Repeated verbalizations of the same experience

5. Translation

6. Categories

7. Shadow meanings

8. Orientations

9. Constructions

10. Summary

Note

On Linguocentrism

2. Current speculation on the evolution of language.

3. Semiotics, conceptualization, and culture

4. Interactional intelligence and language

5. The inescapability of (meta-)language: Wierzbicka's position

6. The separation (or not) of the study of "language" and "culture

7. Implications for theory of language, culture, and thought, and for research on linguistic relativity

8. Conclusion

From the Jurassic Dark: Linguistic Relativity as Evolutionary Necessity

1. Evolutionary biology

2. Social reality

3. Perception

4. Conclusion

Neuro-Cognitive Structure in the Interplay of Language and Thought

1. Five basic properties of mental models

2. What are we asking?

3. The cortical information system

4. Learning looms large

5. The proximity principle

6. The language cortex

7. Top-down effects in perception

8. The basic puzzle and a solution

Language and Thought: Collective Tools for Individual Use

2. The kinship case

3. Whorfian issues in the kinship study

4. The general theory of lexical semantics

5. The Whorfian connection

Appendix

Appendix A: Fanti kinship terminology, adapted from Kronenfeld (1973)

Appendix B: Behavioral patterns, terminological patterns, and genealogical features, adapted from Kronenfeld (1975)

Ontological Classifiers as Polycentric Categories, as Seen in Shona Class 3 Nouns

2. Methods

3. Discussion of Shona class 3

4. Categories that satisfy multiple constraints

5. Unexplained items

6. Discussion

Linguistic Relativity and the Plasticity of Categorization: Universalism in a New Key

2. Color and relativity

3. Perceptual universals

4. Universal cognitive dynamics

5. Variation

6. Vantages

7. Polysemy.

8. Deactivating morphology

9. Conclusion

Linguistic Relativity as a Function of Ideological Deixis

1. A story of stories: Susan Smith's wild ride

2. The BATTLE OF ICON AND CARICATURE

3. Ideological deixis

4. Linguistic relativity and the process of making sense

Data Sources

Why We Subject Incorporate (in English): A Post-Whorfian View

2. Subject incorporations in English

3. The motivation for and complementarity of SIs and OIs in English

4. Ergative patterns as 'covert' categories

5. Homage to Whorf and concluding remarks

Metalinguistic Awareness in Linguistic Relativity: Cultural and Subcultural Practices Across Chinese Dialect Communities

2. Metalinguistic awareness and linguistic relativity

3. Metalinguistic awareness and Han Chinese cultural practices

4. Metalinguistic awareness and subcultural practices across Chinese dialect communities

5. Dialect spread and the spread of dialect-based subcultural practices

6. Conclusion

Acknowledgement

Subject Index.

Notes:

Papers presented at the 26th International LAUD Symposium entitled, "Humboldt and whorf revisited" held April 1-5, 1998, at the Gerhard Mercator University in Duisburg, Germany.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9786613174635

9781283174633

1283174634

9789027283757

9027283753

OCLC:

735627525