Linguistic Relativity Hyp
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Some Strands of Wittgenstein's Normative Pragmatism
Some Strands of Wittgenstein’s Normative Pragmatism, and Some Strains of his Semantic Nihilism ROBERT B. BRANDOM ABSTRACT WORK TYPE In this reflection I address one of the critical questions this monograph is Article about: How to justify proposing yet another semantic theory in the light of Wittgenstein’s strong warnings against it. I see two clear motives for ARTICLE HISTORY Wittgenstein’s semantic nihilism. The first one is the view that philosophical Received: problems arise from postulating hypothetical entities such as ‘meanings’. To 27–January–2018 dissolve the philosophical problems rather than create new ones, Wittgenstein Accepted: suggests substituting ‘meaning’ with ‘use’ and avoiding scientism in philosophy 3–March–2018 together with the urge to penetrate in one's investigation to unobservable depths. I believe this first motive constitutes only a weak motive for ARTICLE LANGUAGE Wittgenstein’s quietism, because there are substantial differences between English empirical theories in natural sciences and semantic theories in philosophy that KEYWORDS leave Wittgenstein’s assimilation of both open to criticism. But Wittgenstein is Meaning and Use right, on the second motive, that given the dynamic character of linguistic Hypothetical Entities practice, the classical project of semantic theory is a disease that can be Antiscientism removed or ameliorated only by heeding the advice to replace concern with Semantic Nihilism meaning by concern with use. On my view, this does not preclude, however, a Linguistic Dynamism different kind of theoretical approach to meaning that avoids the pitfalls of the Procrustean enterprise Wittgenstein complained about. © Studia Humanitatis – Universidad de Salamanca 2019 R. Brandom (✉) Disputatio. Philosophical Research Bulletin University of Pittsburgh, USA Vol. -
Semantic Analysis of the First Cities from a Deconstruction Perspective Doi: 10.23968/2500-0055-2020-5-3-43-48
Mojtaba Valibeigi, Faezeh Ashuri— Pages 43–48 SEMANTIC ANALYSIS OF THE FIRST CITIES FROM A DECONSTRUCTION PERSPECTIVE DOI: 10.23968/2500-0055-2020-5-3-43-48 SEMANTIC ANALYSIS OF THE FIRST CITIES FROM A DECONSTRUCTION PERSPECTIVE Mojtaba Valibeigi*, Faezeh Ashuri Buein Zahra Technical University Imam Khomeini Blvd, Buein Zahra, Qazvin, Iran *Corresponding author: [email protected] Abstract Introduction: Deconstruction is looking for any meaning, semantics and concepts and then shows how all of them seem to lead to chaos, and are always on the border of meaning duality. Purpose of the study: The study is aimed to investigate urban identity from a deconstruction perspective. Since two important bases of deconstruction are text and meaning and their relationships, we chose the first cities on a symbolic level as a text and tried to analyze their meanings. Methods: The study used a deductive content analysis in three steps including preparation, organization and final report or conclusion. In the first step, we argued deconstruction philosophy based on Derrida’s views accordingly. Then we determined some common semantic features of the first cities. Finally, we presented some conclusions based on a semantic interpretation of the first cities’ identity.Results: It seems that all cities as texts tend to provoke a special imaginary meaning, while simultaneously promoting and emphasizing the opposite meaning of what they want to show. Keywords Deconstruction, text, meaning, urban semantics, the first cities. Introduction to have a specific meaning (Gualberto and Kress, 2019; Expressions are an act of recognizing or displaying Leone, 2019; Stojiljković and Ristić Trajković, 2018). -
Matrix Decompositions and Latent Semantic Indexing
Online edition (c)2009 Cambridge UP DRAFT! © April 1, 2009 Cambridge University Press. Feedback welcome. 403 Matrix decompositions and latent 18 semantic indexing On page 123 we introduced the notion of a term-document matrix: an M N matrix C, each of whose rows represents a term and each of whose column× s represents a document in the collection. Even for a collection of modest size, the term-document matrix C is likely to have several tens of thousands of rows and columns. In Section 18.1.1 we first develop a class of operations from linear algebra, known as matrix decomposition. In Section 18.2 we use a special form of matrix decomposition to construct a low-rank approximation to the term-document matrix. In Section 18.3 we examine the application of such low-rank approximations to indexing and retrieving documents, a technique referred to as latent semantic indexing. While latent semantic in- dexing has not been established as a significant force in scoring and ranking for information retrieval, it remains an intriguing approach to clustering in a number of domains including for collections of text documents (Section 16.6, page 372). Understanding its full potential remains an area of active research. Readers who do not require a refresher on linear algebra may skip Sec- tion 18.1, although Example 18.1 is especially recommended as it highlights a property of eigenvalues that we exploit later in the chapter. 18.1 Linear algebra review We briefly review some necessary background in linear algebra. Let C be an M N matrix with real-valued entries; for a term-document matrix, all × RANK entries are in fact non-negative. -
Philosophy of Linguistics
Philosophy of Linguistics Brian Rabern Philosophy DSB 4.04c 0131 651 5178 [email protected] Geoff Pullum Linguistics DSB 2.23 0131 650 3603 [email protected] Meetings The class meetings are from 11:00 to 13:00 each Wednesday from 19th September to 28th November in Old Library 2.19, Geography building, Old Infirmary complex (weeks 1–3 and 6–11) and in 01M.469 Teaching Room 12 (Doorway 3), Medical School building. Class meetings are mandatory. Readings Required reading is to be done before the class meets; background reading to be studied as time and specific interests permit. Assessment (i) short paper (1000-1500 words) to be turned in by 5 p.m. on Monday 15th October (topics will be provided); (ii) final essay examination with choice of questions from the whole of the course. Week 1 (19th September; Old Library 2.19): Introduction What linguistics is. Linguistics as a special science. Syntax and semantics as conceived in logic. Charles Morris’s trichotomy of syntax, semantics, and pragmatics. Philosophy of science applied to linguistics. Required reading • Hunter, Geoffrey (1971) Metalogic: An Introduction to the Metatheory of Standard First Order Logic (Berkeley: University of California Press), pp. 4–13. Background reading • Stainton, Robert (2014) ‘Philosophy of linguistics’, Oxford Handbooks Online. Online at https://works.bepress.com/robertstainton/126/ Week 2 (26th September; Old Library 2.19): Language and languages The metaphysics of linguistics. The vexed question of whether language should be regarded as psychological, social, or purely abstract. The descriptive linguistics of the American structuralists and the mentalist/cognitive backlash; ‘God’s truth’ (realism) vs. -
Linguistic Determinism and Mutability: the Sapir-Whorf "Hypothesis" and Intercultural Communication
DOCUMENT RESUME ED 403 761 FL 024 384 AUTHOR van Troyer, Gene TITLE Linguistic Determinism and Mutability: The Sapir-Whorf "Hypothesis" and Intercultural Communication. PUB DATE Dec 94 NOTE 18p. PUB TYPE Reports Evaluative/Feasibility (142) Journal Articles (080) JOURNAL CIT JALT Journal; v16 n2 p163-78 Dec 1994 EDRS PRICE MFO1 /PCO1 Plus Postage. DESCRIPTORS Foreign Countries; *Intercultural Communication; *Language Research; *Linguistic Theory; Research Methodology; Scientific Methodology IDENTIFIERS *Sapir (Edward); Whorf (Benjamin Lee); *Whorfian Hypothesis ABSTRACT The Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis, long considered a factor in intercultural communication, is discussed. Empirical studies that have tended to validate the hypothesis are reviewed, and the hypothesis is then considered from the standpoint of empirical and scientific research requirements. It is shown that the hypothesis has never been formally defined for testing, and therefore does not exist as a scientifically testable thesis. As a result, all studies that have attempted to interpret empirical data accorded to the hypothesis are either flawed or invalid because they have tested something other than the hypothesis. It is concluded that the Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis exists only as a notion, and has no meaningful relation to intercultural communication. Includes an abstract in Japanese. Contains 22 references. (Author/MSE) *********************************************************************** Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document. *********************************************************************** U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION Office of Educational Research and Improvement PERMISSION TO REPRODUCE EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION AND CENTER (ERIC) DISSEMINATE THIS MATERIAL This document has been reproduced as HAS BE N GRANTEDBY ceived from the person or organization originating it. Minor changes have been made to improve reproduction quality. -
Biological Pluralism in Service of Biolinguistics
Biological pluralism in service of biolinguistics Pedro Tiago Martins1, Evelina Leivada2, Antonio Ben´ıtez-Burraco3, and Cedric Boeckx2,4 1Pompeu Fabra University 2University of Barcelona 3University of Huelva 4Catalan Institute for Advanced Studies Abstract The aim of this chapter is to offer a fresh perspective on what has come to be known as biolinguistics, a term which, in our view, encompasses all research and methods devoted to the unveiling of the biological foundations of human language. More specifically, our aim is twofold: first, we point out some of the shortcomings of the naive view of biology that has been in place in linguistics since the 1950s and 1960s, namely the notion of the faculty of language as a novelty and the sharp distinction between I- and E-language, which, we contend, has not provided any major insights into the biological nature of language; second, we offer some of the insights from biology, which may provide the theoretical and methodological framework which allows for a truly biological study of language, and thus for a re-hauled biolinguistics Chomsky (1957). 1 Introduction The first sign of a biological orientation for the study of language was the work of Noam Chomsky and Eric Lenneberg, among just a few others, who in the 1950s and 1960s rejected the structuralist linguistics of the time, believing instead that languages, despite meticulously described, were not explained as a natural phenomenon. The overarching assumption of their work is that 1 languages are not learned in the conventional sense of the term (i.e. the way one would learn a craft or how to play a musical instrument), but rather a product of a biologically determined and biologically constrained capacity of humans, located in the brain, which must be innate. -
Thoughts in Motion
! ! "# $ % & #''# #() (*+,(( - . / 0& /& &1 , ' ,2 &##/ # ,# & 3, ,/4 # 56/'# / & , , & , ' & / & ' , # # # & 7 '& & ' 3#/(((6,0 '# & / # 8 # 8 # & '# , ' & # '& ,% & # / # # & # ,9& / '# #' '# , 3 6, 3 & 6 # ,% / # / /& '# # 3 & '4 56'/ #/ ' # # & ' 34 56, # , ' & ,2 : # 3 6 & # '; # , / # ' &' ; 3,,/ <6,2 / ' & ' / / , ! (* 7== ,',= &< > 7 ' 777&?@* 2$-@*A@*B?@A(* 2$-@*A@*B?@A(AA 2-?((C@ % & #/(B@ Thoughts in Motion The Role of Long-Term L1 and Short-Term L2 Experience when Talking and Thinking of Caused Motion Guillermo Montero-Melis Centre for Research on Bilingualism Department of Swedish Language and Multilingualism Stockholm University Doctoral Dissertation 2017 Centre for Research on Bilingualism Department of Swedish Language and Multilingualism Stockholm University Copyright: Guillermo Montero-Melis Printing: Universitetsservice AB, Stockholm 2017 Correspondence: SE 106 91 Stockholm www.biling.su.se ISBN 978-91-7649-807-1 (print) ISBN 978-91-7649-808-8 (electronic) ISSN 1400-5921 A mi abuelo Manuel Melis, por su amor al saber Acknowledgements Two persons have mainly guided my efforts. I am deeply grateful to my main advisors, Manne -
Linguistic Relativity, Cultural Relativityn and Foreign Language Teaching
Linguistic Relativity, Cultural Relativityn and Foreign Language Teaching A. Effendi Kadarisman State University of Malang Abstract: Every language is assumed to be unique, structurally and culturally. Taking this neo-Bloomfieldian assumption at the outset, this paper first points out the inadequacy of sentence grammars for foreign language teaching, Toward this end, the paper further argues for the necessity of understanding linguistic and cultural relativity. Linguistic relativity, or better known as the Sapir-whorf hypothesis, suggesis that the way we perceive and categorize reality is partly determined by the language we speak; and cultural relativity implies that verbalization of concepts in a particular language is often culturally conditioned. As related to the field of foreign language teaching, relativity across languages and cultures presupposes contrastive analysis in a very broad sense. Thus pointing out differences in language structures and cultural conventions should lead students to better acquisition of linguistic and cultural sensitivity. Key words: linguistic relativity, cultural relativity, Sapir_Worf hypo_ thesis, foreign language teaching ''ALL GRAMMARS LEAK'' The statement "All grammars leak" is a quotation from Edward sapir's Language (p. 38), first publishedin 1921; and since then its predictive power has been revealing. This section gives a brief overview of grammars and points out how they leak. My approach in this section is both analytical and historical, and the argument in this paper swings back and forth between applied and theoretical linguistics. since modern linguistics as the 2005 Volume WI, Number !, February Kadar is man, L i n gu is t i c Re lat iv i 2 TEFLIN Journal, ty, C u I tu ra I Re lat iv i ty 3 a linguistic investigation The Saussurean legacy is best defined as structuralism, rise of Generative Grammar with fascinating terms (such as well as competence of culture is predominantly structural, methodoiogically as and performance, deep structure and surfaie structure) made EFL technically. -
Linguistic Relativity Phillip Wolff∗ and Kevin J
Advanced Review Linguistic relativity Phillip Wolff∗ and Kevin J. Holmes The central question in research on linguistic relativity, or the Whorfian hypothesis, is whether people who speak different languages think differently. The recent resurgence of research on this question can be attributed, in part, to new insights about the ways in which language might impact thought. We identify seven categories of hypotheses about the possible effects of language on thought across a wide range of domains, including motion, color, spatial relations, number, and false belief understanding. While we do not find support for the idea that language determines the basic categories of thought or that it overwrites preexisting conceptual distinctions, we do find support for the proposal that language can make some distinctions difficult to avoid, as well as for the proposal that language can augment certain types of thinking. Further, we highlight recent evidence suggesting that language may induce a relatively schematic mode of thinking. Although the literature on linguistic relativity remains contentious, there is growing support for the view that language has a profound effect on thought. 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. WIREs Cogn Sci 2010 DOI: 10.1002/wcs.104 INTRODUCTION rise to several logical paradoxes.6 However, a recent resurgence of research in this area has uncovered olk psychology tells us that human cognition subtle and intriguing interactions between language depends on language, and further, that this F and thought, leading to a number of more nuanced dependency creates differences in thought across versions of the proposal. language communities. Although often mistaken, folk psychology appears to be at least partially correct in this case. -
Philosophy of Language in the Twentieth Century Jason Stanley Rutgers University
Philosophy of Language in the Twentieth Century Jason Stanley Rutgers University In the Twentieth Century, Logic and Philosophy of Language are two of the few areas of philosophy in which philosophers made indisputable progress. For example, even now many of the foremost living ethicists present their theories as somewhat more explicit versions of the ideas of Kant, Mill, or Aristotle. In contrast, it would be patently absurd for a contemporary philosopher of language or logician to think of herself as working in the shadow of any figure who died before the Twentieth Century began. Advances in these disciplines make even the most unaccomplished of its practitioners vastly more sophisticated than Kant. There were previous periods in which the problems of language and logic were studied extensively (e.g. the medieval period). But from the perspective of the progress made in the last 120 years, previous work is at most a source of interesting data or occasional insight. All systematic theorizing about content that meets contemporary standards of rigor has been done subsequently. The advances Philosophy of Language has made in the Twentieth Century are of course the result of the remarkable progress made in logic. Few other philosophical disciplines gained as much from the developments in logic as the Philosophy of Language. In the course of presenting the first formal system in the Begriffsscrift , Gottlob Frege developed a formal language. Subsequently, logicians provided rigorous semantics for formal languages, in order to define truth in a model, and thereby characterize logical consequence. Such rigor was required in order to enable logicians to carry out semantic proofs about formal systems in a formal system, thereby providing semantics with the same benefits as increased formalization had provided for other branches of mathematics. -
Type Title of Your Paper Here
THE APPLICATION OF SAPIR–WHORF HYPOTHESIS IN ENGLISH TEACHING IN CHINA Approved by Richard Garrett on May 12, 2013 1 THE APPLICATION OF SAPIR–WHORF HYPOTHESIS IN ENGLISH TEACHING IN CHINA __________________ A Seminar Paper Presented to The Graduate Faculty University of Wisconsin-Platteville __________________ In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirement for the Degree Master of Science in Education English Education __________________ By Yuan Huiling(Rosemary Yuan) 2013 2 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This thesis is completed with the assistance of many individuals. Without their generous and expert help, insightful comments and continuous encouragement, I would not have been able to complete my research and thesis. First of all, I would like to express my deepest and warmest thanks to my advisor, Dr. Yuanyuan Hu, for her great help, considerable patience and understanding. She gave me so many constructive suggestions on how to conduct the research. Much of the thinking that went into this thesis grew out of discussion with her. I would like to express my gratitude to all those who helped me during the writing of this thesis. I gratefully acknowledge Dr. Richard Garrett, for his great patience and deeply trust. It really means a lot to me. I also owe a special debt of gratitude to Mr. Valleymist, who has offered me valuable suggestions and provided me with inspiring advice. The most important is I can't finish this paper without his emotional support. I should finally like to express my gratitude to my boss, who gives me some valuable news, and my classmates, who have always been there to help and support me. -
A History of Semantics Naming
1/27 A history of semantics [in Nick Riemer (ed.) Routledge Handbook of Semantics] Naming [M]an “makes” his territory by naming the “things” in it. (Chatwin 1988: 301) Human beings name things in their environment. The name helps to distinguish and identify the denotatum (thing named) and is essential to communication with fellow humans about 1 such denotata. In Plato’s Cratylus (Plato 1997) c. 385 BCE, Socrates advances the hypothesis that the earliest name-giver (onomatourgos) selected a name that captures the essence of its denotatum, that is in some way iconic as with onomatopoeic bird names like cuckoo or whippoorwill. On this hypothesis the meaning of a word would be ‘natural’ because directly recognizable from the form of the word. Many of the Ancients sought to demonstrate that names are far more descriptive than the facts allow. For example Socrates in Cratylus 406c derives the name Dionusos (god of Bacchanalia) from didous ton oinon ‘giving wine’. In De lingua latina V: 101 (c. 45 BCE) Varro suggests that because the fox is fleet-footed, volpes ‘fox’ is a blend of volare ‘fly’ and pes ‘foot’ (Varro 1938). Isidore of Seville suggested c. 625 CE that oratio ‘utterance’ derives from oris ratio ‘the mouth’s reason’. None of these is correct and many such ‘etymologies’ are utterly absurd (see Allan 2010). Indeed, the implausibility of such accounts was recognized by Socrates in Cratylus (426b-427b, 434e- 435c), but a clear statement that names are symbols which denote by convention is first found some 25 years after Cratylus in Aristotle’s On Interpretation 16a3, 16a20 (Aristotle 1984).