Writing Systems As Modular Objects: Proposals for Theory Design in Grapholinguistics
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The Typographic Contribution to Language
Chapter 1: Typography and language: a selective literature review In this chapter I shall review some of the typographic literature to give an impression of the ‘story so far’. The review is necessarily selective, and leaves out a great deal of valid and useful information about particular typographic problems. The purpose is not to list all that is known, but rather to sketch a background to the theoretical problems addressed in this study. By ‘typographic literature’ I mean writings that have explicitly set out to discuss some aspect of typography, rather than writings on other topics that might conceivably be relevant to typography (although I introduce quite a number of these in later chapters). It is appropriate to start by looking at what typographers themselves have written, before considering the approaches taken by those psychologists and linguists who have addressed typographic issues. Typographers on typography British typography is still heavily influenced by ‘the great and the good’ book typographers of the Anglo-American pre-war tradition, (for example Rogers 1943, Morison 1951, and Updike 1937). While they contributed a great deal of intelligent and scholarly writing on typography, it was mostly of a historical or technical rather than a theoretical character. Above all, they were concerned with the revival and creation of beautiful and effective letterforms, and with the design of readable prose, mainly for books but also newspapers. We should remember that the concept of ‘typo- graphy’ as an abstract entity was relatively new, as was the profession of ‘typographer’. Chapter 1 • 11 On the written evidence, it seems that they did not view typography as part of language so much as a channel for its transmission. -
The Utility and Ubiquity of Taboo Words Timothy Jay
PERSPECTIVES ON PSYCHOLOGICAL SCIENCE The Utility and Ubiquity of Taboo Words Timothy Jay Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts ABSTRACT—Taboo words are defined and sanctioned by This review is organized around eight questions that are used institutions of power (e.g., religion, media), and prohibi- to pique psychologists’ interest in taboo words and to promote a tions are reiterated in child-rearing practices. Native deeper understanding of them through future research: What are speakers acquire folk knowledge of taboo words, but it taboo words and why do they exist? What motivates people to use lacks the complexity that psychological science requires for taboo words? How often do people say taboo words, and who says an understanding of swearing. Misperceptions persist in them? What are the most frequently used taboo words? Does psychological science and in society at large about how psychological science acknowledge the significance of the frequently people swear or what it means when they do. frequency of taboo word use? Is a folk knowledge of taboo words Public recordings of taboo words establish the commonplace sufficient for psychological science? How should psychological occurrence of swearing (ubiquity), although frequency data science define language? Does psychological science even need are not always appreciated in laboratory research. A set of a theory of swearing? 10 words that has remained stable over the past 20 years accounts for 80% of public swearing. Swearing is positively WHATARE TABOO WORDS AND WHY DO THEY EXIST? correlated with extraversion and Type A hostility but neg- atively correlated with agreeableness, conscientiousness, I use the terms taboo words or swear words interchangeably to religiosity, and sexual anxiety. -
First Language Acquisition Theories and Transition to SLA Mohammad
The Asian Conference on Language Learning 2013 Official Conference Proceedings Osaka, Japan First Language Acquisition Theories and Transition to SLA Mohammad Torikul Islam Jazan University, Saudi Arabia 0289 The Asian Conference on Language Learning 2013 Official Conference Proceedings 2013 Abstract First language (L1) acquisition studies have been an interesting issue to both linguists and psycholinguists. A lot of research studies have been carried out over past several decades to investigate how L1 or child language acquisition mechanism takes place. The end point of L1 acquisition theories leads to interlanguage theories which eventually lead to second language acquisition (SLA) research studies. In this paper, I will show that there have been at least three theories that have offered new ideas on L1 acquisition. However, two theories of L1 acquisition have been very prominent as they have propounded two revolutionary schools of thought: Behaviorism and Mentalism. Therefore, in the first segment of this paper I will deal with the detailed theoretical assumptions on these two theories along with a brief discussion on Social Interactionist Theory of L1 acquisition. The second segment will deal with interlanguage theories and their seminal contributions to subsequent language researchers. Finally, I will briefly show how L1 acquisition theories and interlanguage theories have paved the way for new ideas into SLA research studies. iafor The International Academic Forum www.iafor.org 499 The Asian Conference on Language Learning 2013 Official Conference Proceedings Osaka, Japan Behaviorist Theory Behaviorism or Behaviorist Theory of first language (L1) plays a crucial role in understanding the early importance attached to the role of the first language acquisition. -
Language Development Language Development
Language Development rom their very first cries, human beings communicate with the world around them. Infants communicate through sounds (crying and cooing) and through body lan- guage (pointing and other gestures). However, sometime between 8 and 18 months Fof age, a major developmental milestone occurs when infants begin to use words to speak. Words are symbolic representations; that is, when a child says “table,” we understand that the word represents the object. Language can be defined as a system of symbols that is used to communicate. Although language is used to communicate with others, we may also talk to ourselves and use words in our thinking. The words we use can influence the way we think about and understand our experiences. After defining some basic aspects of language that we use throughout the chapter, we describe some of the theories that are used to explain the amazing process by which we Language9 A system of understand and produce language. We then look at the brain’s role in processing and pro- symbols that is used to ducing language. After a description of the stages of language development—from a baby’s communicate with others or first cries through the slang used by teenagers—we look at the topic of bilingualism. We in our thinking. examine how learning to speak more than one language affects a child’s language develop- ment and how our educational system is trying to accommodate the increasing number of bilingual children in the classroom. Finally, we end the chapter with information about disorders that can interfere with children’s language development. -
High-Level and Low-Level Synthesis
c01.qxd 1/29/05 15:24 Page 17 1 High-Level and Low-Level Synthesis 1.1 Differentiating Between Low-Level and High-Level Synthesis We need to differentiate between low- and high-level synthesis. Linguistics makes a broadly equivalent distinction in terms of human speech production: low-level synthesis corresponds roughly to phonetics and high-level synthesis corresponds roughly to phonology. There is some blurring between these two components, and we shall discuss the importance of this in due course (see Chapter 11 and Chapter 25). In linguistics, phonology is essentially about planning. It is here that the plan is put together for speaking utterances formulated by other parts of the linguistics, like semantics and syn- tax. These other areas are not concerned with speaking–their domain is how to arrive at phrases and sentences which appropriately reflect the meaning of what a person has to say. It is felt that it is only when these pre-speech phrases and sentences are arrived at that the business of planning how to speak them begins. One reason why we feel that there is somewhat of a break between sentences and planning how to speak them is that those same sentences might be channelled into a part of linguistics which would plan how to write them. Diagrammed this looks like: graphology writing plan semantics/syntax phrase/sentence phonology speaking plan The task of phonology is to formulate a speaking plan, whereas that of graphology is to formulate a writing plan. Notice that in either case we end up simply with a plan–not with writing or speech: that comes later. -
CONTENT Unit I 2-18 Communication and Language INTRODUCTION to LINGUISTICS Major Linguists and Their Contribution
1 CONTENT Unit I 2-18 Communication and Language INTRODUCTION TO LINGUISTICS Major Linguists and their Contribution Unit II 19-27 Phonology of English and Phonetics Mechanism of Speech Production Organs of speech The Respiratory System The Phonatory System The Articulatory System The Air-stream Mechanism Unit III 29-43 Phonology of English and Phonetics (Continued) Description and Classification of Vowels and Consonants Description of Vowel Sounds Description of Pure Vowels in English Description of Dipthongs or Glides in English Occurrence of Vowel Sounds in English Description of Consonant Sounds Unit IV 44-56 STRESS AND INTONATION Word Accent/Stress Intonation Unit V 57-70 SOCIOLINUISTICS Definitions of Sociolinguistics Language Variation or Varieties of Language Dialects Sociolect Idiolect Register Language Contact: Pidgin and Creole 2 UNIT-I INTRODUCTION TO LINGUISTICS 1.0 1.1 Linguistics/lɪŋˈɡwɪstɪks/ refers to the scientific study of language and its structure, including the study of grammar, syntax, and phonetics. Specific branches of linguistics include sociolinguistics, dialectology, psycholinguistics, computational linguistics, comparative linguistics, and structural linguistics. WHAT IS LINGUISTICS? Linguistics is defined as the scientific study of language.It is the systematic study of the elements of language and the principles governing their combination and organization. Linguistics provides for a rigorous experimentation with the elements or aspects of language that are actually in use by the speech community. It is based on observation and the data collected thereby from the users of the language, a scientific analysis is made by the investigator and at the end of it he comes out with a satisfactory explanation relating to his field of study. -
Reading Development in Two
Psychologica Belgica 2009, 49-2&3, 111-156. READING DEVELOPMENT IN TWO ALPHABETIC SYSTEMS DIFFERING IN ORTHOGRAPHIC CONSISTENCY: A LONGITUDINAL STUDY OF FRENCH-SPEAKING CHILDREN ENROLLED IN A DUTCH IMMERSION PROGRAM Katia LECOCQ, Régine KOLINSKY, Vincent GOETRY, José MORAIS, Jesus ALEGRIA, & Philippe MOUSTY Université Libre de Bruxelles Studies examining reading development in bilinguals have led to conflicting conclusions regarding the language in which reading development should take place first. Whereas some studies suggest that reading instruction should take place in the most proficient language first, other studies suggest that reading acquisition should take place in the most consistent orthographic system first. The present study examined two research questions: (1) the relative impact of oral proficiency and orthographic transparency in second-language reading acquisition, and (2) the influence of reading acquisition in one language on the development of reading skills in the other language. To examine these questions, we compared reading development in French- native children attending a Dutch immersion program and learning to read either in Dutch first (most consistent orthography) or in French first (least consistent orthography but native language). Following a longitudinal design, the data were gathered over different sessions spanning from Grade 1 to Grade 3. The children in immersion were presented with a series of experi- mental and standardised tasks examining their levels of oral proficiency as well as their reading abilities in their first and, subsequently in their second, languages of reading instruction. Their performances were compared to the ones of French and Dutch monolinguals. The results showed that by the end of Grade 2, the children instructed to read in Dutch first read in both languages as well as their monolingual peers. -
PDF Hosted at the Radboud Repository of the Radboud University Nijmegen
PDF hosted at the Radboud Repository of the Radboud University Nijmegen The following full text is a publisher's version. For additional information about this publication click this link. http://hdl.handle.net/2066/29876 Please be advised that this information was generated on 2016-01-28 and may be subject to change. CONTENTS CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION...................................................................... 1 1.1 AIM OF THIS STUDY...................................................................................... 2 1.2 RELEVANCE ................................................................................................. 4 1.3 METHOD AND SCOPE.................................................................................... 5 1.4 FORMALISM AND NOTATIONAL CONVENTIONS............................................. 6 1.5 ORGANIZATION OF THIS THESIS.................................................................... 7 CHAPTER 2 THE SPELLING OF NATIVE WORDS ................................. 9 2.1 INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................ 9 2.2 DUTCH PHONEMES, GRAPHEMES AND THE CORRESPONDENCE BETWEEN THEM .......................................................................................... 9 2.2.1 Dutch phonemes .................................................................................. 9 2.2.2 Dutch graphemes............................................................................... 12 2.2.3 Sound-letter correspondences .......................................................... -
1. Functionalist Linguistics: Usage-Based Explanations of Language Structure
MARTIN HASPELMATH, 15 July 1. Functionalist linguistics: usage-based explanations of language structure 1. What is functionalism? prototypical representatives of "functionalism" in my sense: general: Greenberg 1966, Croft 1990, Paul 1880/1920 syntax: Givón 1984-90, Hawkins 1994, Croft 2001 morphology: Bybee 1985 phonology: Lindblom 1986, Bybee 2001 non-prototypical representatives: Foley & Van Valin 1984, Langacker 1987-91, Dik 1997 fundamental question: Why is language structure the way it is? not: How can language be acquired despite the poverty of the stimulus? primary answer: Language structure (= competence) is the way it is because it reflects constraints on language use (= performance). typically this means: because it is adapted to the needs of language users main problem: H ow can language structure "reflect" language use? There must be an evolutionary/adaptive process, perhaps involving variation and selection. 2. Two examples (A) Vowel systems: The great majority of languages have "triangular" vowel systems as in (1a) or (1b). "Horizontal" or "vertical" systems as in (2a-b) are logically perfectly possible, but unattested. (1) a. [i] [u] b. [i] [u] [a] [e] [o] [a] (2) a. [i] [I] [u] b. [I] [´] [a] This reflects a phonetic constraint on language use: Vowels should be easily distinguishable, and phonetic research has shown that [i], [u], and [a] are the three extremes in the available vowel space (e.g. Lindblom 1986). 1 (B) Implicit infinitival subjects: In many languages, the subject of certain types of complement clauses can be left unexpressed only when it is coreferential with a matrix argument: (3) a. Roberti wants [Øi/*j to arrive in time]. -
THE VOLKSGEIST CONCEPT in DUTCH LINGUISTICS Issues and Controversies, Old and New 1
View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by DSpace at VU From: Jan Noordegraaf, The Dutch Pendulum. Linguistics in the Netherlands 1740-1900. Münster: Nodus Publikationen 1996, 86-98. ISBN 3-89323-264-8 THE VOLKSGEIST CONCEPT IN DUTCH LINGUISTICS Issues and controversies, old and new 1 Jan Noordegraaf 1. Introduction Almost one hundred and fifty years ago, in 1849, the first Dutch Linguistic and Literary Conference was held in Ghent, Belgium. In his opening address Dr F. A. Snellaert (1809-1872) argued that we should use every possible means to "strengthen the spirit of the people, and that we should fight those who worked against the development of the spirit of the people". One of the means of combat was language. As many nineteenth-century Dutch and Flemish linguists understood it, language was the mirror of this 'volksgeest', the expression of the soul of the people, and the relationship between the two reciprocal: by influencing the language one could influence the character of the people. This is the well-known thesis of the "Weltbild der Sprache": language, especially the mother tongue, has a certain influence and degree of impact on the "Weltansicht" of the speakers, and vice versa. For the sake of brevity, I shall use the German term 'Volksgeist' throughout the remainder of this article as a technical term to indicate this concept, which, though rather obscure, has nevertheless attained a certain notoriety in our discipline. In this paper I would like to discuss two Dutch linguistic controversies which are connected by the underlying concept of Volksgeist. -
Open Journal for Studies in Linguistics, 2019, 2(2), 35-70
Open Journal for Studies in Linguistics, 2019, 2(2), 35-70. ISSN (Online) 2620-0678 __________________________________________________________________ AIMS AND SCOPE The OJSL, as an international multi-disciplinary peer-reviewed online open access academic journal, publishes academic articles deal with different problems and topics in various areas of linguistics or which relates to linguistics (cognitive linguistics, sociolinguistics, generative linguistics, structural linguistics, historical linguistics, evolutionary linguistics, anthropological linguistics, contrastive linguistics, comparative linguistics, forensic linguistics, computational linguistics, history of linguistics, neurolinguistics, psycholinguistics, functional theories of grammar, quantitative linguistics, constraint-based linguistics, etymology, phonology, morphology, morphophonology, syntax, lexis, semantics, phonetics, pragmatics, graphemics, graphetics, orthography, semiothics, cherology, origin of language, origin of speech, language acquisition, language assessment, language education, philosophy of language, sociology of language, psychology of language, etc.). The OJSL provides a platform for the manuscripts from different areas of research, which may rest on the full spectrum of established methodologies, including theoretical discussions and empirical investigations. The manuscripts may represent a variety of theoretical perspectives and different methodological approaches. The OJSL is already indexed in Crossref (DOI), DOAJ (Directory of Open Access Journals), -
A STUDY of WRITING Oi.Uchicago.Edu Oi.Uchicago.Edu /MAAM^MA
oi.uchicago.edu A STUDY OF WRITING oi.uchicago.edu oi.uchicago.edu /MAAM^MA. A STUDY OF "*?• ,fii WRITING REVISED EDITION I. J. GELB Phoenix Books THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO PRESS oi.uchicago.edu This book is also available in a clothbound edition from THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO PRESS TO THE MOKSTADS THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO PRESS, CHICAGO & LONDON The University of Toronto Press, Toronto 5, Canada Copyright 1952 in the International Copyright Union. All rights reserved. Published 1952. Second Edition 1963. First Phoenix Impression 1963. Printed in the United States of America oi.uchicago.edu PREFACE HE book contains twelve chapters, but it can be broken up structurally into five parts. First, the place of writing among the various systems of human inter communication is discussed. This is followed by four Tchapters devoted to the descriptive and comparative treatment of the various types of writing in the world. The sixth chapter deals with the evolution of writing from the earliest stages of picture writing to a full alphabet. The next four chapters deal with general problems, such as the future of writing and the relationship of writing to speech, art, and religion. Of the two final chapters, one contains the first attempt to establish a full terminology of writing, the other an extensive bibliography. The aim of this study is to lay a foundation for a new science of writing which might be called grammatology. While the general histories of writing treat individual writings mainly from a descriptive-historical point of view, the new science attempts to establish general principles governing the use and evolution of writing on a comparative-typological basis.