Linguistic Episteme as a Discourse-Generating Mechanism of Speech Activity (original) (raw)

Epistemic action and language : a cross-linguistic study

2008

This work has not been previously submitted in whole, or in part, for the award of any degree. It is my own work. Each significant contribution to, and quotation in, this dissertation from the work, or works, of other people has been attributed, and has been cited and referenced.

Meaning has been the center of debates in the study language for centuries

Meaning has been the center of debates in the study of language for centuries. From classical Greek to Cognitive Linguistics. From been partially ignored by modern linguists like Bloomfield, Chomsky, and many others, to been "empirically" studied by Cognitive Linguists. The study of meaning still remain open ended in its conclusions. The open-endedness of the study of meaning has left many questions in its wake than it sets out to answer. That is one of the reasons why Bloomfield called it "weak" and Chomsky ignored it in his "Generative Grammar". It is as a result of this weak background that Cognitive Linguistics emerged. From its traditional approach (Semantics) to its modern approach (Cognitive Linguistics), the study of meaning is yet to be boldly called an empirical study of language. This article aims at highlighting the weakness of Semantics and Cognitive Linguistics as an introduction to both fields (Semantics and Cognitive Linguistics). This is because both fields are obsessed with meaning in language. Furthermore, because Cognitive Linguistics is an advanced study of Semantics, this article will focus on its weaknesses to highlight the weakness of the study of meaning in general. From there, solutions to some of the problems will be recommended.

Linguistic Denotation as an Epistemological Issue

Linguistic Frontiers, 2024

Linguistic denotation is discussed as an epistemological issue that arises from the philosophy of external realism and the reification of language as a communication tool. Together, these serve as a foundation for viewing language as a sign system used for knowledge representation, when denotation is seen as the semantic property of linguistic signs-indication or reference to something, such as a thing (event, process, activity) or a concept. However, since neither the concept of sign in semiotics nor the concept of knowledge in philosophy (let alone the concept of concept itself) has a uniformly accepted informative definition, the concept of denotation, viewed by many as an implied semantic property of the linguistic sign, is highly controversial. It is argued that the reification of linguistic signs is a poor starting point in our attempts to understand language, not as a tool in the service of the mind, but as a mode of existence of humans in the world as an image of language.

Researching Meaning, Context and Cognition Editorial to Ril Special Issue

Research in Language, 2000

The present issue of Research in Language has been inspired by discussions conducted during the meetings of the annual international conference "Meaning, Context & Cognition" (MCC), held in University of Łódź, Poland, since 2011. MCC, organised by the Department of English Language and Applied Linguistics, focuses on topics relevant to the fields of speech actions and natural language processing. The goal of the conference has been to integrate and promote both theoretical and applied research from the interface of semantics and pragmatics. The papers included in the volume, even though few in number, reflect the wide range of interests represented by MCC participants and complement other collections inspired by MCC meetings (cf. Witczak-Plisiecka 2013). They are diverse in the choice of particular research programmes, but well integrated by the authors' interest in the processes hidden behind linguistic action. The papers explore how meaning arises in particular contexts, and how language studies intersect with other fields of human action. Among the languages discussed in the articles there are: Basque, Czech, French, English, Polish, Arabic, Mandarin Chinese, and Italian. The cognitive-pragmatic research frameworks include, inter alia, relevance theory, Langacker's cognitive grammar, critical pragmatics, and conversation analysis. The first paper "(Non-)Determining the original speaker: reportative particles versus verbs", by Larraitz Zubeldia, focuses on the Basque reportative particle omen. The discussion is based on Korta and Perry's (2007, 2011) conception of propositional content, on the basis of which the author claims that the presence of "omen" contributes to the propositional content of the utterance. The author also explicitly subscribes to relevance theoretic framework (Sperber and Wilson 1986/1995). With data obtained from an assent/dissent test and a controlled experiment, it is argued, against the received view, that the function of both "omen" and a relater verb, "esan" ("to say"), goes beyond that of an illocutionary force indicator and that there is a theoretically important difference between the meaning of omen-sentences and the contents of omen-utterances. The nature of "omen", as well as its relation to "esan", is discussed with reference to varied methodological tools, not only experiments, but also native speakers' intuitions and corpora. The paper is also a contribution in the field of research focused on evidentiality, respecting Wilson's proposal (2011) to distinguish between lexicalized and grammaticalised evidentials and epistemic modals. It reports facts from the Basque language and poses Basque-related questions.