It's interesting that cognitive grammar (see Langacker, 2008) defines
a lexical item as a "fixed expression." So "moonless night" would fit,
though it has more than one word. Some expressions are more schematic,
since some elements are subject to change, others fixed, as in "poked
X in the eye" or "kicked X in the shin." Other expressions, like
"dollarless" (Langacker's example) are novel. So we have a way of
categoriziong words/expressions that highlights familiarity and
novelty. And we also have a way of undersgtanding how lexicon shades
into grammar in a somewhat fixed, but somewhat dynamic way.
   The theory also says (as I understand it) that language draws on the
same cognitive processes as the rest of human understanding. We come to
associate elements together, automatize repeated activities (like tying
our shoes), schematize from multiple experiences, categorize
("interpretation of experience with respect to already existing
structures"), and so on. We don't have to posit an independent system
of formal rules outside of this world apprehending activity. Nor should
we expect this process to lead us to a view of the world that is
disconnected from patterns of experience or impractical.
   We may be more universal in our subjectivity than we are in our
objectivity, and I think we get those categories confused. Birth and
death are like day and night because we are mortal and live in a world
that spins as it orbits a sun. Language emodies a human experience of
the world. Whether the world outside our understanding is identical to
the world inside it is an impossible question to answer.

Craig

    A formal/structural grammar, to the extent that it focuses on the
formal rules underlying the meanings, may be radically missing the
point.



Sapir probably put it at its most pithy:  All grammars leak.
>
>
>
> Herb
>
>
>
> From: Assembly for the Teaching of English Grammar
> [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Carol Morrison
> Sent: 2008-02-25 18:32
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: Form and function (philosophy of language)
>
>
>
> Jacques Derrida in his book Of Grammatology (1976): "There is nothing
> outside the text" (163).
>
> And commenting on Derrida...
>
> "There is no perception or experience which is not bound up with effects
> of text or language" (Bennett & Royle 30).
> So their is no way to perceive the world or access the world except
> through language.
>
>
>
> Also, Paulo Freire: "There is no theoretical context if it is not in a
> dialectical unity with the concrete context ; language is never separate
> from experience and thus action is deeply a part of theoretical
> supposition" (Politics of Education 33).
>
>
>
> I am trying to think of the theorist who said that there is a gap
> between signifier and signified, so that language is never adequate in
> describing or representing what it intends to.
>
>
>
> Carol
> "Spruiell, William C" <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
> 	Just to chime in on Johanna's point -- There's a kind of
> "envelope"
> 	within which the relationship(s) between language and thought
> (or
> 	language and perception) must lie. If language *determined*
> thought
> 	(what used to be called the "strong form of the Sapir-Whorf
> hypothesis)
> 	we'd be unable to come up with concepts our language didn't
> already have
> 	words for. That's obviously not the case.
>
> 	On the other hand, if language had no influence on thought, it
> would be
> 	very, very hard to explain why advertising companies devote so
> much time
> 	and money to coming up with good product names, or why (to
> 	non-vegetarians, at least) a "steak" sounds much more appetizing
> than "a
> 	piece of cooked cow."
>
> 	The work on color terminology, by the way, hasn't as much
> discredited
> 	the SWH entirely as it has put sharp limits on it. Our color
> perception
> 	is determined to a great extent by the biophysics of our
> perceptual
> 	apparatus (people have three kinds of color sensors, each of
> which
> 	"peaks" at a particular range of wavelengths) but *within* those
> limits,
> 	language can have an effect.
>
> 	Bill Spruiell
> 	Dept. of English
> 	Central Michigan University
>
> 	-----Original Message-----
> 	From: Assembly for the Teaching of English Grammar
> 	[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Johanna Rubba
> 	Sent: Monday, February 25, 2008 2:54 PM
> 	To: [log in to unmask]
> 	Subject: Re: Form and function (philosophy of language)
>
> 	It's important to remember that Whorf was theorizing about
> _habitual_
> 	thought that is influenced by language. He thought that some
> 	languages reflected the physical world better than others. For
> 	instance, in English, "lightning" is a noun, and we don't even
> have
> 	an exclusive verb for it, but physically, it's an event or
> process
> 	much more than a thing. He obviously didn't think that we are
> 	irrevocably stuck in patterns of thought because of our
> language,
> 	because his very recommendation was that we use other languages
> for
> 	physical descriptions of the world, hence he had to believe that
> we
> 	could modify our thoughts to fit the language we are using.
>
> 	The Sapir-Whorf hypothesis has been out of favor for a long
> time, but
> 	numerous linguists are exploring it again and looking for some
> 	empirical support for it. I have seen notices for conferences,
> for
> 	example. I have not been following the developments, but it
> would be
> 	interesting to see what is being discovered. I did review a
> paper for
> 	Language which purported to show some Whorfian effect regarding
> 	spatial orientation, which was a little more convincing than the
> work
> 	on color, which has been discredited.
>
> 	In Lakoff and Johnson's model of metaphorical thought, metaphor
> 	precedes language -- that is, language reflects metaphorical
> thought;
> 	it only creates it to the extent that particular metaphors are
> 	propagated throughout a culture via its language. Some metaphors
> are
> 	culture-specific, and some are (according to L & J) universal.
> Either
> 	kind can influence how scientists analyze the world and how they
>
> 	build models of it. Lakoff has a book (with a co-author) on the
> 	metaphorical origins of mathematics, but I don't recall the
> title. A
> 	cruise on his web page is likely to reveal it. L & J propose
> that
> 	metaphor influences not only language, but behavior. For
> instance,
> 	reifying time into units impels us to create things like hourly
> wages
> 	and parking meters.
>
> 	It's worth noting that L & J propose that we can change our
> thought
> 	habits by adopting new metaphors, for instance "marriage is a
> 	collaborative work of art" rather than traditional physical-bond
>
> 	metaphors. Different metaphors can give a different spin on
> 	phenomena, creating new linguistic metaphors and new habits of
> thought.
>
> 	Dr. Johanna Rubba, Ph. D.
> 	Associate Professor, Linguistics
> 	Linguistics Minor Advisor
> 	English Dept.
> 	Cal Poly State University San Luis Obispo
> 	San Luis Obispo, CA 93407
> 	Ofc. tel. : 805-756-2184
> 	Dept. tel.: 805-756-2596
> 	Dept. fax: 805-756-6374
> 	E-mail: [log in to unmask]
> 	URL: cla.calpoly.edu/~jrubba
>
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>
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