John,
I am no doubt under the influence of my current reading as well. I'm
working my way through Talmy Givon's Syntax, where he says "the best
point of departure for functionalism is to be found in biology, the
mother-discipline that has been profoundly functionalist for over two
thousand years."
A very apt analogy might be anatomy and physiology. No medical
researcher would look at anatomy without thinking of physiology, and
to fully understand physiology you need to examine anatomy in use. The
underlying assumption is that it is what it is because of what it
does. Use shapes form. The most important insights come from health,
not illness.
From this view, we can't fully look at the forms of conversation
without thinking about purposes and intentions.
Craig
Point well taken, Craig. Perhaps more general references to the
> nurture/nature debate would be more appropriate. I'm not a biology
> teacher,
> but I imagine nurture/nature would be a key point to explore when looking
> at
> a phenomenon like language. Even if the task is to classify conversations,
> the framework for that might include related ideas like how those types of
> conversation are learned and/if some types are more "innate" than others
> (such as a parent-child verbal interaction).
>
> I'm a bit out of my league here. I think my mind is wandering in this
> direction because I'm reading *Patterns in the Mind* by Ray Jackendoff.
>
> John
>
> On Thu, Feb 24, 2011 at 2:31 PM, Craig Hancock <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
>> John,
>> I think Skinner and Chomsky may be an OK place to start, but it
>> wouldn't be a good way to frame the debate. I don't think any of the
>> people developing positions contrary to Chomsky would think of
>> themselves as behaviorist. No one defends Skinner. It's not a
>> conditioning process or thought of in that way. But I agree with your
>> last point. Language has a biological component, and there are
>> competing ways to model that.
>>
>> Craig
>>
>> It strikes me also that studying language behaviors is a great
>> opportunity
>> > to examine how language is seen both as a learned behavior as well as
>> an
>> > innate ability (and a myriad of views in-between). The debate between
>> > Skinner and Chomsky is a good place to start. For a biology teacher,
>> this
>> > may be great material to examine the fine line between biology and
>> > cognition.
>> >
>> > John
>> >
>> > On Thu, Feb 24, 2011 at 9:56 AM, Craig Hancock <[log in to unmask]>
>> wrote:
>> >
>> >> I have used Tannen in composition classes and students find her
>> >> "relevant" and accessible. If you google her, you can find short
>> >> articles on male/female uses of language and criticisms of our
>> >> "argument culture." I would also suggest Lakoff and Johnson,
>> certainly
>> >> "Metaphors We Live By" as ways to talk about the relationship between
>> >> the way we use language and how we conceive the world and how that
>> >> affects our social interaction. In terms of how we see argument, this
>> >> overlaps with Tannen.
>> >> I don't think you can go wrong with Grice's maxims, probably
>> available
>> >> from a number of sources.
>> >> They may find it interesting that many linguists see language as "a
>> >> complex adaptive system", using metaphors out of biology. Much of
>> that
>> >> is happening at the scholarly level. Geoff Thompson has an
>> >> "Introduction to Functional Grammar" that is intended to be
>> accessible,
>> >> as is David Lee's book on cognitive Linguistics. It seems to me that
>> >> prototype theory links cognition to language. I'm not sure what to
>> >> suggest for reading. Is it covered in contemporary psychology texts?
>> >> I'm not sure if any of that is what they are looking for.
>> >>
>> >> Craig>
>> >>
>> >>
>> >> My first impression is that they are doing discourse analysis of a
>> sort.
>> >> > Perhaps they would benefit from a referral to the literature on
>> speech
>> >> > acts?
>> >> > Or perhaps a general reference to the work of discourse analysts
>> like
>> >> > Deborah Tannen would be helpful?
>> >> >
>> >> > I'll consider this more. I think providing direct help to school
>> >> teachers
>> >> > is
>> >> > something this group should take as an important component of its
>> >> mission!
>> >> >
>> >> > John Alexander
>> >> >
>> >> > On Thu, Feb 24, 2011 at 8:44 AM, Dick Veit <[log in to unmask]>
>> wrote:
>> >> >
>> >> >> I received the following request from a high school teacher. Can
>> >> anyone
>> >> >> supply information she and her class would find useful?
>> >> >>
>> >> >> Hello, Professor Veit.
>> >> >>
>> >> >> I am teaching a unit on behavior in an IB Biology course. My
>> students
>> >> >> want
>> >> >> to analyze and categorize topics of human conversation. Such as:
>> >> >> discussion
>> >> >> of subjective or objective ideas, discussion of others, relating
>> >> stories
>> >> >> to
>> >> >> one's own experiences, etc.
>> >> >>
>> >> >> We are having difficulty finding literature sources. I am
>> wondering
>> >> if
>> >> >> you
>> >> >> know of any literature sources on this topic.
>> >> >>
>> >> >> Thanks for your time and consideration. Any help you could give
>> would
>> >> be
>> >> >> greatly appreciated.
>> >> >>
>> >> >> Stacey Skinner, Biology Teacher
>> >> >> St. Paul Central High School
>> >> >> [log in to unmask]
>> >> >>
>> >> >> Dick
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>> >> >> leave the list"
>> >> >>
>> >> >> Visit ATEG's web site at http://ateg.org/
>> >> >>
>> >> >
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>> >> >
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