In this episode, we look at language classification in the first half of the nineteenth century and at some key ideas in the work of Wilhelm von Humboldt. Read more ›
Being critical: Elements of Critical Theory in the work of critical discourse analysts
Diego Romeo
University of Edinburgh
The constellation of linguistic research broadly labelled as Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) can hardly be understood as the homogeneous product of a monolithic theory or methodology. The variety of approaches employed by critical discourse analysts has in fact induced several scholars to prefer the term Critical Discourse Studies (CDS), which ceases to imply the existence of a methodological unity and hints instead at the diversity that characterises this kind of research. Indeed, as van Dijk (2013) has pointed out, âCDA is not a method of critical discourse analysis. [âŠ] Methodologically, CDA is as diverse as DA in general.â
This lack of clarity as to what really defines CDS may be due to its elusive object of study, as scholars in this tradition are ânot interested in investigating a linguistic unit per se but in studying social phenomena which are necessarily complex and thus require a multi-disciplinary and multi-methodical approachâ (Wodak & Meyer 2016: 2). Consequently, Wodak chooses to refer to CDS as a school or programme, instead of a discipline or method, but affirms that its research is nevertheless âderived from quite different theoretical backgroundsâ (ibid.: 5). All of this seems to beg the question: What unifying elements tend to be shared by all CDS research? What makes the existence of a single label not just possible, but meaningful?
In contrast to other areas of linguistic study, CDS aims to explain linguistic facts and conventions âas the product of relations of power and struggles for powerâ (Fairclough 2001: 1). In this, CDS needs always to be goal- or problem-oriented, meaning that the research question determines the method that is selected to address it. If it is not a method or theory that unites scholars across CDS, then it must be the critical perspective from which problems are addressed. But what exactly does it mean to be âcriticalâ? Should this term be seen in toto as a legacy of the work of the Frankfurt School or simply as a generic residue thereof which is shared with critical approaches in other disciplines? This uncertainty is a consequence of the variable emphasis placed on Critical Theory by different scholars. For van Dijk (2013), for example, âbeing critical [âŠ] is a state of mind, an attitude, a way of dissenting,â a definition that is so simplistic that it lacks an explicit connection to any theory, critical or not. On the other hand, McKenna (2004: 10) attributes to the âFrankfurt and neo-Marxian traditionâ a foundational role in the formation of CDS, as do Wodak and Meyer (2016: 6), who openly acknowledge the influence of the work of the Institute for Social Research on CDS by pointing out its crucial role in shaping a âshared perspective,â and list two âcore conceptsâ of Critical Theory that are relevant in the context of discourse analysis: the necessity to direct it at the totality of society in its historical specificity and the aim to ameliorate the understanding of society by integrating all the major social sciences. Read more ›
Der Siegener Diskursmonitor â ein Onlineportal zur strategischen Kommunikation
Friedemann Vogel, Fabian Deus & Clemens Knobloch
UniversitÀt Siegen
1. Gegenstand und Ziel des Diskursmonitors
Der “Diskursmonitor” (www.diskursmonitor.de) ist ein disziplinenĂŒbergreifendes, webbasiertes Informations- und Dokumentationsportal zur strategischen Kommunikation in öffentlichen Diskursen.[1]
Das Portal richtet sich nicht nur an die Fachcommunity der Diskursforschung sowie verwandter Fachbereiche (etwa Sozial- und Kulturwissenschaften), sondern vor allem auch an PraktikerInnen aus Politik, Medien, Bildung, Justiz und Zivilgesellschaft. Sein Ziel ist erstens die bislang verstreute und nur innerakademisch zugĂ€ngliche Diskursforschung aus verschiedenen Disziplinen im Hinblick auf ihre Essenz systematisch aufzubereiten und leichter zugĂ€nglich zu machen; zweitens sollen aktuelle diskursive Entwicklungen auf Basis qualitativer und computergestĂŒtzter Verfahren aufgezeigt und damit verhandelbar werden; drittens werden Materialien und Handreichungen fĂŒr den Einsatz in Lehr-Lern-Kontexten (Schulen, NGOs usw.) bereitgestellt.
Das Portal umfasst die folgenden vier Kernmodule: Read more ›
Recent publications in the history and philosophy of linguistics â February 2020
Simone AURORA (ed.). 2019. Acta Structuralica 4.
Publisher’s website
The fourth issue of Acta Structuralica contains new source materials from major figures: an unknown short publication by Saussure from 1896, edited and commented by Alesandro Chidichimo, as well 35 letters between Jakobson and LĂ©vi-Strauss from the MIT Jakobson Papers, selected and commented by Pierre-Yves Testenoire. In addition, it offers the English translation of a key work by Hendrik Pos, “The notion of opposition in linguistics”, along with the (original) English version of an article by Patrick Flack available untilnow only in its German translation, and a new contribution on Tran Duc Thao by Jacopo D’Alonzo.
Podcast episode 2: Comparative-historical linguistics â Bopp and Grimm
In this episode, we look at the emergence of comparative-historical grammar, focusing on the work of Franz Bopp and Jacob Grimm. Read more ›
Has the LSA Been a Generativist-Dominated Organisation?
Frederick J. Newmeyer
University of British Columbia, Simon Fraser University, and University of Washington
There are two stories about how the field of linguistics (at least in the United States) reacted sociologically to the advent of generative grammar. I call them the âhistoriographersâ storyâ and the âofficial MIT storyâ. According to the historiographersâ story, Chomsky and Halle succeeded because they were able to capture the organs of power in the field, in particular, the Linguistic Society of America (LSA). Starting in the mid 1970s, quotations like the following became commonplace: Read more ›
Call for Papers: Integrationism and language ideologies, Santa Catarina, Brazil, 1â2 September 2020
1â2 September 2020
Federal University of Santa Catarina, Brazil
There are issues of pride, passion and politics involved, not to mention intelligence and imagination, and ultimately â perhaps initially and primarily â moral responsibility as well. And they are involved not merely as contributory causes or consequences but as substantive questions concerning how â if at all â A communicates with B.
(Roy Harris, Signs, Language and Communication, 1996, p. 2)
The annual Conference of the International Association for the Integrational Study of Language and Communication (IAISLC) will be held at the Federal University of Santa Catarina, Brazil, 1â2 September 2020, and will be hosted primarily by the Post-Graduate Program of Linguistics at the Federal University of Santa Catarina. Read more ›
Posted in Announcements, Conferences and workshops
Podcast episode 1: Pre-history of comparative-historical linguistics
The first series of the History and Philosophy of the Language Sciences Podcast looks at the history of modern linguistics. We begin in this episode by examining the pre-history of comparative-historical grammar. Read more ›
Recent publications in the history and philosophy of linguistics â December 2019
Henri MESCHONNIC. 2019. The Henri Meschonnic Reader. A Poetics of Society. Edited by Marko PajeviÄ. Translated by Pier-Pascale Boulanger, Andrew Eastman, John E. Joseph, David Nowell Smith, Marko PajeviÄ, Chantal WrightMarko The Henri Meschonnic Reader. A Poetics of Society. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. 344 p. ISBN: 9781474445962
Publisher’s website
Henri Meschonnic was a linguist, poet, translator of the Bible and one of the most original French thinkers of his generation. He strove throughout his career to reform the understanding of language and all that depends on it. His work has had a shaping influence on a generation of scholars and here, for the first time, a selection of these are made available in English for a new generation of linguists and philosophers of language.
This Reader, featuring fourteen texts covering the core concepts and topics of Meschonnicâs theory, will enrich, enhance and challenge your understanding of language. It explores his key ideas on poetics, the poem, rhythm, discourse and his critique of the sign. Meschonnicâs vast oeuvre was continuously preoccupied with the question of a poetics of society; he constantly connected the theory of language to its practice in various fields and interrogated what that means for society. In exploring this fundamental question, this book is central to the study and philosophy of language, with rich repercussions in fields such as translation studies, poetics and literary studies, and in redefining notions such as rhythm, modernity, the poem and the subject.
Margaret THOMAS. 2019. Formalism and Functionalism in Linguistics. The Engineer and the Collector. New York : Routledge. 126 p. ISBN : 9780429455858
Publisher’s website
This volume is a concise introduction to the lively ongoing debate between formalist and functionalist approaches to the study of language. The book grounds its comparisons between the two in both historical and contemporary contexts where, broadly speaking, formalistsâ focus on structural relationships and idealized linguistic data contrasts with functionalistsâ commitment to analyzing real language used as a communicative tool. The book highlights key sub-varieties, proponents, and critiques of each respective approach. It concludes by comparing formalist versus functionalist contributions in three domains of linguistic research: in the analysis of specific grammatical constructions; in the study of language acquisition; and in interdisciplinary research on the origins of language. Taken together, the volume opens insight into an important tension in linguistic theory, and provides students and scholars with a more nuanced understanding of the structure of the discipline of modern linguistics.
History and Philosophy of the Language Sciences 