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"If God is sovereign, then his lordship must extend over all of life, and it cannot be restricted to the walls of the church or within the Christian orbit." Abraham Kuyper Common Grace 1.1.

Saturday 20 March 2010

Beyond Expression by Albert Weideman

Albert Weideman
Beyond Expression: A Systematic Study of The Foundations of Linguistics.
Reformational publishing Project/ Paiedeia Press, 2009
240 pp. ISBN 978-0-88815-204-6.

http://www.amazon.com/asin/dp/0888152043/
http://www.amazon.co.uk/asin/dp/0888152043/

Weideman is professor and head of the department of English, University of the Free State. This book is his dissertation on systematic concepts in linguistics first written in the 1980s. It might seem surprising that it has only now been published particularly as it  has only been lightly edited. However, it provides an excellent exemplar of the application of a reformational philosophy on linguistics.  It shows how Dooyeweerd's systematics can apply to one specific discipline and in doing so provides a model for all other disciplines. This book will then be of interest not only to linguists but all academics who want to know how to apply Dooyeweerd's apporach to their own discipline. It is testimony to the consistency and comprehensiveness of reformational philosophy.


Contents

Prologue ix


Chapter one
Philosophy and the special sciences 1
The 'objectivity' of linguistic theory
The relationship between philosophy and the special sciences
The foundational character of philosophy
Philosophical linguistics

Chapter two
Developing a linguistic methodology 6
The structural-empirical method
The limits of method-borrowing
General properties of language as linguistic universals in Chomsky's theory
Similarity and difference between languages
Norm and fact
Structures and facts in Chomsky's thought
Chomsky and Kant
Freedom and determinism
Linguistic ideas
Lingual principles
Elementary and complex linguistic concepts

Chapter three
Sample of a previous attempt 30

Chapter four
Material lingual spheres 39
Introduction
Formal and informal
Reduction of typical structures to general concepts of function
Material lingual spheres
Register
Attempts at distinguishing between material lingual spheres
The material lingual sphere of conversation
The typical characteristics of certitudinal discourse
Scientific language The language of art The material lingual sphere of legal language
Applications of material distinctions in language teaching

Chapter five
The expressive character of language 60
Communication versus expression
The field of investigation of linguistics
A typological linguistic classification
Speech as object of inquiry
Speech and writing
Verbal language
Some remarks on terminology
Anthropological foundations of linguistics

Chapter six
The elementary linguistic concept of lingual unity and multiplicity 75
Introductory remarks
Lingual system and its formal and material aspects
The lingual unity and diversity of lingual subjects and Ojeda
The lingual unity and diversity of lingual facts

Chapter seven
Spatial analogies in the lingual aspect 84
External and internal coherence
The lingual sphere of applicability of a lingual system
The lingual dimensionality of a lingual system
The lingual position of lingual facts
Structuralism as relationism
Lingual extension on the factual side of the lingual aspect

Chapter eight
Lingual constancy as an elementary linguistic concept 104
The theoretical problem
The consistency of lingual norms
The period of appeal to authority
Arguments against The 'mechanical' elements of language
The relative constancy of lingual facts in their lingual extension

Chapter nine
The operation of lingual norms in factual lingual processes 124
Physical analogies in the structure of the lingual aspect
Factual lingual process and normative lingual procedure
Transformations as normative lingual operations
The validity of lingual norms
Changes in lingual norms
Factual lingual maintenance and change

Chapter ten
Lingual development and organization 139
Language and biology
Normative lingual development and maturity
Factual lingual growth and differentiation
Factual lingual organization

Chapter eleven
Lingual volition and sensitivity 147
Linguistics and psychology
Lingual volition and intention
Factual lingual will
The factual perception of lingual objects

Chapter twelve
Lingual identification and distinction 161
Language and thought
Normative lingual concurrence and contradiction
Language and logic
Factual lingual identity

Chapter thirteen
Formative retrocipations in the lingual aspect 170
The internal molding of language
The normative dimension of lingual competence
Other normative analogies
The factual dimension of lingual competence
The constitutive structure of the lingual aspect

Chapter fourteen
Discourse, text and other social anticipations 185
Linguistic concept and linguistic idea
Sociolinguistics as a study of the social anticipations in the lingual aspect
Normative anticipations
Material lingual spheres as normative types of discourse
Typical specifications of the general modal norm of acceptability
The appropriativeness, relevance and informativeness of utterances
'Text' as factual lingual unit

Chapter fifteen
The idea of lingual economy 201
Other linguistic issues
The idea of lingual economy
A system for lingual sharing
A broadening of the concept of objective factual lingual unit
A minimum unit for conversation
Opening and closing conversations
The overall organization of conversation
Some other factual lingual units
The remainder of the agenda

Chapter sixteen
A linguistic alternative 221

Epilogue 225

Bibliography 230

Abstract 236

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