Abstract
This paper explores the methodological and theoretical issues that need to be addressed in testing the validity of proposed correlations between the rise of a certain class of words and the development of literacy. Olson and Astington (in press) suggest a correlation between the rise of a) assertive speech act verbs such asobserve,state, andclaim, b) literacy, and c) the Enlightenment. Data from the history of speech act verbs in English do not provide evidence for any privileged correlation with the Enlightenment, since assertives abound from Old and especially Middle English on. Possible correlations with literacy point not to writing as the motivating force but rather to the language of the law-courts, feudal practices, and rhetorical debate in the Middle Ages.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Bach, K., & Harnish, R. M. (1979).Linguistic communication and speech acts. Cambridge, MA: M.I.T. Press.
Benveniste, E. (1971). Subjectivity in language. InProblems in general linguistics (M. E. Meek, Trans.). Coral Gables, FL: University of Miami Press.
Benveniste, E. (1973).Indo-European language and society (E. Palmer, Trans.). Coral Gables, FL: University of Miami Press.
Bloomfield, L. (1939).Linguistic aspects of science: International encyclopedia of unified science. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Chafe, W. (Ed.). (1980).The pear stories: Cognitive, cultural, and linguistic aspects of narrative production. Norwood, NJ: Ablex.
Fisher, J. H., Richardson, M., & Fisher, J. L. (1984).An anthology of Chancery English. Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press.
Frake, C. (1983). Did literacy cause the great cognitive divide? (Review article on Sylvia Scribner & Michael Cole,The psychology of literacy).American Ethnologist,10, 368–371.
Fraser, B. (1975). Hedged performatives. In P. Cole & J. L. Morgan (Eds.),Syntax and semantics III: Speech acts. New York: Academic Press.
Green, E. (1982). Felicity conditions and the history of some commissives in Middle English. Paper presented to the MLA Annual Meeting.
Heath, S. B. (in press). Critical factors in literacy development. In: S. de Castell, K. Egan, & A. Luke (Eds.),Literacy, society and schooling. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Hundert, E. J. (in preparation). Enlightenment and the decay of common sense. In F. van Holthoon & D. Olson (Eds.),Common sense.
Labov, W. (1974). On the use of the present to explain the past. In L. Heilmann (Ed.),Proceedings of the Eleventh International Congress of Linguists. Bologna: Il Mulino.
Laughren, M. (1982, June). A preliminary description of propositional particles in Warlpiri. Work Papers of SIL-AAB, Series A. Vol. 6,Papers in Warlpiri grammar in memory of Lothar Jagst.
Lyons, J. (1982). Deixis and subjectivity:Loquor, ergo sum? In R. J. Jarvella & W. Klein (Eds.),Speech, place, and action: Studies in deixis and related topics. New York: John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Mellinkoff, D. (1963).The language of the law. Boston: Little, Brown.
Olson, D. (in preparation).The world on paper.
Olson, D., & Astington, J. (in press). Children's acquisition of metalinguistic and metacognitive verbs. In W. Demopoulos & A. Marras (Eds.),Language learning and concept acquisition. Norwood, NJ: Ablex.
Ong, W. (1982).Orality and literacy: The technologizing of the word. New York: Methuen.
Pattison, R. (1982).On literacy: The politics of the word from Homer to rock. New York: Oxford University Press.
Pollock, F., & Maitland, F. W. (1905).The history of English law before the time of Edward I (2nd ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Rosaldo, M. Z. (1982). The things we do with words: Ilongot speech acts and speech act theory in philosophy.Language in Society,11, 203–237.
Schlieben-Lange, B. (1983).Traditionen des Sprechens: Elemente einer pragmatischen Sprachgeschichtsschreibung. Stuttgart: W. Kohlhammer.
Searle, J.R. (1979).Expression and meaning. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Siebert, E. (1971).Zum Verhältnis von Erbgut und Lehngut im Wortschatz Otfrids von Weissenburg. Munich: Wilhelm Fink Verlag.
Stock, B. (1983).The implications of literacy: Written language and models of interpretation in the eleventh and twelfth centuries. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Tannen, D. (1982). Oral and literate strategies in spoken and written narratives.Language,58, 1–21.
Toon, T. E. (1983).The politics of Early Old English sound change. New York: Academic Press.
Traugott, E. C. (1982). From propositional to textual and expressive meanings: Some semantic-pragmatic aspects of grammaticalization. In W. P. Lehmann & Y. Malkiel (Eds.),Perspectives on historical linguistics. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
Traugott, E. C. (1985).Literacy and language change: The special case of speech act verbs. The McLuhan Program in Culture and Technology, University of Toronto, Working Paper 11.
Traugott, E. C., & Dasher, R. (1985, Sept.). On the historical relation between mental and speech act verbs in English. Paper presented at ICHL VII, Pavia.
Vendler, Z. (1972).Res cogitans: An essay in rational psychology. Ithaca: Cornell University Press.
Viberg, A. (1983). The verbs of perception: A typological study. (In B. Butterworth, B. Comrie, & O. Dahl (Eds.),Explanation for language universals. Linguistics,21, 125–162.
Weinreich, U., Labov, W., & Herzog, M. (1968). Empirical foundations for a theory of language change. In W. P. Lehmann & Y. Malkiel (Eds.),Directions for historical linguistics. Austin: University of Texas Press.
Zupitza, J. (Ed.). (1966).Aelfrics Grammatik und Glossar. Berlin: Max Niehans Verlag.
Primary dictionaries consulted
Bosworth, J. (rev. by T. N. Toller). (1898).An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary. London: Oxford University Press.
Buck, C. D. (1949).A dictionary of selected synonyms in the principal Indo-European languages. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Kuhn, S. M., & Reidy, J. (1969-).Middle English Dictionary. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.
Oxford English Dictionary.
Walde, A. (rev. by J. Pokorny). (1930).Vergleichendes Wörterbuch der indogermanischen Sprachen. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Additional information
This paper is being reprinted from Judith Langer (Ed.),Language, Literacy and Culture: Issues of Society and Schooling/it (Norwood, NJ: Ablex, 1987) with the permission of the publisher.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Traugott, E.C. Literacy and language change: The special case of speech act verbs. Interchange 18, 32–47 (1987). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01807058
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01807058