Abstract
I have conducted a reading of major linguistic theories and texts in this book by critically examining three themes, linguistic system and the individual speaker, social order and linguistic creativity. In this process, I have tried to set in relief the major dilemma in linguistic theorizing, that is, a need to objectify language versus an awareness of the contextual nature of language in use. Is language a shared system ontologically existing among its speakers, which linguists’ metalanguage could well describe and capture? Or is it inexorably bound to specific people at a specific time, place and only meaningful in a fluid way?
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Notes
- 1.
However, see critique of this view from animal studies or human–animal studies.
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Zhou, F. (2020). Conclusion. In: Models of the Human in Twentieth-Century Linguistic Theories. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-1255-1_24
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-1255-1_24
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