Skip to main content

A Semiotic Theory of Language: Contents

A Semiotic Theory of Language

Contents

Contents

Preface

I. The Aim and Structure of the Semiotic Theory of Language

1. A Semiotic Definition of Language

2. The Principle of Semiotic Relevance and Homonymy

3. Saussure’s Notion of the Sign

4. Linguistics as a Part of Semiotics

5. The Goals of Linguistic Theory and the Semiotic Basis of Abstraction

6. Synchronic Linguistics and Diachronic Linguistics

7. Language Variation

8. The Semiotic versus Generativist Notion of Language

II. Phonology

1. The Phoneme and Distinctive Features

2. Physical and Functional Segmentation of the Speech Flow

3. Further Problems of Functional Identity

4. Distinctive Features and Experimental Phonetics

5. Phonological Antinomies

6. Some Misconceptions about the Phonological Antinomies

7. Remarks on Bohr’s Complementarity Principle and Dialectics

8. An Illustration: How the Functional View of Speech Sounds Gave Birth to One of the Greatest Discoveries in the History of Linguistics

9. Alternative Theories of the Phoneme and the Distinctive Features

10. Phonological Syntagmatics

10.1 Phonological Units

10.2 Are Monovocalic Phonological Systems Possible?

10.3 Phonological Structure of the Syllable

10.4 The Primary and Secondary Functions of Vowels and Consonants in the Syllable

10.5 Comments on the Notion ‘Extrasyllabic Consonant’

10.6 Prosodic Features

11. On Generative Phonology

III. Genotype Grammar

1. Two Levels of Grammar: Genotype Grammar and Phenotype Grammar

2. The Basic Notions of Genotype Grammar

3. Constituency

4. Dependency

5. Constituency and Dependency as Complementary Notions

6. The Structure of the Sentence

6.1 The Notion of Syntaxeme

6.2 Predicate Frames

6.3 Functional Transposition and Superposition

7. Valence and Voice

8. The Typology of Sentence Constructions

9. The Paradox of Ergativity and Functional Superposition

10. Some Implications of the Integrated Theory of Ergativity for Linguistic Typology

10.1 Ergativity as a Grammatical Category

10.2 Accessibility to Relative Clause Formation

10.3 Voices in Ergative Languages

10.4 Split Ergativity

10.5 The Class of Ergative Languages

10.6 The Practical Results Anticipated

11. An Informal Theory of Passivization

11.1 The Basic Structure of Passive

11.2 Impersonal Passive Constructions

11.3 Passive and Antipassive

12. Alternative Theories of Passivization

12.1 Generative-Transformational Grammar

12.2 Relational Grammar

12.3 The Demotion Theory of Passivization

13. The Formalism of Applicative Grammar

13.1 The Formal System of Applicative Grammar

13.2 Superposition of Types

13.3 Combinators in Applicative Grammar

13.4 Assignment of Types to Combinators

13.5 Construction Rules, Replacement Rules, and Structure-Changing Rules

13.6 Deductive Processes: Reduction and Expansion

13.7 Sample Formalization: A Formal Theory of Passive and Antipassive

13.7.1 Short and Long Passive Constructions

13.7.2 Formal Reduction from the Long Passive Construction

13.7.3 Impersonal Passive Constructions

13.7.4 Impersonal Passive Constructions with Transitive Predicates

13.7.5 Passivization of the Tertiary Term

13.7.6 Passive and Antipassive Predicates and Constructions

13.8 Sample Formalization: Reflexive Constructions

13.9 Sample Formalization: Causative Constructions

13.10 Sample Formalization: Sentence Nests

14. A Comparison of Applicative Grammar and Montague Grammar

15. A Comparison of Applicative Grammar and Generative-Transformational Grammar

16. A Comparison of Applicative Grammar and Relational Grammar

17. A Comparison of Applicative Grammar and the Lexical-Functional Grammar of Bresnan

18. The Place of Applicative Grammar among Other Semiotic Systems

IV. Phenotype Grammar

1. The Task of Phenotype Grammar

2. The Word

3. The Structure of the Word and Morphological Formatives

4. Agglutination and Fusion

5. Syntagmatic Formatives

6. Concord and Government

7. Linguistic Categories

8. The Category of Case

a) The Active System

b) The Ergative System

c) The Accusative System

V. Linguistic Methodology

1. Empirical and Conceptual Problems in Linguistics

2. The Analytical-Deductive Method and Imaginary Experiments

3. The Special Role of Linguistic Anomalies

4. The Complementarity Principle and the Centaur Concepts

5. Static and Dynamic Meta-languages

6. The Role of Analogies in the Semiotic Theory of Language

7. The Use and Abuse of Mathematical Formalism

8. The Notion of Semiotic Reality

Notes

References

Subject Index

Language Index

Name Index

Next Chapter
A Semiotic Theory of Language
PreviousNext
All rights reservedThis work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial ShareAlike 4.0 License. In short: you are free to share and make derivative works of the work under the conditions that you appropriately attribute it, you use the material only for non-commercial purposes, and that you distribute it only under a license compatible with this one.
Powered by Manifold Scholarship. Learn more at manifoldapp.org