Problèmes de linguistique générale
About: This article is published in Language.The article was published on 1968-03-01. It has received 1838 citations till now.
Citations
More filters
TL;DR: Sign language linguistics, which began in the 1960s, was based on the formalist grammatical categories developed for oral languages and adopted some of the main theoretical presumptions of the linguistic models of the time.
Abstract: With gestures they could have begun language-not "protolanguage"-but the real thing. . . . Although some may still believe that language has never been other than spoken and heard, the fact remains that the configuration and movement of the hands and arms can resemble the appearance of things and their actions. Language needs both subjects and predicates, and gestures of this kind (not coincidentally) have two analogous parts. W. C. Stokoe and M. Marschark THIS ARTICLE DESCRIBES the predicative verbal system of Catalan Sign Language (LSC) as it is used by Deaf people in the province of Barcelona.1 We also present a historical perspective of the research on this topic, which provides insight into the changes that have taken place over the last few decades in sign language linguistics. The principal differences between these languages and oral ones include the visual character of their linguistic units and the use of the space in front of the signer (neutral space) to describe events of the real world. This space is broadly exploited in the verb structure, which constitutes a complex gestural form that accumulates most of the information in the sentence and the discourse as a whole. For this reason, since the 1970s, descriptions of these verb systems have attracted the attention of numerous researchers. Sign language linguistics, which began in the 1960s, was based on the formalist grammatical categories developed for oral languages and adopted some of the main theoretical presumptions of the linguistic models of the time. However, in the 1990s, the rise of functionalist and cognitive perspectives had a major influence on some of the most recent descriptions; consequently, the initial assumptions are now being reexamined. This theoretical change has also affected the study of predicative structure. Preliminary works on verb typology were conducted in the 1970s.2 Among them, especially in the initial years, are Friedman (1975), Fischer and Cough (1978), and Padden (1983). Earlier works include Padden (1990), Liddell (1990, 1994, 1998, 20003, 2000b, 2003a, 2003b), Liddell and Metzger (1998), Valli and Lucas (1996), Engberg-Pedersen (1993), Wallin (1994), and Meir (1998, 2002), some of which are critical reviews of the pioneering works. For Latin American sign languages, see Massone and Machado (1994), Fridman-Mintz (1996), Dominguez (1998), and Oviedo (2003), all of whom follow Liddell's different formulations. The preliminary studies of verbal classification consist mainly of descriptions of American Sign Language (ASL), while more recent works include analyses of other sign languages. A review of these studies reveals changes in the description of the verbal category. We discuss those changes later on and distinguish between two clearly defined time periods that correspond to two differentiated theoretical trends: one, a formalist orientation based on early research, although this does not imply that this perspective is no longer the object of study (see Supalla 2003), and the other, a cognitive functionalist dimension that aims to explain sign language from distinct perspectives, with particular reference to the observation of specific features provided by a visual-spatial modality (Talmy 2003). The First Classifications of Verbs in ASL As we have already mentioned, work on verb classification for sign languages began in the 1970s. However, it was not until Carol Padden's (1983) research that the proposal to divide the verb category in ASL into three areas took hold. Padden proposes the following classification: a) Inflecting verbs: These are verbs that use inflecting modifications to mark the difference in the person that produces the verbal action, as well as other grammatical morphemes such as number. From a formal point of view, the modifications that occur in these verbs to express information about the participants that intervene in the event are a consequence of changes in the parameters of movement and orientation. …
15 citations
Cites background from "Problèmes de linguistique générale"
...With regard to the nature of deixis in oral languages, Benveniste (1966, vol. 2, chap. 3) warns of Peirce’s mistake (1965, 1974) in considering the deictic forms of oral languages as purely indexical. According to Benveniste, the deictic forms also have a certain stable meaning since they are part of a specific linguistic system. This is also how Rauh (1983) sees it when she says that the deictic expression has both an indexic and a symbolic meaning....
[...]
...With regard to the nature of deixis in oral languages, Benveniste (1966, vol. 2, chap. 3) warns of Peirce’s mistake (1965, 1974) in considering the deictic forms of oral languages as purely indexical. According to Benveniste, the deictic forms also have a certain stable meaning since they are part of a specific linguistic system. This is also how Rauh (1983) sees it when she says that the deictic expression has both an indexic and a symbolic meaning. The indexic character is the specific meaning of these expressions, and it is therefore meaning that is determined in each context. The symbolic meaning (which Rauh calls deictic determination) describes the local, personal, and time dimensions of the deictic expressions and their elements, which are determined according to egocentric and localist dimensions; it is symbolic because it has a permanence that is independent of the context; expressions such as ‘‘today’’ or ‘‘tomorrow’’ always designate a relationship toward a point of egocentric time and hence exhibit all of the deictic expressions. 6. In this research, we focus only on the predicative verbal category (i.e., verbs that describe states, primarily actions, processes, and localizations). 7. Aspect has been studied by one of the members of our team, Cristina Freire-Rodrı́guez (2000), from empirical data from the variety of LSE used in the city of A Coruña....
[...]
01 Jan 2012
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors propose an approach that considers an audio-visual text as part of a so-called dispositif: the set-up of technology, text and viewing situation that is relevant to the specific corpus under scrutiny.
Abstract: Since the late 1990s, there has been a marked increase in academic interest in what are sometimes called ‘utility films’, intended for purposes of information, training or teaching, or advertising. Although such research was long overdue, the current academic output tends to be restricted in scope to histories of production and distribution, and questions concerning pedagogical effectiveness. Much less attention has been paid to the films’ textual features: the means they deploy in defending their informational, educational or commercial arguments. In the absence of such studies, the image survives of very ‘formulaic’ genres. Watch and Learn seeks to modify this picture, and suggests a methodology that helps to foreground the films’ rhetorical diversity. Taking its departure from a historic collection of (Dutch) classroom films, the book proposes an approach that considers an audio-visual text as part of a so-called dispositif: the set-up of technology, text and viewing situation that is relevant to the specific corpus under scrutiny. Furthermore, analysis is based on the assumption that the rhetorical functioning of films is always a matter of somehow incorporating into the text itself the audience addressed. In the case of classroom films, this entails a double rhetorical strategy: spectators are alternately positioned as (experienced) film viewers, and as ‘learners’.
15 citations
Book•
13 Jan 2020
TL;DR: The DLPF (Questionnaire sur le Developpement du Langage de Production en Francais, publie sur Hal) as discussed by the authors ) is a survey on the development of the French language.
Abstract: La periode qui s’etend de un an a quatre ans environ est cruciale pour l’acquisition du langage oral, que l’enfant met en place en integrant les trois dimensions fondamentales du lexique, de la grammaire et de la pragmatique. Cet apprentissage definit un domaine de recherche en pleine expansion, reconnu pour avoir des retombees majeures dans les champs de l’education et de la sante. Or, il existe encore actuellement peu d’outils permettant d’evaluer ou d’analyser le developpement du langage durant cette periode charniere, et peu de recherches qui en donnent une vision d’ensemble a la fois precise et synthetique. C’est a ces objectifs que repondent le DLPF (Questionnaire sur le Developpement du Langage de Production en Francais, publie sur Hal) et son etude de reference. L'etude, presentee dans cet ouvrage, a ete realisee aupres de 517 enfants tout-venant de 18 a 42 mois en ciblant conjointement les trois domaines langagiers. Pour servir a l'evaluation, elle fournit dans chacun de ces domaines des scores generaux et des analyses detaillees des performances des enfants -etablis mois par mois. Pour servir a l'approfondissement des connaissances sur le developpement langagier precoce, elle fournit sur les trois domaines des syntheses articulees autour de questions centrales telles que l'emergence, la variation ou la dynamique non lineaire du developpement.
15 citations
Dissertation•
01 Jan 2016
15 citations
Additional excerpts
...(Benveniste, 1966 : 242)....
[...]
01 Jan 2014
TL;DR: The Spring Breakers as discussed by the authors is a classic example of a mouvement donnant corps à ce qui is absent de la scène de représentation, mais qui en son pouvoir d'évocation fait accéder le désir à une présence différée.
Abstract: ion, en un mouvement donnant corps à ce qui est absent de la scène de représentation, mais qui en son pouvoir d’évocation fait accéder le désir à une présence différée161. S’il importe d’ainsi décliner l’ancrage sémiotique du triomphe néolibéral, c’est 160 Spring Breakers, réal. et scén. Harmony Korine, États-Unis, couleur, 94 min, 2012, DVD. 161 Je tiens ici à rapporter la remarquable concision avec laquelle Carlo Ginzburg rend compte de cette instabilité spéculaire de la représentation, de cette « oscillation entre le pôle de la substitution et celui de l’évocation mimétique » qui caractérise le signe : « D’un côté, la représentation tient lieu de la réalité qu’elle
15 citations