9,243 research outputs found
Scholars and their metaphors: on Language Making in linguistics
This article deals with the powerful role of metaphors in the process of Language Making throughout the history of linguistics. It departs from the assumption that metaphors play an essential role both in the formation of scientific theories and in common conceptions of language. We want to illuminate to what extent metaphors are involved in language ideologies, and we investigate their role in linguistic theory formation. After introducing different approaches to metaphor theory, we show how metaphorization in linguistics can lead to biological, territorial and liquid concepts of language. Finally, we discuss the need for a re-evaluation of language concepts within the discipline
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What can mathematical, computational and robotic models tell us about the origins of syntax?
Construction Grammar and Artificial Intelligence
In this chapter, we argue that it is highly beneficial for the contemporary
construction grammarian to have a thorough understanding of the strong
relationship between the research fields of construction grammar and artificial
intelligence. We start by unravelling the historical links between the two
fields, showing that their relationship is rooted in a common attitude towards
human communication and language. We then discuss the first direction of
influence, focussing in particular on how insights and techniques from the
field of artificial intelligence play an important role in operationalising,
validating and scaling constructionist approaches to language. We then proceed
to the second direction of influence, highlighting the relevance of
construction grammar insights and analyses to the artificial intelligence
endeavour of building truly intelligent agents. We support our case with a
variety of illustrative examples and conclude that the further elaboration of
this relationship will play a key role in shaping the future of the field of
construction grammar.Comment: Peer-reviewed author's draft of a chapter to appear in the Cambridge
Handbook of Construction Grammar (2024 - edited by Mirjam Fried and Kiki
Nikiforidou
Review of the 9th international conference on the evolution of language (Evolang9)
published_or_final_versio
Complex systems in the history of American English
Kretzschmar 2009 has demonstrated that language in use, speech as opposed to linguistic systems as usually described by linguists, satisfies the conditions for complex systems as defined in sciences such as physics, evolutionary biology, and economics. This finding has strong methodological consequences for study of the history of American English. This paper discusses implications for the initial formation of American English and its varieties, with reference to Schneider 2007, as the product of random interactions between speakers of different input varieties of English. It also considers westward expansion of American dialects, with reference to Kretzschmar 1996, as an effect of proximity, especially along settlement routes. Finally, it describes how sociolinguistic discussions of more recent change should also be understood as occurring within the different intersecting scales of complex systems of speech in America
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