Some notes on ecophonetics: the problem of sound distinctiveness, sound sustainability, and the sustainability of vowel systems in contact conditions as exemplified by the standard Polish vowel system in contact with the Kashubian vowel system

In the paper, an assumption is forwarded that if sound systems are brought to a contact setting, inter-entity distinctiveness is usually distorted. In the psycholinguistic sense of the word, it means that in the perception process, a particular sound of a less favoured system may be downgraded or even ridiculed. This generally places a given sound system in a weaker position sustainability-wise. It is assumed that the process may involve the presence and operation of the phenomenon of ethnic nepotism.In the paper, an assumption is forwarded that if sound systems are brought to a contact setting, inter-entity distinctiveness is usually distorted. In the psycholinguistic sense of the word, it means that in the perception process, a particular sound of a less favoured system may be downgraded or even ridiculed. This generally places a given sound system in a weaker position sustainability-wise. It is assumed that the process may involve the presence and operation of the phenomenon of ethnic nepotism

Applied linguistics as a manifestation of exo-, meso- and endo-symbiosis

An assumption is made that applied linguistics may be viewed as an outcome of an interplay of a dichotomy of endogenous and exogenous symbionts, mediated by important mesogenous symbionts acting jointly within the domain of language and communication. All of them form a system of bifurcations which may generally be called ‘a flow tool-language design’ or The Bifurcational Model of Symbiosis (BiMoS). In this model, bifurcations form a ‘grammar of bifurcations’ whose power is symbiotic in the overall functioning of language. Furthermore, the occurrence of the above mentioned types of symbionts on the language side allows for a division of ‘linguolabourese’ (or the whole ‘life of language’ as opposed to ‘instrumentolabourese’, or the whole ‘life of tools’) into three more or less distinct and interconnected areas of symbiosis: the exogenous area, the mesogenous area, and the endogenous area, respectively. The afore mentioned areas further justify a division of linguistics into three respective types: exogenous (exo-) linguistics, mesogenous (meso-) linguistics, and endogenous (endo-) linguistics. Their subdomains of interest vary but are highly interconnected, blended and synergistic. Applied linguistics is viewed here as belonging predominantly to (or taking theoretical and practical interest in) the mesogenous and endogenous areas of linguolabourese, though it is strongly supported by the underlying exogenous area.An assumption is made that applied linguistics may be viewed as an outcome of an interplay of a dichotomy of endogenous and exogenous symbionts, mediated by important mesogenous symbionts acting jointly within the domain of language and communication. All of them form a system of bifurcations which may generally be called ‘a flow tool-language design’ or The Bifurcational Model of Symbiosis (BiMoS). In this model, bifurcations form a ‘grammar of bifurcations’ whose power is symbiotic in the overall functioning of language. Furthermore, the occurrence of the above mentioned types of symbionts on the language side allows for a division of ‘linguolabourese’ (or the whole ‘life of language’ as opposed to ‘instrumentolabourese’, or the whole ‘life of tools’) into three more or less distinct and interconnected areas of symbiosis: the exogenous area, the mesogenous area, and the endogenous area, respectively. The afore mentioned areas further justify a division of linguistics into three respective types: exogenous (exo-) linguistics, mesogenous (meso-) linguistics, and endogenous (endo-) linguistics. Their subdomains of interest vary but are highly interconnected, blended and synergistic. Applied linguistics is viewed here as belonging predominantly to (or taking theoretical and practical interest in) the mesogenous and endogenous areas of linguolabourese, though it is strongly supported by the underlying exogenous area

W sprawie konieczności zachowania przedludzkich systemów komunikacyjnych (bezjęzykowych) w kontekście zachowania bioróżnorodności

On the basis of the existing and unquestioned linguistic stance, a division of all the living creatures inhabiting the Earth into those which do not have language (i.e. prehuman and languageless) and those who have language (i.e. the genus Homo sapiens) is postulated. The paper briefly discusses a rich diversity of communication modes occurring in the domain of the prehuman communication systems, such as the auditory, visual, tactile, olfactory, electric, thermal, and seismic ones, with appropriate graphic illustrations. Furthermore, on the basis of the phenomenon of the observable shrinking of this diversity and the key position of the human species, it postulates the necessity of preserving this diversity in the context of biodiversity. This major postulate is in accord with the need to intensify attempts to preserve biodiversity as well as preserve the remaining diversity on the level of the prehuman communication systems as a major challenge of modern humanity. In this context, the human species is considered here as the species of the ‘overseers’ and ‘archivers’ of all the existing communication systems existing on the Earth as the carrier of the tree of life.On the basis of the existing and unquestioned linguistic stance, a division of all the living creatures inhabiting the Earth into those which do not have language (i.e. prehuman and languageless) and those who have language (i.e. the genus Homo sapiens) is postulated. The paper briefly discusses a rich diversity of communication modes occurring in the domain of the prehuman communication systems, such as the auditory, visual, tactile, olfactory, electric, thermal, and seismic ones, with appropriate graphic illustrations. Furthermore, on the basis of the phenomenon of the observable shrinking of this diversity and the key position of the human species, it postulates the necessity of preserving this diversity in the context of biodiversity. This major postulate is in accord with the need to intensify attempts to preserve biodiversity as well as preserve the remaining diversity on the level of the prehuman communication systems as a major challenge of modern humanity. In this context, the human species is considered here as the species of the ‘overseers’ and ‘archivers’ of all the existing communication systems existing on the Earth as the carrier of the tree of life

The natural language sustainability is dependent on the feeding/seeding power as determined by NL presence in the Natural Language Global Arena and participation in communication orders

No natural language can enjoy the status of a completely isolated language. This is due to their always being in some kind of contact condition with other natural languages. As they all occur in the Natural Language Global Arena, they may either win, lose in competition with other languages, or receive the equal status. The different 'statuses' of natural languages are owed to the feeding and seeding processes in which they participate. The said processes  are framed by the communication orders in which the particular natural languages happen to function. In turn, the communication orders in which the languages are functioning, appear to be decisive in either strengthening or weakening the robustness of every natural language in their sustainability

The culture of fear

The ‘culture of fear’ constitutes an important environment for mankind. It is an interplay of biological, socio-cultural and linguistic dimensions which, in fact, underlie human existence. The dominance of one subtype of culture with respect to fear, the dystopian culture, pulls mankind into a culture of aggression, competitiveness and intolerance (or into the win-lose perspective). On the other hand, eutopian culture pulls mankind into a culture of non-aggression, cooperation, tolerance and inclusiveness (or into the win-win perspective). In fact, one may easily envisage that a well-functioning human society should remain in a state of balance between the two types of culture and it is the dystopian type of culture that should be kept in check, while the eutopian culture should be favoured if the earth as the carrier of all life, the existing biodiversity, and humanity, are to be sustained

Co-generation and maintenance of ‘dialogic space’ by means of verbal-gestural involvement, with some pedagogical implications

We emphasize that ‘dialogic space’ is a precondition to the presence and maintenance of collective culture whose most conspicuous dimension is dialogic culture. We assume that dialogic culture constitutes the fullest dimension of humanity, and we highlight its role in a number of assumptions (1-8). Next, dialogic culture in terms of its properties is briefly discussed. We further assume that dialogic space in its verbal-non-verbal tanglements is of central significance in foreign language pedagogy and as such it should be present in foreign teaching/learning programs in order to help promote the positively-charged dialogue-oriented society of practice and at the same time exclude the proliferation of negatively-charged communications

Zagadnienie percepcji języka naturalnego w triadzie: język ojczysty – język globalny – język sąsiedni na przykładzie triady język polski – język angielski – język niemiecki w ujęciu ekolingwistycznym: próba typologii

In the present article an attempt has been made to throw some light on the question of native language user awareness under conditions of long-term language contact in the particular conditions of the so-called ”soft invasion” of English and German as foreign languages upon the ‘core’ of the Polish linguistic community, whereby the Polish students, aged 20-30 years, who have been learning English and German as foreign languages in different institutions of higher learning in Poland, have been able to propose an appropriate rating of Polish, English and German in the framework: ‘native language – global language- neighbouring language’. The typology proposed herein, as a result of an analysis of a questionnaire addressed to the above defined group of subjects, is based on the notions of ‘language substratum’, ‘language adstratum’, and ‘language superstratum’ as reflecting the different degrees of language awareness based on the collective functioning of a number of selected parameters. In the present study, the parameters of ‘usefulness’, ‘betterness’, and ‘sustainability/maintenance’ have been used. It has been shown that, as a result of language contact defined above, different levels of awareness of the contacting languages may be established. Subsequently, an attempt at showing the different status of Polish, German and English in the afore mentioned group of subjects has been made and a number of conclusions, general and specific, have been drawn. In particular, it has been postulated that the overall mechanism of generating the different degrees of natural language awareness involves a (socially and individually) relevant process of joint perception and evaluation of the languages under generally long-term ”mild invasion” contact conditions, or, more precisely, the joint perception and evaluation of the sheaths surrounding the particular languages which collide with each other. Under these conditions, Polish has been found as a weakly superstratal language (i.e. with a single bent toward the substratal value of ‘usefulness’, German has been defined as a strong adstratal language (i.e. with a single bent toward the superstratal value of ‘sustainability’), while English has been defined as a uniformly superstratal language (i.e. with all the three parameters obtaining the highest value). The results thus obtained may serve as a basis for further discussions on the relevance of the notions of ‘local’ versus ‘global’ language

Image, or what? an attempt towards a holistic exploration

The following is a proposition paper whose purpose is to try to provide a solid theoretical (modelling) background for research on image generation and image maintenance. As such, it is intentionally devoid of any experimental/empirical findings. And although we agree that model-reasoning is difficult to observe, we nevertheless utterly agree with Rosenblueth and Wiener’s stance according to which ‘scientific knowledge consists of a sequence of abstract models, preferably formal, occasionally material in nature (Rosenblueth/Wiener, 1945,320), who further also stated that ‘the ideal model would be one which would cover the entire universe’ (Rosenblueth/Wiener, 1945,320). We are, of course, convinced that material substance can and should be provided later on as research continues to accrue with reference to the model(s) proposed.General assumptions which are put forth in the paper are the following:1. image is pervasive in nature; in fact, in humans it is more pervasive than language. This is due to the fact that the visual-tactile modality is of fundamental significance in the daily conduct of the human species (see e.g. Fletcher, 1952; Pirenne, 1967; Schiffman, 1982; Gordon, 1989; Sekuler/Blake, 1994).2. Owing to its pervasiveness, image may be approached holistically, that is, it may be likened to life, especially to its exteriorization within the bounds of the material and perceiving/acting human body.3. The paper is based on some general theoretical orientations which may be summarized as the following:– material positivism: within this orientation, the subject matter of research is the universal occurrence of embodiment/entitiation and its consequences, dialectical constructivism: within this orientation, a human agent as an embodied entity/organism is assumed to be involved in a continuous process of constructing and changing images