Overview

Language is a natural resource: Power and vulnerability are associated with access to language, just as to food and water. In this new book, a linguist and philosopher elucidate why language is so powerful, illuminate its very real social and political implications, and make the case for linguistic equality—equality among languages and equality in access to/knowledge of language and its use—as a human right and tool to prevent violence and oppression. Students and instructors will find this accessible, interdisciplinary text invaluable for courses that explore how language reflects power structures in linguistics, philosophy/ethics, and cognitive science/psychology.

Full Product Details

Author:   Daniel R. Boisvert ,  Ralf Thiede
Publisher:   Taylor & Francis Ltd
Imprint:   Routledge
Weight:   0.453kg
ISBN:  

9780367224370

ISBN 10:   0367224372
Pages:   190
Publication Date:   10 June 2020
Audience:   College/higher education ,  General/trade ,  Tertiary & Higher Education ,  General
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   In Print  
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Table of Contents

Contents List of Figures List of Tables Acknowledgments Permission Introduction A World without Words? Language and linguistic equality Language, Mind, and Power Language as a Natural Resource Depletion and Preservation PART I Language and Mind 1 Profile of an Alpha(bet) Predator Entropy and Cooperation DNA and Philosophy: Unambiguous Information? Interpreting Single-signal Communication Systems: Cooperation and co-option The Cognitive Arms Race: Combinatorial communication systems Creative Cooperation and Violence: Human language In a class by itself: A hierarchical combinatorial system The Neural Architecture of Universal Grammar Language Between Brains 2 Thinking Animals Rich Concepts Brain-states and Reflexes Concepts of Objects and Events More Complex Capacities Remembering and Analyzing Comparing and Synthesizing Imagining and Planning Social Cognition Conventionalizing and Imitating Joint Attention and Theory of Mind Collective Intentionality 3 The Narrating Brain Cognitive Control through Language Language-imposed Telic Apperception: Schemata and scripts The Predictive Power of Narrative Computing Setting the Parameters of Narrative Computing: Framing Narrative Cooperative Computing: Story time PART II Language and Power 4 Doing Things with Words Speech Acts Distinction 1: Types of speech acts Distinction 2: Types of linguistic purpose Distinction 3: Performing illocutions directly or indirectly The Three Distinctions in Action Conversational Implicature Sentence Meaning vs. Speaker Meaning Conventional vs. Conversational Implicature Contemporary Pragmatics 5 The Language of Cooperation Three Levels of Linguistic Processing and Cooperation Level 1: Negotiating syntactic structures and functions Level 2: Literal interpretation: Negotiated sentence meaning Level 3: Extended interpretation: Negotiated implicatures Coming Together: Harnessing the cooperative nature of language 6 The Language of Violence Genocide and Politicide Ten Stages of Genocide Dispositions Content and Context of Genocidal Language Sexual Assault Linguistic Dispositions, Content, and Context Silencing 7 Clarity from Managed Confusion Cooperation Towards Understanding The Need for Managed Confusion Linguistic Information Management Strategies Keeping Track of Proforms Ordering Constituents Information Management: Chaining Given and New Clarity as Alignment with Audience Needs: The Example of Definitions Masters of Managed Confusion: Famous Authors Language, Logic, Predictability, and Event Model ‘Hills Like White Elephants’ by Ernest Hemingway ‘The International Eisteddfod’ by Dylan Thomas Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie Oh Say Can You Say by Dr. Seuss A Collaborative Dance, but the Author Leads Conclusion Standards and Shibboleths Illiteracy and Aliteracy Contaminated Language Uncooperative Language

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Author Information

Daniel R. Boisvert is Senior Lecturer of Philosophy at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. His main areas of research are philosophy of language and ethics, especially their intersections and relations to broader issues in philosophy of mind and logic. He has authored or co-authored articles that have appeared in outlets such as Pacific Philosophical Quarterly, The Philosophical Quarterly, and The Oxford Handbook of Philosophy of Language. Ralf Thiede is Associate Professor of Applied Linguistics at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. His research interests include interfacing formal linguistics and cognition, including brain development. His book Children’s Literature, Brain Development, and Language Acquisition appeared with Routledge (2019).

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