The Whorf theory complex : a critical reconstruction
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Bibliographic Information
The Whorf theory complex : a critical reconstruction
（Amsterdam studies in the theory and history of linguistic science, ser. 3 . Studies in the history of the language sciences ; v. 81）
J. Benjamins, c1996
- : us : hbk
- : eur : hbk
- : us : pbk
- : eur : pbk
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Note
Bibliography: p. [281]-300
Includes indexes
Description and Table of Contents
Description
At last - a comprehensive account of the ideas of Benjamin Lee Whorf which not only explains the nature and logic of the linguistic relativity principle but also situates it within a larger 'theory complex' delineated in fascinating detail. Whorf's almost unknown unpublished writings (as well as his published papers) are drawn on to show how twelve elements of theory interweave in a sophisticated account of relations between language, mind, and experience. The role of language in cognition is revealed as a central concern, some of his insights having interesting affinity with modern connectionism. Whorf's gestaltic 'isolates' of experience and meaning, crucial to understanding his reasoning about linguistic relativity, are explained. A little known report written for the Yale anthropology department is used extensively and published for the first time as an appendix. With the Whorf centenary in 1997, this book provides a timely challenge to those who take pleasure in debunking his ideas without bothering to explore their subtlety or even reading them in their original form.
Table of Contents
- 1. Acknowledgments
- 2. Preface
- 3. Chapter 1. Introduction and Overview
- 4. 1.1 The Early Work: 1924-1930
- 5. 1.2 1931-1941: The Final Years
- 6. 1.3 Misread, Unread, and Superficially Treated
- 7. 1.4 The Theory Complex: An Overview
- 8. 1.5 Elements of the Complex Summarized
- 9. Chapter 2. Linguistic Thinking: Points, Pattern, Linkage, and Rapport
- 10. 2.1 Patternment
- 11. 2.2 Points in the Pattern
- 12. 2.3 Emergent from a Field of Causes
- 13. 2.4 Linguistic Thinking
- 14. 2.5. Form and Substance, Process and Content: Cutting through the Dichotomies to Linguistic Thinking
- 15. Chapter 3. The Logic and Development of the Linguistic Relativity Principle
- 16. 3.1 The Linguistic Relativity Principle
- 17. 3.2 Raw Experience
- 18. 3.3 Isolates of Experience: the Nonlinguistic Configuration of Experience
- 19. 3.4 A Canon of Reference, the Same for all Observers
- 20. 3.5 The Biological Segmentation of Reality
- 21. 3.6 Different Essentials from the Same Situation
- 22. 3.7 The Yale Report and Configurative Linguistics
- 23. 3.8 An Analysis of Hopi Stems: Gestalt Theory in the Service of Linguistics
- 24. 3.9 Overview of the Yale Report
- 25. Chapter 4. Of Covert Categories, Cryptotypes, and the Internalized Linguistic System
- 26. 4.1 A Whorfian Psycholinguistics
- 27. 4.2 Marking and Grammatical Classes
- 28. 4.3 Terminological Anomalies
- 29. 4.4 Grammatical Meaning and The Problem of Levels in Linguistic Description
- 30. 4.5 The Data of Utterances
- 31. Chapter 5. Abstractive Processes and the Question of Universals
- 32. 5.1 Abstractive Processes in Cognition
- 33. 5.2 Experiential, Conceptual, and Linguistic Universals
- 34. Chapter 6. Metalinguistics: The Intercalihration of Agreement through Language Awareness
- 35. 6.1 Introductory Comments
- 36. 6.2 Three Kinds of Agreement
- 37. 6.3 Metalinguistics
- 38. 6.4 Language Awareness as an Augmentative Function in Cognition
- 39. 6.5 Different Order Systems, Different Logics, and the Progress of Science
- 40. Appendix: "The Yale Report"
- 41. References
- 42. Index of Names
- 43. Index of Subjects
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