Complexity in the history of language study
Abstract This article examines the history of two examples from American Indian languages as an illustration of the ways in which the ambivalent and controversial nature of linguistic complexity has shaped the attitudes to "exotic" languages. In particular, I trace the life cycles of the C...
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2014
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crdegruyter:10.1515/psicl-2014-0011 2023-05-15T16:07:58+02:00 Complexity in the history of language study Kilarski, Marcin 2014 http://dx.doi.org/10.1515/psicl-2014-0011 https://www.degruyter.com/view/j/psicl.2014.50.issue-2/psicl-2014-0011/psicl-2014-0011.pdf unknown Walter de Gruyter GmbH Poznan Studies in Contemporary Linguistics volume 50, issue 2 ISSN 1897-7499 0137-2459 General Medicine journal-article 2014 crdegruyter https://doi.org/10.1515/psicl-2014-0011 2022-04-14T05:07:14Z Abstract This article examines the history of two examples from American Indian languages as an illustration of the ways in which the ambivalent and controversial nature of linguistic complexity has shaped the attitudes to "exotic" languages. In particular, I trace the life cycles of the Cherokee verbs for washing and the Eskimo words for snow from an unbiased origin in the works of John Pickering (1777-1846) and Franz Boas (1858-1942) to ideologically oriented uses as evidence for claims advanced within late 19th century anthropological racism and 20th century cultural relativism, respectively. The history of these examples illustrates the instrumental treatment of linguistic data in secondary references in linguistics and the social sciences as well as contradictory interpretations of complexity, as shown by the overemphasis on lexical overabundance and the disregard for morphological complexity of the languages in question. More generally, I show that the notion of complexity has been a key aspect of discussions concerning such issues as cross-linguistic differences in linguistic structure, evaluations of languages regarded as "exotic" or "primitive" as well as the assumed cognitive, cultural and social correlates of linguistic structure. Article in Journal/Newspaper eskimo* De Gruyter (via Crossref) Indian Poznan Studies in Contemporary Linguistics 50 2 |
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De Gruyter (via Crossref) |
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crdegruyter |
language |
unknown |
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General Medicine |
spellingShingle |
General Medicine Kilarski, Marcin Complexity in the history of language study |
topic_facet |
General Medicine |
description |
Abstract This article examines the history of two examples from American Indian languages as an illustration of the ways in which the ambivalent and controversial nature of linguistic complexity has shaped the attitudes to "exotic" languages. In particular, I trace the life cycles of the Cherokee verbs for washing and the Eskimo words for snow from an unbiased origin in the works of John Pickering (1777-1846) and Franz Boas (1858-1942) to ideologically oriented uses as evidence for claims advanced within late 19th century anthropological racism and 20th century cultural relativism, respectively. The history of these examples illustrates the instrumental treatment of linguistic data in secondary references in linguistics and the social sciences as well as contradictory interpretations of complexity, as shown by the overemphasis on lexical overabundance and the disregard for morphological complexity of the languages in question. More generally, I show that the notion of complexity has been a key aspect of discussions concerning such issues as cross-linguistic differences in linguistic structure, evaluations of languages regarded as "exotic" or "primitive" as well as the assumed cognitive, cultural and social correlates of linguistic structure. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Kilarski, Marcin |
author_facet |
Kilarski, Marcin |
author_sort |
Kilarski, Marcin |
title |
Complexity in the history of language study |
title_short |
Complexity in the history of language study |
title_full |
Complexity in the history of language study |
title_fullStr |
Complexity in the history of language study |
title_full_unstemmed |
Complexity in the history of language study |
title_sort |
complexity in the history of language study |
publisher |
Walter de Gruyter GmbH |
publishDate |
2014 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1515/psicl-2014-0011 https://www.degruyter.com/view/j/psicl.2014.50.issue-2/psicl-2014-0011/psicl-2014-0011.pdf |
geographic |
Indian |
geographic_facet |
Indian |
genre |
eskimo* |
genre_facet |
eskimo* |
op_source |
Poznan Studies in Contemporary Linguistics volume 50, issue 2 ISSN 1897-7499 0137-2459 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1515/psicl-2014-0011 |
container_title |
Poznan Studies in Contemporary Linguistics |
container_volume |
50 |
container_issue |
2 |
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1766404017514086400 |