Language : a complex-systems approach

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dc.contributor.advisorLove, Nigelen_ZA
dc.contributor.authorSteyn, Jacquesen_ZA
dc.date.accessioned2016-05-04T12:45:48Z
dc.date.available2016-05-04T12:45:48Z
dc.date.issued1994en_ZA
dc.description.abstractMainstream twentieth-century linguistics, a segregational approach, cannot explain the most obvious characteristics of language. The reasons for this are investigated. It is concluded that linguistics suffers from an incoherent conceptual framework which is the result of influences from three major sources: 1. The desire to establish linguistics as a proper science which led to the acceptance of a mechanistic and positivistic view of science and a pre-quantum conception of matter. 2. The language myth: there are many notions about language and related issues which we have inherited from our ancestors and tacitly accepted without scrutiny. Contemporary ideas about language are biased by this inherited stock of 'knowledge'. 3. Saussure's theory of language, later adopted and adapted by Chomsky, in which the 'true object of linguistic investigation' is abstracted away from what we ordinarily view as language. Together these three sources resulted in a peculiar view of language which cannot explain the most obvious things about it. The proposed alternative view, an integrational approach, redefines language in the holistic terms of a complex-systems approach. Language is the outcome of the dynamic interaction between social and physiological systems -- particular attention is paid to consciousness. Neither language, society or culture is an 'object', but is created through the interaction between individuals in communicative situations. Language is not 'being', but results from 'becoming'. Meaning is not given in advance, but created in each event of communication. Meaning is not a static closed system, but an open system which is dynamically constructed from moment to moment. Concepts of mathematical topology (fractal geometry and catastrophe theory), non-linear, dynamic, open and complex systems, and of chaology are used as conceptual tools to break away from the stronghold our inherited view of language has on our contemporary thinking about it.en_ZA
dc.identifier.apacitationSteyn, J. (1994). <i>Language : a complex-systems approach</i>. (Thesis). University of Cape Town ,Faculty of Humanities ,Linguistics. Retrieved from http://hdl.handle.net/11427/19415en_ZA
dc.identifier.chicagocitationSteyn, Jacques. <i>"Language : a complex-systems approach."</i> Thesis., University of Cape Town ,Faculty of Humanities ,Linguistics, 1994. http://hdl.handle.net/11427/19415en_ZA
dc.identifier.citationSteyn, J. 1994. Language : a complex-systems approach. University of Cape Town.en_ZA
dc.identifier.ris TY - Thesis / Dissertation AU - Steyn, Jacques AB - Mainstream twentieth-century linguistics, a segregational approach, cannot explain the most obvious characteristics of language. The reasons for this are investigated. It is concluded that linguistics suffers from an incoherent conceptual framework which is the result of influences from three major sources: 1. The desire to establish linguistics as a proper science which led to the acceptance of a mechanistic and positivistic view of science and a pre-quantum conception of matter. 2. The language myth: there are many notions about language and related issues which we have inherited from our ancestors and tacitly accepted without scrutiny. Contemporary ideas about language are biased by this inherited stock of 'knowledge'. 3. Saussure's theory of language, later adopted and adapted by Chomsky, in which the 'true object of linguistic investigation' is abstracted away from what we ordinarily view as language. Together these three sources resulted in a peculiar view of language which cannot explain the most obvious things about it. The proposed alternative view, an integrational approach, redefines language in the holistic terms of a complex-systems approach. Language is the outcome of the dynamic interaction between social and physiological systems -- particular attention is paid to consciousness. Neither language, society or culture is an 'object', but is created through the interaction between individuals in communicative situations. Language is not 'being', but results from 'becoming'. Meaning is not given in advance, but created in each event of communication. Meaning is not a static closed system, but an open system which is dynamically constructed from moment to moment. Concepts of mathematical topology (fractal geometry and catastrophe theory), non-linear, dynamic, open and complex systems, and of chaology are used as conceptual tools to break away from the stronghold our inherited view of language has on our contemporary thinking about it. DA - 1994 DB - OpenUCT DP - University of Cape Town LK - https://open.uct.ac.za PB - University of Cape Town PY - 1994 T1 - Language : a complex-systems approach TI - Language : a complex-systems approach UR - http://hdl.handle.net/11427/19415 ER - en_ZA
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/11427/19415
dc.identifier.vancouvercitationSteyn J. Language : a complex-systems approach. [Thesis]. University of Cape Town ,Faculty of Humanities ,Linguistics, 1994 [cited yyyy month dd]. Available from: http://hdl.handle.net/11427/19415en_ZA
dc.language.isoengen_ZA
dc.publisher.departmentLinguisticsen_ZA
dc.publisher.facultyFaculty of Humanitiesen_ZA
dc.publisher.institutionUniversity of Cape Town
dc.subject.otherLinguisticsen_ZA
dc.titleLanguage : a complex-systems approachen_ZA
dc.typeDoctoral Thesis
dc.type.qualificationlevelDoctoral
dc.type.qualificationnamePhDen_ZA
uct.type.filetypeText
uct.type.filetypeImage
uct.type.publicationResearchen_ZA
uct.type.resourceThesisen_ZA
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