Publications in General Linguistics, University of Turku, Finland

[Seppo Vainio]

We would like to bring to your attention the series 

Publications in General Linguistics, University of Turku, Finland

1)Anneli Pajunen (1999): On verb rection in Finnish. Selecting the members of the argument structure (in Finnish). (203 p.) ISBN 951-29-1384-4. 17 € (22 USD)

2)Esa Itkonen (1999): The other side of linguistics. Essays from 1963-1999 (in Finnish). (293 p.) ISBN 951-29-1470-0. 17 € (22 USD)

3)Anneli Pajunen (ed.) (2002): Mimesis, sign, and the evolution of language(with contributions by E. Engberg-Pedersen, T. Haukioja, E. Itkonen, C.
Sinha, J. Zlatev). (125 p.) ISBN 951-29-2195-2. 
17  € (22 USD)
 
4) Esa Itkonen (2001): The diversity and the unity of the world's languages (in Finnish). (436 p.)  ISBN 951-29-2219-3. 25  € (32 USD)

5) Seppo Kittila (2002): Transitivity. Towards a comprehensive typology. (311 p.) ISBN 951-29-2193-6. 22 € (28 USD)

6) Esa Itkonen (2003): Methods of formalization beside and inside both autonomous and non-autonomous linguistics. (227 p.) ISBN 951-29-2485-4. 25 € 
(32 USD)

7)Timo Haukioja (forthcoming): The case against the language organ 

8)Esa Itkonen (2003): What is language? A study in the philosophy of linguistics. (226 p.) ISBN 951-29-2617-2. 20 € (26 USD).

Postage and packing will be charged additionally.

Books can be ordered online, further information, contact tykk at utu.fi.  
 
General Linguistics
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Publications in General Linguistics 8

At the metatheoretical level, linguistics is often portrayed as one natural science among others; speakers are claimed to be governed by a blind language instinct; and it is assumed, accordingly, that their behavior can be exhaustively described in physico-biological terms (as shown inter alia by the current tendency to reinterpret the term cognitiveas neurological). 

In this book Esa Itkonen argues that the general view outlined above is fundamentally false. His argument, based on the normativity of language, consists in pursuing the many ramifications of this difficult concept. Norms are inherently social entities; they may be broken by acts of free will; they are accessible to conscious intuition; intuition is a type of knowing-that, on the one hand, and a type of agents knowledge, on the other; empathy, as a related type of agents knowledge, opens up the possibility to understand alien languages and cultures; empathy, when fully spelled out, culminates in so-called rational explanation. 

The level of normativity constitutes the ineluctable presupposition for doing any kind of linguistic research. This fact can be ignored only at the cost of giving a distorted picture of what linguistics is about. 

It goes without saying that the social level of language as well as the psychological one are underlain by a neurological substratum. But this has never been denied.

The general argument is complemented by case studies on the philosophy of typological linguistics and on the philosophy of phonology.