25.3517, Review: History of Linguistics; Linguistic Theories: Wmffre (2013)

Sat Sep 6 20:12:53 UTC 2014

LINGUIST List: Vol-25-3517. Sat Sep 06 2014. ISSN: 1069 - 4875.

Subject: 25.3517, Review: History of Linguistics; Linguistic Theories: Wmffre (2013)

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Date: Sat, 06 Sep 2014 16:10:33
From: Deli Lara Peña [deli.lara_pena at paris-sorbonne.fr]
Subject: Dynamic Linguistics

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AUTHOR: Iwan  Wmffre
TITLE: Dynamic Linguistics
SUBTITLE: Labov, Martinet, Jakobson and Other Precursors of the Dynamic Approach to Language Description
SERIES TITLE: Contemporary Studies in Descriptive Linguistics - Band 28
PUBLISHER: Peter Lang AG
YEAR: 2013

REVIEWER: Deli Lara Peña, Université Paris Sorbonne - Paris IV

The review's editor: Anthony Aristar

INTRODUCTION

How shall descriptive linguistics deal with the heterogeneity and the
instability of linguistic forms? This book proposes an answer to this
question, namely an approach to descriptive linguistics based on the concept
of dynamic synchrony (after Jakobson and Martinet) and on a field-work
methodology inspired mainly by Labov's and Martinet's studies. The 'dynamic
approach', as the author designates it, consists of describing a dialect as a
whole and as it is actually spoken, without ignoring observed variants which
reveal that language in use undergoes variation and change. The question of
how a dialect should be described as a whole then arises. The author addresses
this question by discussing the concepts of speech community, structure and
system, among others. But the book does not focus solely on the theoretical
discussion, for it is designed to provide a historical framework for the
dynamic approach, where Jakobson, Martinet and Labov are the main references.
In the last chapter, the author also suggests some practical principles for a
linguistic description.

SUMMARY

The book is divided into twelve chapters and a preface.

Chapter 1 is a two-page long introduction, where the reader finds some
explanations for the choice of the term 'dynamics' instead of 'variation and
change'.

Chapter 2, 'Structuralism's neglect of dynamics', presents a biography of
Saussure, and some concepts from the Cours de Linguistique générale, published
in 1916. These concepts refer to language and speech (langage, langue,
parole), system, synchrony and diachrony. The author observes that the idea of
 a system refers to a 'bound static structure' (p. 20), where dynamics are
ignored.

Chapter 3 presents Labov's main field investigations and methodology as
contributions to the study of linguistic dynamics. This contribution consists
chiefly of the way it brought attention to observed variation and change in
progress, and in the correlation of variations with the social characteristics
of the informants. But the author also describes some results of Labov's which
he believes are important to phonetics.

Chapter 4 shows through quotes how Martinet stated more and more clearly
through the years that it is possible to study languages from the point of
view of 'dynamic synchrony'; that is, to note the residual features as well as
the innovations of a described language in order to make its dynamic nature
appear. Martinet also recommended combining dynamic synchrony with diachrony.

Chapter 5, 'The Prague School and Jakobson's contribution to dynamics',
introduces some of the linguists related to the history of the Prague
Linguistic Circle and some writings of Jakobson's about the advantage of
studying language from a synchronic or from a diachronic point of view, and
his conception of a dynamic synchrony. We find also here an exposition of
Martinet's, Weinreich's and Coseriu's insights.

Chapter 6 discusses some concepts related to variation, as allophones,
archiphonemes, stylistic variation, speaker's insecurity, and others. The
reader will notice that, as a decisive question is how to carry out field
investigations in order to make appear linguistic change in progress, it is
important to determine to what extent observed variations are relevant and
whether variants are individual or societal.

Chapter 7. Martinet's and Labov's teachings are presented as complementary for
the dynamic approach. The discussion focuses here on the communicative
function of language, and on intrinsic and extrinsic factors which determine
the form of language, as well as on the distinction between variation and
change in progress. Martinet's insights allow to explain the evolution of
linguistic forms by the needs for economical communication. Extrinsic factors
he thought overestimated, even though he insisted on the correlation of age
with linguistic variation. On the other hand, we see that societal factors
which Labov recognizes (gender, class, education...) are concepts or even
reifications which may be regarded as cultural constructions. The reader will
note that variation is an intrinsic propriety of language, and appears even
within groups which one might think of as socially homogeneous. Dynamic
synchrony is advocated as an approach which should be useful to appreciate the
degree of stability or instability of structures in a given language.

Chapter 8, 'Dynamics: Martinet's precursors' deals chiefly with some
dialectologists as Rousselot, Duraffour or Gauchat, whose works show
intradialectal variation within speech communities, before Martinet's studies
and long before Labov's investigations. The author also acknowledges Meillet's
conception of language as a societal phenomenon, and relates it to the early
North-American research on languages which presaged sociolinguistics (Furfey,
Putnam, O'Hern, Sapon, Fischer). W. von Humboldt's concepts of energeia and
ergon are briefly mentioned at the beginning of the chapter.

Chapter 9 tackles the problem of defining some theoretical concepts for
language description. The main issues addressed here are the delimitation of
dialects and speech communities, and the plurality of systems within a same
language ('polysystemicity'). The author proposes a terminology where
'language structure' refers to an overall architecture open to changes, in
which several 'systems', or sets of oppositions, take place. This distinction
should allow one to distinguish between changes at the level of 'systems' and
language shifts, which occur when a 'language
structure' is replaced by another one. The author associates the concept of
dialect with that of speech community, and he cites some cases when, in his
opinion, one may use the term of 'dialect'. The end of the chapter cites
briefly some cognitive linguists and semioticians who have developed a theory
of linguistic dynamics based on neuroscience and mathematics, which despite
its name has little to do with the approach explained in this book.

Chapter 10, under the title 'Conclusion', discusses more in depth the
differences between Martinet's and Labov's ways to address issues related to
linguistic dynamics. The author criticizes the neglect of Martinet's
pioneering contribution to the dynamic approach by most English-speaking
scholars and the general overestimation of the originality of other linguists
(Labov, Diver), caused by the
ignorance of the history of linguistics. According to him, English-speaking
linguists tend to ignore important works when they are not published in
English. He argues that Labov's work has a linguistic background which
includes Weinreich, Martinet and others, and must not be thought of as the
work of an outsider.

After the conclusion come two supplementary chapters. Chapter 11 places the
dynamic approach in relation to different ways of working in linguistics
(typology, dialectology, historical linguistics). In this chapter, the author
tries to give an idea of the dynamic approach in a concise way. It will be
noted that dynamic synchrony, as the author understands and promotes it, would
demand to carry out field investigations on contemporary states of languages
(p. 480).

Chapter 12 sets out eleven principles for the investigator willing to describe
a particular speech.These practical principles are based on the author's
experience of describing Celtic languages.

EVALUATION

The audience of this book will hopefully include enthusiastic young linguists,
disposed to develop the understanding of the dynamic nature of language
through the study of actual languages. To them, this book will provide an
introduction with useful insights, from the author himself, or from the
various linguists whose writings are quoted. But since for most issues
addressed here, there is no example given or discussed in detail, the reading
may be difficult for beginners and even more for those 'lay persons' who are
said to be part of the intended audience (Preface, xvii).

Reading the chapters in the original order might not be the best option for
this book, whose form reflects a plurality of aims. On the one hand, the
author means to explain that natural languages have a dynamic nature, and how
fieldwork could be conducted for a valid description of this dynamics. On the
other hand, he intends to cite the linguists who have contributed to making
clear the necessity of describing linguistic dynamics, and also to set out
some material which may be not well known by an audience who reads -- 'only',
one should say -- English (Preface, xx). Thus, some chapters deal with the
work of linguists and their conception of linguistic dynamics, while others
deal with concepts. Unfortunately, this order brings forth repetitions and
hinders deep reflection. For instance, the question of the closeness of
systems is broached in chapter 2, which is meant to deal with Saussurean
concepts and structuralism. But the author discusses and defines the notions
of system and structure much later, in chapter 9, without really benefiting of
explanations already given in chapter 2. In fact, several quotes from one of
these chapters might have appear in the other, without any consequences (see,
for example, pp. 377, 378, 380, 382).

Some terms are thus used before they are defined: for instance, 'language',
'dialect', and 'language structure' appear in chapter 6, p. 221 but are
defined in chapter 9. For this reason, a second reading might be necessary.
The index may be useful, but many pertinent items are missing. If the content
of this book had been divided into a historical part and a thematic one, that
might have allowed a more concise presentation of the relevant ideas. It would
also have been convenient to provide more examples; these are very few in the
book, most of them about phonological features, and the discussion remains at
times rather abstract, indeed even vague.

The intention to mention a large number of concepts which are pertinent to the
topic, even without defining them nor discussing them at depth, is quite
perceptible throughout the book. Admittedly, this enables the reader to do
further research by himself. But the book gives also the impression of an
unfinished work. One finds more than once some recognition of such a
shortcoming, like 'Unfortunately I am not able to develop further here (...)'
(p. 152), especially in some sections devoted to concepts developed by
Martinet for which the author does not give any proper definition. Thus the
quite odd content of the section '4.4.3. Chain shifts', which is only
six-lines long, and where the author tells us: 'Unfortunately I cannot give
an account of the chain shifts of vowels in vowel space which Martinet
illustrated in his 1952 'Function, structure and sound change' and, more
fully, in his 1955 Économie des changements phonétiques. Thankfully this is a
fairly well-known achievement of Martinet's, one of his 'claims of fame ' (p.
132).

Some readers might be discouraged by the careless presentation of this work.
Quotes in French are accompanied with a translation which is generally
correct, even if, now and then, there is some inaccuracy in them (for
instance, p. 16, 'on s'y attache' does not mean 'they persevere', but 'they
focus on them'). But one finds numerous typographical errors, and even
grammatical errors in this book, which seems to have been published without
any proofreading (for instance: 'Labov seems to relegating variation and
favouring change' (p. 285). Also, some sentences seem to have been dictated to
a facetious computer. For example: 'One of Sapir's students, Benjamin Whorf
made a nem for himself by applying himself to discover the way in which
language affected thought' (p. 454). For that matter, the author's writing
style confers on this book a certain originality. For instance, a section's
title reads 'The elderly Martinet bites the bullet and adopts dynamic
synchrony' (p. 104).

A large part of the material is neither new nor really unknown by many
specialists, interested in descriptive linguistics and especially in
dialectology, so that the book looks at times more like a textbook than like
an innovative research. Furthermore, the way in which the author relies on
others' works to summarize and interpret the writings of great linguists
sometimes gives the impression of a second-hand reading. But as the book
cites many concepts and offers interesting quotes from a wide range of
linguists on fundamental issues, it might nevertheless be useful reading.
Moreover, it reminds the reader of the importance of studying and discussing
the work of significant linguists such as Martinet, Jakobson and others.

However, the author writes a selective history of the understanding of
linguistic dynamics. Among living linguists, Labov is the most cited for his
investigations. The author states that Brian Ó Curnáin's study of Irish
published in 2007 is an example of the dynamic approach in descriptive
linguistics. But in spite of this recognition, Ó Curnáin's work is only
mentioned without a title a few times, and never discussed in detail nor
used as an illustration to make the reader understand better what an approach
of linguistic dynamics should be. Furthermore, Brian Ó Curnáin does not appear
in the bibliography, and the reader is left to guess that the cited work must
be ''The Irish of Iorras Aithneach, County Galway.'' At any rate, the author
announces his own forthcoming publication on Lampeter Welsh, which he claims
to have conducted with the dynamic approach proposed here.

The usage of the term 'structuralism' remains till the end of the book rather
imprecise. For instance, in the section on the development of structuralism
(p. 34), instead of presenting a definition of structuralism and citing names
of structuralist linguists, the author merely states that the label
'structuralism' was given (by whom?) to an approach where 'synchronic emphasis
in linguistics went hand-in-hand with an emphasis on a more holistic analysis
of linguistic patterns, structures and systems present in a particular
language' (p.3). Such wording is characteristic of the book, and might lead
the uninformed reader to confuse systems and structures with mere patterns.
The author claims to propose a structuralist approach, but with this loose
definition, the term is ineffective in distinguishing between all the various
approaches in contemporary linguistics: 'What I am advocating in this book is
a structural-dynamic approach to linguistics, but what linguist these
days is not a structuralist?' (p. 474)

It is worth noting that despite the numerous pages and quotes devoted to the
concepts of system and structure, the concepts of 'differentiation' and
'value' are left aside, and 'oppositions' are hardly ever mentioned. None of
these terms is listed in the index, which proves how little importance they
have in the definition of this 'structural dynamic' approach (p. 474). As a
matter of fact, the reason why the concept of system is so largely discussed
in this book is that in the author's perspective, the study of language
dynamics is incompatible with a conception of languages as coherent and closed
entities. The synchronic point of view is also criticized as inadequate to the
description of linguistics dynamics, and replaced by dynamic synchrony. The
notion of opposition is then left out of the discussion, although a crucial
question in an actual structuralist approach of linguistic dynamics should be
to determine how oppositions are reconfigured to form new systems in
linguistic change.

This book may be more suitable for dialectologists with little theoretical
background than for specialists of linguistic change. It doesn't provide the
reader with an updated discussion of the existent theories of linguistic
change, and some important concepts in that productive field are not taken
into account. For instance, 'grammaticalization' does not appear here,
although many contemporary linguists use this concept to study change in
progress. The term was coined by Meillet (1912), but strangely enough, the
author seems to ignore Meillet's originality and importance as a working
linguist. After three pages and a half of uninterrupted quotes from Meillet's
articles (pp. 350-353), and even reminding us that Labov cites the French
linguist as his precursor, the author still seems unwilling to fully recognize
him as a precursor for a dynamic approach, referring to Meillet's ideas as
'what can only be described as mainstream French linguistic thought by 1920'
(p. 354). For him, 'Meillet's importance for the advancement of a dynamic
approach does not lie in any research he undertook, but in his inspiration as
a teacher and in his reputation as a leading linguist of the
historical-comparativist school (pp. 354355).' His last statement about
Meillet, 'His importance [for the dynamic approach] lies solely in the
beneficial influence his reputation gave to the worth of a dynamic approach to
language description (...)' (p. 371), is similarly unfounded.

If there had been a synthetic and yet detailed and rigorous presentation of
the main concepts, and also a careful editing, this book could have been a
better introduction to the topic. That might be the result of a revised
edition. In the meantime, as it is presently, this book will surely make
readers acknowledge that the dynamic nature of language is an important and
interesting issue which descriptive linguists ought to address empirically as
well as theoretically.

REFERENCES

Martinet, André. 1955. Economie des changements phonétiques. Traité de
phonologie diachronique. Berne: Francke Verlag.

Meillet, Antoine. 1912. L'évolution des formes grammaticales. Scientia
(Rivista di Scienza) 12, No. 26, 6. (Reprinted in Meillet, Antoine. 1921.
130–148).

Meillet, Antoine. 1921. Linguistique historique et linguistique générale.
Paris: Champion.

Ó Curnáin, Brian. 2007. The Irish of Iorras Aithneach, County Galway. Vols.
IIV, with audio CD. Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies (School of Celtic
Studies).

Saussure, Ferdinand de. 1967 [1916]. Cours de linguistique générale. Publié
par Charles Bally et Albert Séchehaye, avec la collaboration d'Albert
Reidlinger. Edition critique préparée par Tullio de Mauro. Paris: Payot.

ABOUT THE REVIEWER

Deli LARA PEÑA is currently a PhD candidate in Linguistics at the University
of Paris-Sorbonne, working on the linguistic expression of sensory perception,
as it is displayed in medieval texts written in Latin, French or Germanic
languages. Her areas of interest include semiotic theories and historical
semantics, history and epistemology of linguistics.

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