modifiability of indicating verbs

[Lou de B]

> Ulrike wrote:
> 
> IF WE DO NOT INVOKE GRAMMAR THOUGH, HOW DO WE ACCOUNT FOR THE
> LANGUAGE-SPECIFIC PATTERNS AND PARTICULARITIES WE FIND?
> 
> All sorts of systems have conventions, not just language.
> 
> Eg1: Visual representation systems have conventions; the way a tree is
> represented in Western ³stick figure² drawing is not how people from other
> cultures would draw it. (Or a flat m as a bird etc). But no one would argue
> that these conventions, though different, were not based on cognitive skills
> of visual representation.
> 
> Eg2: Spatial systems: some cultures view space as absolute, some as relative.
> I know there is the argument of which came first, the language or the thought
> (and Levinson does seem to write quite convincingly on this) but this could be
> another example of different conventions outside of grammar.
> 
> It is very easy to assume that something based on cognition has to be
> universal. But in fact there can be many ways to solve problems using
> cognition and not all cultures will come up with the same way.
> 
> Louise
> 
> 
>  

--  
Dr Louise de Beuzeville  BA(hons)   GradDipEd   MspecEd(Deafness)     PhD
Signed Languages & Linguistics
___________________________________________________________
Department of Linguistics, C3B 401
Macquarie University, Sydney
NSW Australia 2109

phone: +61 (0)2 9850 8635
fax: +61 (0)2 9850 9199
mobile: +61 (0)433 704 794
email: louise.debeuzeville at ling.mq.edu.au

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