From: Arlo J. Bensinger (ajb102@psu.edu)
Date: Wed May 04 2005 - 05:50:03 BST
[msh said]
> Thanks for your two cents. It sounds like you are in a position to
> know better than I, so I defer to your experience.
[arlo replies]
No deference needed. Like I said, Chomskyan linguistics is still the dominant
paradigm in the States, and there are many linguists who would disagree with
what I, personally, see happening.
[msh]
> I'd like to know what you think of the article in the link I sent to
> Scott. I found it interesting, and particularly liked the sand dune
> analogy.
[arlo replies]
I think it sums up pretty well the overall trend that is challenging Chomsky's
theory. The study with computers sounded a lot like some of the work Douglas
Hofstadter has been working on for quite a while. While his "Goedel, Esher,
Bach" is his most well-know, if you have the time I recommed "Le Ton Beau de
Marot: In Praise of the Music of Language".
Here is a PDF of a chapter (draft) I happened to find on the web (which actually
shouldn't be... but) written by two of our Vygotskian faculty with whom I work
directly: http://www.wisc.edu/english/rfyoung/715/06.internalization_theory.pdf
Like the article, Vygotsky proposes a emergentist understanding of language
appropriation, and focuses heavily on "gesture" and "metaphor".
I like the statement "generations talking to each other", because it gets to the
heart of cultural semiosis. I posted a relevant snippet from Pirsig to Ham
about this, I'll quickly retype it as it is one of my favorites:
"It's all a ghost, and in antiquity was so recognized as a ghost, the whole
blessed world we live in. It's run by ghosts. We see what we see because these
ghosts show it to us, ghosts of Moses and Christ and the Buddha and Lincoln,
and on and on and on. Isaac Newton is a very good ghost. One of the best. Your
common sense is nothing more than the voices of thousands and thousands of
these ghosts from the past."
Mikhail Bakhtin calls this process "ventriloquation", a dialogic process by
which we "appropriate" other people's voices. Indeed, Bakhtin suggests we learn
to speak by appropriating voices (usually primarily mom and dad). It's
"mimicry" but in a transformatory way. But underlying all "learning" is an
internal dialectic with voices of the past.
[msh wrote]
I was also pleased to see the work was being done at one of
> my alma maters, the University of Arizona. Man did we have some
> parties in Tucson, circa 1977-79!
[arlo says]
I think their combined Linguistics and Anthropology Program is one of the more
exciting linguistics programs in the country. I don't have a lot of direct
contact with the faculty there, but I hear all good things about them. What a
great place to live too, I'm very envious :-)
Arlo
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