Language, Action and Context: The Early History of pragmatics in Europe and America 1780-1930

516 Pages·1996·1.911 MB·

by  Brigitte Nerlich, David D. Clarke

LANGUAGE, ACTION, AND CONTEXT
AMSTERDAM STUDIES IN THE THEORY AND
HISTORY OF LINGUISTIC SCIENCE
General Editor
E.F. KONRAD KOERNER
(University of Ottawa)
Series III - STUDIES IN THE HISTORY OF THE LANGUAGE SCIENCES
Advisory Editorial Board
Sylvain Auroux (Paris); Ranko Bugarski (Belgrade)
Lia Formigari (Rome); Hans-Josef Niederehe (Trier)
Emilio Ridruejo (Valladolid); R. H. Robins (London)
Rosane Rocher (Philadelphia); Vivian Salmon (Oxford)
Aldo Scaglione (New York); Kees Versteegh (Nijmegen)
Volume 80
Brigitte Nerlich and David D. Clarke
Language, Action, and Context:
The early history of pragmatics in Europe and America, 1780–1930
LANGUAGE, ACTION,
AND CONTEXT
THE EARLY HISTORY OF PRAGMATICS
IN EUROPE AND AMERICA, 1780–1930
BRIGITTE NERLICH
DAVID D. CLARKE
University of Nottingham
JOHN BENJAMINS PUBLISHING COMPANY
AMSTERDAM/PHILADELPHIA
TM The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of
8 American National Standard for Information Sciences — Permanence of
Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI Z39.48-1984.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Nerlich, Brigitte, 1956-
Language, action, and context : the early history of pragmatics in Europe and America,
1780-1930 / Brigitte Nerlich, David D. Clarke.
p. cm. -- (Amsterdam studies in the theory and history of linguistic science. Series
III, Studies in the history of the language sciences, ISSN 0304-0720; v. 80)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
1. Pragmatics--History. 2. Language and languages--Philosophy--History. I. Clarke, David
D. II. Title. III. Series.
P99.4.P72N38 1996
306.4’4--dc20 96-13678
ISBN 90 272 4567 3 (Eur.) / 1-55619-616-4 (US) (alk. paper) CIP
© Copyright 1996 - John Benjamins B.V.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form, by print, photoprint, microfilm, or any
other means, without written permission from the publisher.
John Benjamins Publishing Co. • P.O.Box 75577 • 1070 AN Amsterdam • The Netherlands
John Benjamins North America • P.O.Box 27519 • Philadelphia PA 19118-0519 • USA
Preface
This book is the culmination of a long-term research project on which we
embarkedwithourdoctoraldissertations.In1986BrigitteNerlichpublished
her thesis under the title La pragmatique: Tradition ou révolution dans
l’histoire de la linguistique française? Then, after leaving Germany for
England,herinterestsbroadenedandshebegantoincludetheGermanand
English linguistic traditions in her historiographical research. In her 1992
bookonthehistoryofsemantics,SemanticTraditionsinEurope:1830-1930,
shefocusedontheevolutionofdiachronicsemanticsfromReisigtoBréal,
andbeyondtoBühlerandGardiner.Asthesubtitleofthebook,FromEty-
mologytoContextuality,indicates,itemergedthatbetween1830and1930
semanticistsreflectedincreasinglyonsynchronicandfunctionalaspectsof
signsandtheiruseineverydaysituations.Itwasthereforeinevitablethather
interestshouldshiftbacktowardsherpointofacademicorigin,andthatshe
began to investigate anew the emergence of pragmatic ideas in the period
underconsideration.
In1983DavidClarkepublishedhisthesisunderthetitleLanguageand
Action.AStructuralModelofBehaviour.Takingthesequentialorganisation
of conversation as a starting point, he thenapplied the same concepts and
methods to a range of other phenomena in subsequent books and papers,
includinghuman-computerinteraction,interpersonalrelationshipsandthe
dynamicsofroadtrafficaccidents.
ThequotationDavidClarkechosetoopenhis1983bookcouldalsoserve
asagoodreminderforreadersofthisnewjointventureintothehistorical
dimensionofpragmatics:
Ofallthetruthsrelatingtophenomena,themostvaluabletousarethosewhichrelate
totheorderoftheirsuccession.Onaknowledgeoftheseisfoundedeveryreasonable
anticipationoffuturefacts,andwhateverpowerwepossessofinfluencingthosefacts
toouradvantage.(Mill1851[1843]:335)
vi language, action, and context
NerlichandClarkehavealsopublishedtogetherontheoriesandcomputer
models of language change. They were married in 1987 and have a son,
Matthew.Whilethisbookonthehistoryofpragmaticswasbeingwritten,
Matthewdiscoveredthepragmaticforceoflanguageforhimself.Language
isnottheretosaywhatthingsare,itseems,butwhattheyoughttobeand
whathewantsthemtobe,fromhispointofview.
Contents
Acknowledgements xiii
0 Introduction 1
0.1 Isthereahistoryofpragmatics? 1
0.2 Whyshouldtherebeahistoryofpragmatics? 2
0.3 Whatispragmatics? 3
0.3.1 Pragmatics,pragmatismandspeechacttheory 4
0.4 Howdowetracethehistoryofpragmaticideas? 6
0.5 Thescopeandlimitsofthisbook 8
0.6 Sourcesforpragmaticinsightsinthe19thand20thcentury 9
0.7 Surveyofthehistoryofpragmatics 12
1 Prologuetoprotopragmatics:Locke’ssemioticphilosophy 14
1.1 Introduction 15
1.2 Locke’sphilosophyofthesemioticact 17
1.3 Locke’sinfluenceinEuropeandAmerica 20
1.3.1 Abrieflookatthehistoryofsemiotics 21
1.4 AnafterwordonKant,Lockeandmetaphor 23
2 ProtopragmaticsinGermany:pragmaticsaspartof
aRomanticphilosophyoflanguage 25
2.1 Introduction 25
2.2 Kant:languageandreason 27
2.1.1 Languageasrepresentation 27
2.2.2 Schema,signandsymbol 28
2.2.3 TheinfluenceofKant’sDarstellungs-theoryoflanguageand
histheoryoforganism 30
2.3 Post-Kantianphilosophiesoflanguageandcommunication 32
2.3.1 1795–attheoriginofGermanpragmatics 32
2.3.2 Fichte:anidealtheoryoftheoriginoflanguage 33
2.3.3 Roth:representationandcommunication 36
2.3.4 Vater:languageanditspragmaticcontext 40
2.3.5 Bernhardi:dialogicalhermeneutics 42
viii language, action, and context
2.3.6 PragmaticelementsinHumboldt’sphilosophyoflanguage 51
2.3.7 Schleiermacher:languagesystemandlanguageuse 57
3 ProtopragmaticsinFrance:pragmaticsaspartofan‘ideological’theory
oflanguageandthought 61
3.1 Introduction 61
3.2 Theroots:ThegeneralgrammarofPort-Royal 63
3.2.1 Thepartsofspeech 64
3.2.2 Affirmatio–actofmindandactofspeech 65
3.2.3 Conclusionandoutlook 67
3.3 DuMarsais:languageanddiscourse 67
3.3.1 Languageandrhetoric 68
3.3.2 Propositionandenunciation 69
3.3.3 Pronouns 71
3.4 Thedebateaboutwordorder 71
3.4.1 DuMarsaisandlogicalwordorder 71
3.4.2 Condillacandtheorderofideas 72
3.4.3 Batteuxand‘pragmatic’wordorder 74
3.5 Fromactsofthoughttoactsoflanguage 76
3.5.1 Condillaconassertion 76
3.5.2 TheIdéologues 77
3.5.3 Theimportanceofthe‘petitsmots’intheactofspeech 79
3.6 Conclusion 83
4 AperiodoftransitioninthedevelopmentofFrenchpragmatics 85
4.1 MainedeBiran:language,thewillandtheself 85
4.2 Eclecticspiritualism 86
4.3 Garnier:speechactsandunderstanding 87
4.4 Weil:wordorderinspeechandlanguage 90
5 ProtopragmaticsinEngland:pragmaticsaspartofacommon-sense
theoryofthemind 94
5.1 Theroots 95
5.1.1 JamesHarris:generalgrammarandgeneralcategories
ofspeechacts 95
5.1.2 Berkeley:thepragmaticusesofspeech 96
5.1.3 Burke:pragmaticusesofspeech,andrhetoric 98
5.1.4 Hume:thepromiseandtheobligationtokeepit 99
5.1.5 Hobbes:apragmaticphilosophyoflanguageandsociety 100
5.2 Reid:speechactsassocialacts 103
5.2.1 Lifeandwork 103
5.2.2 Reid’sinfluence 105
contents ix
5.2.3 Languageandsigns 106
5.2.4 Speechacts 109
6 AperiodoftransitioninthedevelopmentofEnglishpragmatics 112
6.1 Stewart:language,systemanduse 112
6.2 Smart:acontextualisttheoryoflanguage 114
7 PragmatismandbehaviourisminAmerica 118
7.1 Introduction 118
7.2 Pragmatism:useandtruth 120
7.2.1 Whatispragmatism? 120
7.2.2 James’smoralandpsychologicalpragmatism 121
7.2.3 Dewey’sinstrumentalism 123
7.3 Peirce’ssemiotics 125
7.3.1 Semantics 127
7.3.2 Pragmatics 128
7.4 Mead:mind,selfandthesocialact 130
7.4.1 Fromgesturetosymbolandself 132
7.5 Morris:behaviouristpragmatics 134
7.5.1 MorrisandCarnap’sconceptionsofsyntax,semantics
andpragmatics 135
7.5.2 Morris’sbehaviouristpragmatics 137
7.6 DeLaguna:pragmaticbehaviourism 139
7.6.1 Thesocialfunctionoflanguage 140
7.7 Pragmatismandpragmatics 143
7.8 Whitney:thepragmaticevolutionoflanguage 146
7.9 Conclusion 149
8 APeriodoftransition:realistandidealist
approachestolanguageuse 150
8.1 Theroots:Kant’spragmaticanthropology 150
8.2 Herbart:Apracticalapproachtolanguageandcommunication 151
8.2.1 Herbartonlanguage 152
8.3 Madvig:arealistictheoryoflanguage,itsuseandorigin 155
8.3.1 Language,itsuseandevolutionincommunication
andcontext 156
8.3.2 Impact 159
8.4 Steinthal:anidealisttheoryoflanguage,itsuseandorigin 160
8.4.1 Theoriginoflanguage 161
8.4.2 Languageandunderstanding 162
8.4.3 Conclusion 164
8.5 Lazarus:atheoryofmeaningandunderstanding 165
x language, action, and context
8.6 AfterSteinthalandLazarus:Preview 168
8.7 Gerber:thoughtacts,speechactsandcontext 169
8.8 Paul:thought,senseandsentences 171
8.8.1 Thoughtandsentence 172
8.8.2 Sentence-types 174
8.8.3 Conclusionandoutlook 176
9 PragmaticsavantlalettreinGermany:languageasaninstrument
toinfluenceothers 177
9.1 Wegener:apioneerinpragmatictheory 177
9.1.1 Speakingandunderstanding 178
9.1.2 Speechacts,direct,indirectanddeep-structural 179
9.1.3 Languageasactionandrepresentationofaction 181
9.2 AfterWegener:thesentenceanditscommunicativefunctions 183
9.2.1 Brugmann:syntaxandthe‘functionsofthesoul’ 183
9.2.2 Kalepky:thesentenceascommunicativeact 185
9.3 Anewpsychology:Brentano’sactpsychology 187
9.3.1 Marty:afunctionaltheoryoflanguage 190
9.4 Ries:thegrammarians’revenge–formvs.function 199
9.4.1 Linguisticsandpsychology 199
9.4.2 Thought,languageandreality 200
9.5 Anewphilosophy:Husserl’sphenomenology
andthesignifyingact 202
9.5.1 Sense,referenceandspeechacts 202
9.5.2 Phenomenology,perception,paroleandpragmatics 204
9.5.3 Husserl:intentionality,reference,andtheobjectifyingact 206
9.5.4 Daubert:thequestionofthequestion 208
9.5.5 Reinach:speechactsassocialacts 211
9.5.6 Lipps:ahermeneuticallogicoflanguage
andcommunication 215
9.6 Koschmieder:acaseof‘coincidence’ 220
9.6.1 Thediscoveryofperformatives 221
9.6.2 Impact 222
9.7 Bühler:anintegratedtheoryoflanguageassystemand
languageinuse 224
9.7.1 Lifeandwork 224
9.7.2 Thethreefunctionsoflanguage 227
9.7.3 TheOrganonmodel 231
9.7.4 Action,act,work,andstructure 233
9.7.5 Symbolfieldanddeicticfield 234
9.7.6 Thepragmaticdimensionoflanguage 235
9.7.7 Impact 237