Sociology of Knowledge as a Model for Language Theory

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Year:
Pages:452
ISBN:0-7734-5826-3
978-0-7734-5826-0
Price:$279.95 + shipping
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The theoretical foundations of the language sciences have been dominated by the natural sciences. This has been done in spite of the fact that language also functions as legitimate paradigms in the social sciences and the humanities. This volume presents a rationale for a model of language as a social science. It incorporates many concepts from the social sciences into its new theoretical framework.

Reviews

“ ...… That there emphatically is a greater scheme of things vis-à-vis language and the sociology of knowledge, a theoretical vantage point from which we can appreciate the myriad activities of scholars in many different fields, this book by Dr. St. Clair amply proves ... This book will give you a panoptic scan of an enormous literature. From neurolinguistics to stylistics, from social history to semiotics, the book will take you on a long and fascinating journey.” – (from the Preface) Professor Charles A. Willard, University of Louisville

“Dr. St. Clair’s new work is a highly synthetic eagle’s eye view of the field of linguistic studies. Ambitious and daring in scope and purpose, the book delivers remarkably well. Its most important contribution is in being able to make sense of the disparate theorizations of language in the various disciplines – from the natural to the social and the human sciences – and cobble together a coherent meta-theoretical framework from which to understand the interrelationships and differences in perspectives between and among them. While such a broad scope would seem to dictate caricature or facile generalization of the range of theories, Dr. St. Clair exhibits remarkably erudite familiarity with the perspectives he brings together. The result is an integrated compendium that anyone involved in any study of language can ill afford to ignore.” – Professor S. Lily Mendoza, University of Denver

“This book is an eye-opener; it is informative and provides a new perspective on language as a social science. It is a significant contribution for linguistics. The author examines many aspects of language that are seldom discussed. The approach is multidisciplinary and covers a wide range of issues within the social, cultural and natural sciences. Hence, this book is important for anthropologists, psychologists, communication scholars and others with a professional interest in the study of language and communication. The book contributes to theory and has far-reaching implications for the study of language study.” – Professor YuXin Jia, Harbin Institute of Technology, China

Table of Contents

Preface by Charles A. Willard
Acknowledgements
1. Language and its Related Disciplines
2. Language and Society
3. The Social Construction of Reality
4. Symbolic Interaction
5. Dramaturgical Sociology
6. Language and the Sociology of Deviance
7. Phenomenological Sociology
8. Existential Sociology
9. Language and Ethnomethodology
10. The Sociology of Rhetoric
11. Language and the Cultural Sciences
12. Society and Cultural Voice
References
Appendices

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