Sunday, 16 Sep
Zelle, John M. Python Programming: An Introduction to Computer Science. Wilsonville, Or: Franklin, Beedle, 2004. [LIS452 text]
- Ch. 7: Decision Structures
- Ch. 8: Loop Structures and Booleans
- Ch. 6: Defining Functions
Harris, Roy. Introduction to Integrational Linguistics. 1st ed, Kidlington, Oxford, UK: Pergamon, 1998.
- Ch. 6 and Postscript
Monday, 17 Sep
Harris, Roy. The Language Connection: Philosophy and Linguistics. Bristol, U.K: Thoemmes Press, 1996.
- Ch. 1: Questions About Language
- Ch. 2: Speech and its Parts
- Ch. 3: One-Dimensional Speech
Hjørland, Birger. “Psychology and Information Search Strategy: ‘Information Input Overload’.” Social Science Information Studies. 4.2-3 (1984): 143-148. 12 September 2007.
Tuesday, 18 Sep
Harris. The Language Connection (see above).
- Ch. 4: Logical Loopholes
- Ch. 5: Wordy Redefinitions
Wednesday, 19 Sep
Harris. The Language Connection (see above).
- Ch. 6: Conveying Thoughts
- Ch. 7: The Plain Truth
Thursday, 20 Sep
Harris. The Language Connection (see above).
- Ch. 8: Metalinguistic Improvements
- Ch. 9: Metalinguistic Mistakes
Friday, 21 Sep
Harris. The Language Connection (see above).
- Ch. 10: Metalinguistic Illusions
- Postcript
This was a wonderful book that aims “to examine what he calls the ‘metalinguistic framework’ within which the study of language has been pursued by both philosophers and linguists since the days of the ancient Greeks. His view is that, despite appearances, it is essentially the same framework in both disciplines (Ray Monk in the Preface, vii-viii).
I’ll leave you with a lovely excerpt from ch. 6, “Conveying Thoughts,” that in some ways points to the topic of my (now probable) CAS project:
Second, I also wish to draw attention to the fact that, although it actually generates this problem of how A and B can ever be sure they are attaching the same meanings to the same words, and hence how ‘a language’ (=code) ever comes into existence in the first place, the telementation-cum-fixed-code model at the same time serves implicitly to validate the metalanguage that the philosopher and linguist wish to use for their respective purposes. Specifically, it is a model that supports the treatment of speech as involving the recurrent instantiation of a set of units and combinations. In other words, if we look at this strategy with a certain detachment, we see that the problem about how the same meanings get attached the the same words in order to convey thoughts is simply the price that has to be paid (and is paid willingly by both philosopher and linguist) for safeguarding something that is more important to their disciplines, i.e. the metalinguistic framework within which they operate (89).
Is LIS guilty of the safeguarding of their own (and probably the very same) metalinguistic framework? I think the answer can only be Yes. How does our metalinguistic framework generate our successes but, more importantly, how does it generate our failures? What non-questions does it generate and focus research on, and what questions does it prevent us from asking?
Friday - Saturday, 21-22 Sep
Harris, Roy, and George Wolf, eds. Integrational Linguistics: A First Reader. 1st ed, Kidlington, Oxford, UK: Pergamon, 1998.
- Introduction
- Ch. 1: Harris, R. “Language as Social Interaction: Integrationalism versus Segregationalism.” [F/S]
- Ch. 2: Harris, R. “The Integrationist Critique of Orthodox Linguistics.” [Sat.]
This book is the reader that accompanies: Harris, Roy. Introduction to Integrational Linguistics. 1st ed, Kidlington, Oxford, UK: Pergamon, 1998, which I read last week and the beginning of this one.
Saturday, 22 Sep
Zelle, John M. Python Programming: An Introduction to Computer Science. Wilsonville, Or: Franklin, Beedle, 2004. [LIS452 text]
- Ch. 5: Objects and Graphics