Abstract
In the article, a view is proposed that any natural living language participates in the natural language global arena (NaLGA). Moreover, natural languages, viewed as embodied entities, demonstrate varied identities due to the interplay of the parameters of militancy, tradeoffs, utility, and display, being the constituents of the so-called Imperial Tetragon of Embodiment. It is claimed that present-day natural language diversity may be treated as a ‘protective diversity jacket’ which, on the one hand, secures the existing ‘plurilinguistic landscape’ and on the other, also serves as an indicator of humanity’s rich alignment with the world. That is why the advancement of a gross process of natural language sustainability should, in the long run, secure the preservation of humanity’s maximum cognitive-cultural-linguistic resources.
Habent sua fata linguae
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Boas, F. 1940. Race, language, and culture. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.
Chapin, F. S., R. L. Jefferies, J. F. Reynolds, G. R. Shaver, J. Svoboda and E. W. Chu. 1992. Arctic ecosystems in a changing climate: An ecophysiological perspective. San Diego: Academic Press.
Costall, A. and A. Still, eds. 1987. Cognitive psychology in question. Brighton: Harvester Press.
Crystal, D. 1997. English as a global language. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Deutscher, G. 2011. Through the language glass: Why the world looks different in other languages. New York: Arrow Books.
Everett, D. L. 2005. Cultural constraints on grammar and cognition in Pirahã. Current Anthropology 46: 621–646.
Fishman, J. A. 1982. Whorfianism of the third kind: Ethnolinguistic diversity as a worldwide societal asset. Language in Society 11: 1–14.
Grimes, B. F, ed. 2000. Ethnologue: Languages of the world. (fourteenth edition). Dallas, TX: Summer Institute of Linguistics.
Hirsch, E. and M. O’Hanlon, eds. 1995. The anthropology of landscape: Perspectives on place and space. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
Ingold, T, ed. 1994. Companion encyclopedia of anthropology: Humanity, culture, and social life. London: Routledge.
Ingold, T. 2000. The perception of the environment: Essays on livelihood, dwelling and skill. London: Routledge.
Lewis, M. P, ed. 2009. Ethnologue: Languages of the world. (sixteenth edition). Dallas, TX: Summer Institute of Linguistics International.
Puppel, S. 2007a. (ed.). Ochrona języków naturalnych [Protection of natural languages]. Scripta de Communicatione Posnaniensi. Seria: Materiały Dydaktyczne Katedry Ekokomunikacji UAM. Poznań: Zakład Graficzny UAM.
Puppel 2007b Tężyzna języków naturalnych [Robustness of natural languages]. In Dyskurs wielokulturowy, eds. Chałacińska-Wiertelak, H. and K. Kropaczewski, 7-15. Łódz´: Drukarnia i Wydawnictwo „PIKTOR”.
Puppel, S. 2009. Remarks on the sustainability of natural languages in the cultural-institutional perspective. In New pathways in linguistics 2009, eds. S. Puppel and M. Bogusławska-Tafelska, 275–286. Olsztyn: Uniwersytet Warmińsko-Mazurski w Olsztynie.
Puppel, S. 2011a. An outline of a multiply triune continuum model of language and communication. Electronic Journal of the Department of Ecocommunication Oikeios Logos 8: 1–25.
Puppel, S. 2011b. The universal natural language preservation mechanism: an ecological approach. In Transkomunikacja. W stronę sprofilowania przestrzeni publicznej jako wielopłaszczyznowej przestrzeni komunikacyjnej, ed. S. Puppel, 91–99. Scripta de Communicatione Posnaniensi. Seria: Prace Naukowe Katedry Ekokomunikacji UAM. Poznań: Zakład Graficzny UAM.
Pűtz, M. and M. Verspoor, eds. 2000. Explorations in linguistic relativity. Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company.
Rayner, A. 1997. Degrees of freedom: Living in dynamic boundaries. London: Imperial College Press.
Sapir, E. 1921. Language: An introduction to the study of speech. New York: Harcourt, Brace.
von Humboldt, W. 1836/1999. Über die Verschiedenheit des menschlichen Sprachbaues und ihren Einfluss auf die geistige Entwickelung des Menschengeschlechts. On language: on the diversity of human language construction and its influence on the mental development of the human species, edited by M. Losonsky. Cambridge Texts in the History of Philosophy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Whorf, B. L. 1956. Language, thought, and reality. Selected writings of Benjamin Lee Whorf (edited by J. B. Carroll). Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2013 Springer International Publishing Switzerland
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Puppel, S. (2013). The ‘Imperial’ Life of Natural Languages. In: Gabryś-Barker, D., Piechurska-Kuciel, E., Zybert, J. (eds) Investigations in Teaching and Learning Languages. Second Language Learning and Teaching. Springer, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-00044-2_1
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-00044-2_1
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Heidelberg
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-00043-5
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-00044-2
eBook Packages: Humanities, Social Sciences and LawEducation (R0)