by
Eco, Umberto.
Call Number
401 21
Publication Date
1998
Format:
Electronic Resources
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1.6007
by
McPhail, Mark Lawrence.
Call Number
808.001 20
Publication Date
1996
Format:
Electronic Resources
Relevance:
0.0981
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by
Davis, Wayne A., 1951-
Call Number
121.68 22
Publication Date
2003
Summary
This philosophical treatise on the foundations of semantics is a systematic effort to clarify, deepen, and defend the classical doctrine that words are conventional signs of mental states, principally thoughts and ideas, and that meaning consists in their expression.
Format:
Electronic Resources
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0.0772
by
Haiman, John.
Call Number
401 21
Publication Date
1998
Summary
Putting aside questions of truth and falsehood, the old 'talk is cheap' maxim carries as much weight as ever. Indeed, perhaps more. For one need not be an expert in irony or sarcasm to realize that people don't necessarily mean what they say. Phrases such as 'Yeah, right' and 'I could care less' are so much a part of the way we speak - and the way we live - that we are more likely to notice when they are absent (for example, Forrest Gump). From our everyday dialogues and conversations ('Thanks a lot!') to the screenplays of our popular films (Pulp Fiction), what is said is frequently very different from what is meant. Talk is Cheap begins with this telling observation and proceeds to argue that such 'unplain speaking' is fundamentally embedded in the way we now talk. Author John Haiman traces this sea-change in our use of language to the emergence of a postmodern 'divided self' who is hyper-conscious that what he or she is saying has been said before; 'cheap talk' thus allows us to distance ourselves from a social role with which we are uncomfortable.; Haiman goes on to examine the full range of these pervasive distancing mechanisms, from cliches and quotation marks to camp and parody. Also, and importantly, Haiman highlights several ways in which language is evolving (and has evolved) from non-linguistic behaviour. In other words, this study shows us how what we are saying is continually separating itself from how we say it. As provocative as it is timely, the book will be fascinating reading for students of linguistics, literature, communication, anthropology, philosophy, and popular culture.
Format:
Electronic Resources
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0.0539
by
Ulman, H. Lewis.
Call Number
808.042094109033 20
Publication Date
1994
Summary
In this new study, H. Lewis Ulman examines the roles of language theory in eighteenth-century British rhetorics, linking those roles to philosophical issues informing twentieth-century rhetorical theory. In doing so, Ulman develops a general model of the "problem of language" for rhetorical theory, a model that transcends the impasse between realism and skepticism that marks both eighteenth- and twentieth-century rhetorical theory. The nature of language was never more central to rhetorical theory than in the second half of the eighteenth century. Yet, until now, the articulation of theories of language and arts of rhetoric in eighteenth-century Britain has received little attention. Ulman examines the role of grammar and theories of language in the formation of eighteenth-century rhetorical theory, investigating the significance of language theory for such key concerns of eighteenth-century rhetoric as verbal criticism, style, taste, and elocution. His study highlights what he understands as the central motive of late eighteenth-century British rhetoricians - to construct for their particular cultural context philosophically rigorous accounts of verbal communication based on carefully articulated theories of thought and language. Scholarly work from the 1950s through the early 1970s interpreted eighteenth-century British rhetoric in terms of contemporary debate over the epistemological nature of rhetoric, a debate that focused on principles of logic, patterns of argument, and theories of evidence. Debate in the 1980s and 1990s, however, has centered on theories of literacy, of the social requirements of language, and, more generally, of symbolic representation and inducement. Ulman, however, engages the social context of eighteenth-century rhetoric very differently from earlier work by examining the relationship of language theory and arts of rhetoric to structures of social power. He stresses the importance of the consideration of the articulation of language theory and arts of rhetoric in the eighteenth century because the problem of language for rhetoric is similarly structured in both the eighteenth and twentieth centuries and because the contemporary debate over the philosophical grounding of rhetoric can be traced to theoretical tensions in the eighteenth century. In order to analyze the systematic relationships between theories of language and arts of rhetoric in eighteenth-century Britain, Ulman adopts as key terms Richard McKeon's four "places of invention and memory"--Things, thoughts, words, and actions. These terms serve as a means of reading rhetorical history into rhetoric's future, proving that the historical interpretation of arts of rhetoric can be linked to contemporary theory building. Toward this end, Ulman examines the different articulations of theories of language and arts of rhetoric in three eighteenth-century British rhetorical treatises: George Campbell's Philosophy of Rhetoric, Hugh Blair's Lectures on Rhetoric and Belles Lettres, and Thomas Sheridan's Course of Lectures on Elocution. He then identifies the continuities and discontinuities between the problem of language for eighteenth- and twentieth-century rhetorical theory and proposes a pluralistic stance toward the problem of language in rhetoric as an alternative to the theoretical standoff that currently characterizes the debate between realist and antirealist rhetorics. This book, indispensable to scholars in rhetoric and composition, will also be of interest to all eighteenth-century scholars.
Format:
Electronic Resources
Relevance:
0.0388
by
Ulman, H. Lewis.
Call Number
808.042094109033 20
Publication Date
1994
Summary
In this new study, H. Lewis Ulman examines the roles of language theory in eighteenth-century British rhetorics, linking those roles to philosophical issues informing twentieth-century rhetorical theory. In doing so, Ulman develops a general model of the "problem of language" for rhetorical theory, a model that transcends the impasse between realism and skepticism that marks both eighteenth- and twentieth-century rhetorical theory. The nature of language was never more central to rhetorical theory than in the second half of the eighteenth century. Yet, until now, the articulation of theories of language and arts of rhetoric in eighteenth-century Britain has received little attention. Ulman examines the role of grammar and theories of language in the formation of eighteenth-century rhetorical theory, investigating the significance of language theory for such key concerns of eighteenth-century rhetoric as verbal criticism, style, taste, and elocution. His study highlights what he understands as the central motive of late eighteenth-century British rhetoricians - to construct for their particular cultural context philosophically rigorous accounts of verbal communication based on carefully articulated theories of thought and language. Scholarly work from the 1950s through the early 1970s interpreted eighteenth-century British rhetoric in terms of contemporary debate over the epistemological nature of rhetoric, a debate that focused on principles of logic, patterns of argument, and theories of evidence. Debate in the 1980s and 1990s, however, has centered on theories of literacy, of the social requirements of language, and, more generally, of symbolic representation and inducement. Ulman, however, engages the social context of eighteenth-century rhetoric very differently from earlier work by examining the relationship of language theory and arts of rhetoric to structures of social power. He stresses the importance of the consideration of the articulation of language theory and arts of rhetoric in the eighteenth century because the problem of language for rhetoric is similarly structured in both the eighteenth and twentieth centuries and because the contemporary debate over the philosophical grounding of rhetoric can be traced to theoretical tensions in the eighteenth century. In order to analyze the systematic relationships between theories of language and arts of rhetoric in eighteenth-century Britain, Ulman adopts as key terms Richard McKeon's four "places of invention and memory"--Things, thoughts, words, and actions. These terms serve as a means of reading rhetorical history into rhetoric's future, proving that the historical interpretation of arts of rhetoric can be linked to contemporary theory building. Toward this end, Ulman examines the different articulations of theories of language and arts of rhetoric in three eighteenth-century British rhetorical treatises: George Campbell's Philosophy of Rhetoric, Hugh Blair's Lectures on Rhetoric and Belles Lettres, and Thomas Sheridan's Course of Lectures on Elocution. He then identifies the continuities and discontinuities between the problem of language for eighteenth- and twentieth-century rhetorical theory and proposes a pluralistic stance toward the problem of language in rhetoric as an alternative to the theoretical standoff that currently characterizes the debate between realist and antirealist rhetorics. This book, indispensable to scholars in rhetoric and composition, will also be of interest to all eighteenth-century scholars.
Format:
Electronic Resources
Relevance:
0.0388
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