1st Edition
Voyage into Language Space and the Linguistic Encounter, 1500–1800
By David B. Paxman
Copyright 2003
288 Pages
by
Routledge
288 Pages
by
Routledge
Also available as eBook on:
In this new study, author David Paxman demonstrates that ordinary spatial concepts, together with the changing sense of the earth's space brought about by exploration, navigation, and mapping exerted a strong influence on linguistic thought. Paxman illuminates how our thinking about language as a whole, as well as our exploration of languages, developed in ways parallel to our thinking about and... Read more
Contents: Introduction; Space and language: language in space; Mapping language; Language barriers; Containing language: what language contains; Philosophical grammar, or language and world in stasis; Rhetoric and the expanding world; Locke and after: language as the mind's space; Language as the journey of the human mind: typology, national culture, and the role of the linguist; Conclusion; Index.
Biography
David B. Paxman
'For those interested in the history of language study, this book is a must. It is the fascinating story of the influence of spatial experience on the development of Western conceptions of language.' Cecil H. Brown, Distinguished Research Professor Emeritus, Northern Illinois University 'It is primarily of interest to specialists in the history of linguistics, but may also be relevant to specialists in critical theory and cognitive science. Recommended.' Choice 'Paxman's book not only reminds us that early travel literature provided the focal point for formulating core problems of present day anthropology, linguistics, psychology and semiotics; it also whets the reader's appetite for revisiting some of the early writers he discusses - especially, for anyone interested in the history of semiotics, Condillac.' Journeys
