Languoid, Doculect and Glossonym: Formalizing the Notion ‘Language’
dc.contributor.author | Good, Jeff | |
dc.contributor.author | Cysouw, Michael | |
dc.date.accessioned | 2015-11-03T00:02:31Z | |
dc.date.available | 2015-11-03T00:02:31Z | |
dc.date.issued | 2013 | |
dc.identifier.citation | Cysouw, Michael and Jeff Good. (2013) Languoid, doculect, and glossonym: Formalizing the notion “language”. Language Documentation & Conservation 7:331–359. | en_US |
dc.identifier.issn | 1934-5275 | |
dc.identifier.uri | http://hdl.handle.net/10477/38636 | |
dc.description.abstract | It is perfectly reasonable for laypeople and non-linguistic scholars to use names for languages without reflecting on the proper definition of the objects referred to by these names. Simply using a name like English or Witotoan suffices as an informal communicative designation for a particular language or a language group. However, for the linguistics community, which is by definition occupied with the details of languages and language variation, it is somewhat bizarre that there does not exist a proper technical apparatus to talk about intricate differences in opinion about the precise sense of a name like English or Witotoan when used in academic discussion. We propose three interrelated concepts—languoid, doculect, and glossonym—which provide a principled basis for discussion of different points of view about key issues, such as whether two varieties should be associated with the same language, and allow for a precise description of what exactly is being claimed by the use of a given genealogical or areal group name. The framework these concepts provide should be especially useful to researchers who work on underdescribed languages where basic issues of classification remain unresolved. | en_US |
dc.language.iso | en_US | en_US |
dc.publisher | University of Hawaii Press | en_US |
dc.subject | underdescribed languages | en_US |
dc.subject | endangered languages | en_US |
dc.subject | language documentation | en_US |
dc.subject | names for languages | en_US |
dc.title | Languoid, Doculect and Glossonym: Formalizing the Notion ‘Language’ | en_US |
dc.type | Article | en_US |