The natural ecology of language: Difference between revisions
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** Language-specific knowledge connected to plants and environment | ** Language-specific knowledge connected to plants and environment | ||
** Classification of ''flora'' and ''fauna'' based on Latin. | ** Classification of ''flora'' and ''fauna'' based on Latin. | ||
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* Diet (Blasi et al. 2019) | * Diet (Blasi et al. 2019) | ||
** Blasi, D. et al. 2019. Human sound systems are shaped by post-Neolithic changes in bite configuration. Science 363: eaav3218. | ** Blasi, D. et al. 2019. Human sound systems are shaped by post-Neolithic changes in bite configuration. Science 363: eaav3218. | ||
'''[[Related linguistic fields]]''' | '''[[Related linguistic fields]]''' | ||
Revision as of 12:23, 23 November 2022
Definition
- Language exists in a natural ecology: this approach investigates how language relates to the biological and ecosystemic surroundings (topography, climate, fauna, flora, etc.). Steffensen and Fill (2014: 7)
- The ecology of language is a framework for the study of language conceptualised primarily in Einar Haugen’s (1906-1994) work The ecology of language (1971/1972). • language ecology “the study of interactions between any given language and its environment”.
- Ecological Discourse Analysis (EDA): Human interaction with the environment is both mediated and influenced by language. EDA is the analysis of any type of discourse under the ecological framework (Alexander and Stibbe 2014). According to Alexander and Stibbe (2014), EDA can be divided into two main strands: (1) the analysis of ecological discourse and (2) the ecological analysis of discourse. The first deals with “the ways humans use language to talk about ecology” (Alexander and Stibbe 2014: 105). It represents the strand of ecolinguistics which Fill and Mühlhäusler (2001: 6) in their definition of critical ecolinguistics identified as the text-critical one. The second strand takes into account that other discourses, too, have an impact on how humans treat the systems that support life. It includes the system-critical part discussed by Fill and Mühlhäusler (2001: 6) which was pioneered by Halliday’s (1990) “New Ways of Meaning: The Challenge to Applied Linguistics”
- Climate change?
- Ecosystemic Linguistics is an approach developed by the Brazilian ecolinguist Hildo Honório do Couto (2018). According to this approach, the linguist should be an ecologist who studies language phenomena rather than just applying the Penz and Fill ecology metaphor to language. Language is viewed as a process of interaction that consists of the following three types: person-person interaction (communication), person-environment interaction (reference), and structural interaction (grammar).
- Ecological Discourse Analysis (EDA): Human interaction with the environment is both mediated and influenced by language. EDA is the analysis of any type of discourse under the ecological framework (Alexander and Stibbe 2014). According to Alexander and Stibbe (2014), EDA can be divided into two main strands: (1) the analysis of ecological discourse and (2) the ecological analysis of discourse. The first deals with “the ways humans use language to talk about ecology” (Alexander and Stibbe 2014: 105). It represents the strand of ecolinguistics which Fill and Mühlhäusler (2001: 6) in their definition of critical ecolinguistics identified as the text-critical one. The second strand takes into account that other discourses, too, have an impact on how humans treat the systems that support life. It includes the system-critical part discussed by Fill and Mühlhäusler (2001: 6) which was pioneered by Halliday’s (1990) “New Ways of Meaning: The Challenge to Applied Linguistics”
- Ways in which the environment is reflected in language
- Topography - tells more about the environment and surroundings
- Language-specific knowledge connected to plants and environment
- Classification of flora and fauna based on Latin.
Some concrete studies on language and its ecology:
- Altitude (Everett 2013)
- Everett, C. 2013. Evidence for direct geographic influences on linguistic sounds: The case of ejectives. PLos ONE 8(6): e65275. https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0065275.
- Climate (Everett et al. 2015; Everett 2017)
- Everett, C., E. Blasi & S. G. Roberts. 2015. Climate, vocal folds, and tonal languages: Connecting the physiological and geographical dots. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 112(5): 1322-1327.
- Everett, C. 2017. Languages in drier climates use fewer vowels. Frontiers in Psychology 8. https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2017.01285/full.
- Diet (Blasi et al. 2019)
- Blasi, D. et al. 2019. Human sound systems are shaped by post-Neolithic changes in bite configuration. Science 363: eaav3218.
