NAMING AND CLASSIFICATION (CONE PRINCIPLE)

[摘要] The topic of naming and classification reveals human language as a construct of infinite variability. Not only do naming and classification occur in everyday life, but especially within language investigation they document an indispensable axiomatic basic and serve as a tool for linguists and as the main focus of their study. De Saussure, as the founder of structuralism, focuses his language analysis on structural elements and thus lays the foundation for modern linguistic theory. The ;;cone;; is posited as a figurative representation to explain the connection between the different fields of linguistics and to reveal their unifying central principle. Not only can this construction be used to reflect traditional linguistic terminology, such as diachronic and synchronic, but it also provides a means for portraying a horizontal-vertical language analysis within inter-lingual, as well as intra-lingual investigation in various fields of linguistics. In conclusion, linguistics is shown to be a science based throughout upon classificatory models and their names.

[发布机构] Rice University