Structural Linguistics And Human Communication: An Introduction Into The Mechanism Of Language And The Methodology Of Linguistics

TO THE MEMORY OF WILHELM MEYER-EPPLER Kommunikation und Kybernetik in Einzeldarstellungen Herausgegeben von H. Wolter und W. D. Keidel Band2 Structural Linguistics and Human Communication An Introduction into the Mechanism of Language and the Methodology of Linguistics By Berti! Maim berg Professor of Phonetics and Head of the Department of Phonetics of the Faculty of Arts University of Lund (Sweden) With 88 Figures Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg GmbH 1963 ISBN 978-3-662-13067-4 ISBN 978-3-662-13066-7 (eBook) DOI 10.1007/978-3-662-13066-7 All rights reserved, especially that of translation into foreign languages. It is also forbidden to reproduce this book, either whole or in part, by photomechanical means (photostat, microfilm and/or microcard) without written permission from the Publishers © by Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 1963 Ursprünglich erschienen bei Springer-Verlag OHG Berlin • GOttingen· Heidelberg 1963 Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 1963 Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 63-12931 The use of general descriptive names, trade names, trade marks, etc. in this publication, even if the former are not especially identified, is not to be taken as a sign that such names, as understood by the Trade Marks and Merchandise Marks Act, may accordingly be used freely by anyone Kommunikation und Kybernetik in Einzeldarstellungen Herausgegeben von H. Walter und W. D. Keidel Band2 Structural Linguistics and Human Communication An Introduction into the Mechanism of Language and the Methodology of Linguistics By Bertil Maim berg Professor of Phonetics and Head of the Department of Phonetics of the Faculty of Arts University of Lund (Sweden) With R8 Figures 1963 SPRINGER-VERLAG BERLIN HEIDELBERG GMBH Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 63-12931 All rights reserved No part of this book mqy be reproduced in an_yform, by microfilm or an_y other means, without permission in writing from the publishers. © BY SPRINGER-VERLAG BERLIN HEIDELBERG 1963 Preface The point of departure of this general survey of modern structural linguistics is the place of language in human relations. Linguistics will consequently be understood a:s a science of communication. My book is not intended as an elementary handbook. The readers are supposed to be in the first place advanced students of linguistics and phonetics and of neighbouring fields where a real awareness of linguistic methods and problems is essential (such as psychology, phoniatrics, speech therapy, language teaching, communication engineering). The book may, however, be of some value also for the general reader who is interested in language, in language learning, or in communication processes. It might finally serve as an introduction to structural theories and practice for those linguists of traditional orientation who would like to make contact with the new trends in the study of language. It is self-evident that, under such circumstances, any reader will find certain chapters in this book rather complicated, others irritatingly elementary. This is, however, unavoidable in a work whose aim is to cover a vast field of knowledge and to offer the reader a synthesis of what appears at first sight to be widely disparate facts and phenomena. Many of the facts brought together here may, regarded superficially, seem to have few or no mutual connections. They can, nevertheless, be combined into a wide humanistic and scientific unity within which numerous lines of relationship bind together physical and psychic, individual and social phenomena. It is this synthetic view - which covers such disparate concepts as phonemes and meaning, decibels and linguistic change, literary style and speech disturbances - rather than the mere facts referred to w