Language And Communicative Practices

Emphasizing the dual status of language as linguistic system and as social fact, this introduction to communicative practice offers insights into the dynamics of context, the indeterminacy of cultural forms, and the relation between human experience and the making of meaning. Drawing on a broad range of theory and research, the book explores the varieties of reflexivity in language, relating them to linguistic structure, textuality, and genres of practice. It traces the movement of meaning through social fields and communities, and discusses the ways in which utterances are fragmented and objectified in social life. Speech emerges as a contingent process in which the production and reception of meaning are tied into multiple dimensions of time and context and history rests on the objectification of practice. The author's readings of classic works in linguistics, philosophy and social theory are complemented by suggestions for further reading. Within the framework of communicative practice, he integrates elements of formal grammar and semiotics, phenomenology, cultural anthropology, and contemporary sociology.