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28 June 2014, Volume 14 Issue 06 Previous Issue    Next Issue

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Thinking under the Bodhi Tree QIAN Guanlian 2014, 14 (06):  1-4.  DOI: 10.3969/j.issn.1674-8921.2014.06.001 Abstract ( 254 )   PDF (897KB) ( 58 )   Related Articles | Metrics

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On Qian Guanlian’s Academic Thread of Thought and Its Value WANG Yin 2014, 14 (06):  14-19.  DOI: 10.3969/j.issn.1674-8921.2014.06.003 Abstract ( 397 )   PDF (1483KB) ( 129 )   Qian has not only well performed the maxim of “being never too old to learn”,but also extended it to sticking to originality even when Qian being aged. His four books and more than one hundred papers are the great achievements of his infinite painstaking efforts. He has picked up the clusters of grapes within his reach in the academic struggle of life, which have made resounding influences in the Linguistics and Philosophy of Language Circles both at home and abroad. Most ideas among his publications are unique as well as advancing, bringing to light the language’s and world’s law from the viewpoint of the surviving state of man and philosophical basis, filled with empirical analyses, speculative explorations, and creative sparks. Qian, adhering wholeheartedly to the theoretical construction, has established his own system of theories with significant and far-reaching originality. Therefore, he plays a leading role in our academic circle. Pioneer Qian, an excellent example of ours! References | Related Articles | Metrics

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Toward the Wisdom and Methodology in Language Studies: Qian Guanlian’s Philosophical Thoughts and Qian Guanlian’s Rope DU Shihong 2014, 14 (06):  20-25.  DOI: 10.3969/j.issn.1674-8921.2014.06.004 Abstract ( 427 )   PDF (1163KB) ( 150 )   Language studies should be kept on the track of pursuing philosophical wisdom and methodology. Qian Guanlian has been committed to the cause of building a philosophical road out of the jungles of daily language use, by means of transforming wisdom into theories and methodologies. His commitment is a fruitful combination of Socratic examination, Platonic formulation, and Aristotelian categorization, during which his philosophical questions have been raised, new concepts and theories proposed, and empirical studies of language use conducted through a series of categorizing, reasoning and generalizing. A remarkable philosophical question, raised in his Aesthetic Linguistics, has been answered in his works such as The Theory of Language Holography and the book entitled Language: The Last Homestead of Human Beings. His theory of language holography is metaphorically a rope which is used to integrate the order of cosmos with language in tune with the order of human mind. Thus, on the one hand, Qian Guanlian’s rope has helped ancient Greek philosophers to figure out a way of harnessing the relation of cosmos to human mind. On the other hand, Qian Guanlian has built up a way from words to metaphysics, with which human beings have to discipline themselves to behaviors-fixed speech events. Qian Guanlian’s rope is an unforgettable contribution to metaphysics. References | Related Articles | Metrics

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The Transformation of Language Layers and Analysis of the Problems in Philosophy of Language HUANG Bin 2014, 14 (06):  26-33.  DOI: 10.3969/j.issn.1674-8921.2014.06.005 Abstract ( 362 )   PDF (1133KB) ( 69 )   The mechanism of transformation of language layers, which includes insetting, merging and switching, is very important for the analysis of logical problems of language. Due to a failure to understand this mechanism, many problems, puzzles and mistakes came into being in the circle of western philosophers of language,such as Carnap’s “two ways of speaking”, Russell’s puzzles of “identical substituting”, Frege’s problem of “indirect context”and the “extensional meaning” of American general semantics. By using the theory of the mechanism of transformation of language layers, all these problems can be analyzed and solved easily. References | Related Articles | Metrics

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On the Notion of Logical Form LIN Yunqin 2014, 14 (06):  34-44.  DOI: 10.3969/j.issn.1674-8921.2014.06.006 Abstract ( 385 )   PDF (402KB) ( 41 )   The notion of logical form plays a central role in the philosophy of language and in linguistics. But what logical form is has not been clear. In this paper I first survey the uses of logical form, and show that this notion has no well-defined meaning. I then discuss three main motivations behind invoking logical form, and argue that two of them are unwarranted, and the third can be satisfied by an approach to the logic of ordinary language that is based on the idea of sentence frames, rather than on the traditional idea of subject and predicate. References | Related Articles | Metrics

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Kripke on General Names NIE Dahai 2014, 14 (06):  45-53.  DOI: 10.3969/j.issn.1674-8921.2014.06.007 Abstract ( 337 )   PDF (1385KB) ( 99 )   Kripke’s theory of general names attempts to prove that general names are rigid designators which lack descriptive content and have no sense. Their reference is fixed by the internal structure and passed down through casual chains. Kripke distinguishes natural kind names from mental type names. He discovers that the identical proposition of the former is Necessary A Posteriori Truth and the one of the latter is skeptical. He holds a new dualism position to the latter. Kripke’s argument is through his modal logic of possible world and his essential philosophy of language is undoubtedly the language reconstruction of Aristotle’s metaphysics. We hold that both natural kind names and mental type names can be explained by dialectically analyzing the identity. References | Related Articles | Metrics

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Pragmatics Enterprise: Philosophical, Cultural, and Cognitive Perspectives WEN Xu 2014, 14 (06):  54-58.  DOI: 10.3969/j.issn.1674-8921.2014.06.008 Abstract ( 367 )   PDF (868KB) ( 149 )   Pragmatics, as one of the hottest topics in modern linguistics, has made great achievements over the past 40 years. From speech act theory to conversational implicatur theory, and from Relevance theory to cognitive pragmatics, pragmatics proves to be moving forward at fast speed. This paper, from philosophical, cultural, and cognitive perspectives, has explicated the three major fields of pragmatics, i.e. philosophical pragamtics, cultural pragmatics, and cognitive pragmatics. The integration of the three fields is to be the new direction of pragmatics erterprise in the near future. In addition, the innovations of research methods and technology will definitely bring new hopes to pragmatic investigations. References | Related Articles | Metrics

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“Dao” and “Logos”: Language Perspective of Cultural Differences between Chinese and Western Thoughts LIU Limin 2014, 14 (06):  59-69.  DOI: 10.3969/j.issn.1674-8921.2014.06.009 Abstract ( 522 )   PDF (2187KB) ( 99 )   This paper holds that the core difference between China and the west in intellectual culture is represented by “Dao” and “Logos”, which are respectively Chinese and western metaphysical conceptualization of the ultimate truth of the world. However, the two concepts differ fundamentally in that while the Dao cannot be said, the logos is embodied in language. The belief that the truth has to be said clearly and unmistakably leads to a speculative mode of thought, while the belief that the truth cannot be said results in a mysterious insightful experience. This has not much to do with the morphological types of languages. In ancient China, those who advocated the clear and unmistakable statement of what is true had already embarked on the path towards a rationalist philosophy in the true sense of the word. The Chinese language is not a barrier blocking the occurrence of speculative rationalism in China. References | Related Articles | Metrics

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The Image Schema of the Temperature Domain and Its Metaphorical System in English QIN Xiugui, LI Yingjie 2014, 14 (06):  70-76.  DOI: 10.3969/j.issn.1674-8921.2014.06.010 Abstract ( 345 )   PDF (1634KB) ( 89 )   This article explores how polysemy of words in the temperature domain is extended through the temperature image schema and the conceptual metaphors based on it from the cognitive linguistic perspective. Our study indicates that in the temperature image schema, the degrees of temperature and their changes are constructed in terms of the vertical spatial concepts of UP and DOWN. Based on this image schema and through metaphorical mappings, there forms a conceptual metaphor system in English—the Temperature Metaphor System that consists of three-layered metaphorical mappings, i.e., THE STATE OF THINGS IS TEMPERATURE, THE DEGREES OF THE INTENSITY OF THE STATES OF THINGS ARE THE DEGREES OF TEMPERATURE, and THE CHANGES OF THE STATES OF THINGS ARE THE CHANGES OF TEMPERATURE. As a cognitive mechanism, this metaphor system gives rise to numerous non-temperature concepts and forms a unique inference pattern. It constrains our interpretation and use of the entrenched temperature metaphorical concepts and linguistic expressions on the one hand and enables us to create novel concepts and linguistic expressions on the other. References | Related Articles | Metrics

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Metaphor: A Phenomenal Perspective LIANG Ruiqing 2014, 14 (06):  77-83.  DOI: 10.3969/j.issn.1674-8921.2014.06.011 Abstract ( 287 )   PDF (1153KB) ( 94 )   Metaphor involves two mechanisms, i.e. production mechanism and understanding mechanism, and yet traditional theories of metaphor failed to provide a uniform theoretical framework to address both of them. Based on the distinction in the philosophy of mind between physical and phenomenal properties of sensory experience, this paper advances the phenomenal account of metaphor, arguing that the production and understanding of metaphor depends primarily on speaker’s and hearer’s similarity cognition of the phenomenal properties of both the tenor and the vehicle. It is further argued that the phenomenal properties projected from the tenor to the vehicle are more often than not those salient and stereotypical in a certain context, which helps to avoid radical relativism. References | Related Articles | Metrics

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Poem Recitations in Zuozhuan and Pragmatic Functions of “Implicit Words and Mental Interaction” HUO Yongshou 2014, 14 (06):  84-90.  DOI: 10.3969/j.issn.1674-8921.2014.06.012 Abstract ( 386 )   PDF (1470KB) ( 87 )   Within the extended framework of pragmatics as a linguistic regulation theory, this paper attempts to examine the pragmatic features of 30 poem recitation activities from Zuozhuan, usually characterized as “implicit words and mental interaction”. The research first analyzes the activity constraints, semantic features and pragmatic functions of this activity type from a speaker perspective, and then, from the perspective of the hearer, it investigates the identification of reference and topic relevance involved in activity interactions. The paper concludes that poem recitation as a form of abstruse language is a pragmatic strategy chosen within the li-based activity constraints and its understanding based on a mental and behavioral interaction between the interactants involves a series of referent and topic shifts. References | Related Articles | Metrics

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The Ontological Status of Meaning Holism WANG Aihua 2014, 14 (06):  91-97.  DOI: 10.3969/j.issn.1674-8921.2014.06.013 Abstract ( 267 )   PDF (1426KB) ( 57 )   Meaning holism is a highly controversial topic discussed heatedly in the philosophy of language over the past 20 years. One view is that meaning holism is wrong because it leads to three bad consequences: meaning holism would make (1) language learning, (2) communication and understanding impossible, and (3) contradict the principle of compositionality. This paper holds that the arguments against meaning holism are not tenable, as they belong to epistemological questions, and have nothing to do with the ontology of holism. This paper argues that meaning holism is right as it satisfies the necessary and sufficient conditions of holism as follows: linguistic expressions have a family of qualitative properties and a generic ontological dependence on each other; furthermore, they are arranged in a suitable way and unified in the language system. References | Related Articles | Metrics

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The Confusion of “Meaning”: What Curtains Russell’s Failure to Reject Frege’s Sense CHU Xiuwei 2014, 14 (06):  98-108.  DOI: 10.3969/j.issn.1674-8921.2014.06.014 Abstract ( 363 )   PDF (2131KB) ( 60 )   In On Denoting, Russell claims his theory of descriptions aims at rejecting Frege’s distinction between sense and reference, arguing against the existence of sense and thus advocating the view of meaning as reference. However, his translating Frege’s Sinn into “meaning” and further using the term in a variety of tangling senses lead to a series of confusion and even inconsistency in his account or argument for his theory, which to a large extent curtains the fact that his theory of descriptions fails to avoid Frege’s sense. This is in part reflected by his employing sense, sometimes disguised in the form of a kind of “meaning”, in reducing propositions that contain definite descriptions to logical forms that do not. References | Related Articles | Metrics

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Quine’s Indeterminacy of Translation Revisited: With a Look at Cross-Cultural Translatability and Untranslatability CHENG Xiaoguang 2014, 14 (06):  109-113.  DOI: 10.3969/j.issn.1674-8921.2014.06.015 Abstract ( 483 )   PDF (1077KB) ( 101 )   Meaning construction is central to translation which is imperative for cross-cultural transmission. Based on his meaning nihilism and meaning holism, Quine points out that two factors—the indeterminacy of intensional meaning and the indeterminacy of extensional reference, are conducive to the indeterminacy of translation. Quine’s thesis is of philosophical significance. Nevertheless, both translatability and untranslatability are relative. Translation is a dynamic process of meaning construction in accordance with features of the source language and culture on the basis of the translator’s understanding of the commonalities of human culture and language. References | Related Articles | Metrics

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A “Panchronic” Balance Model in “Shuttle Swing”: Critical and Aesthetic View of Appraisal Stylistics on Nowism PENG Xuanwei 2014, 14 (06):  114-123.  DOI: 10.3969/j.issn.1674-8921.2014.06.016 Abstract ( 394 )   PDF (2889KB) ( 88 )   The author aims at constructing a critical and aesthetic model of Appraisal Stylistics based on Nowist epistemology he himself puts forward, the latter meaning that what has passed is not past at all but immediately become part of the present; and the fundamental idea is a dynamic balance view, which engages two aspects: Contrasting Swing of appraisal elements along a literary text from the synchronic perspective and Shuttle Swing of appraisal categories among both synchronic and diachronic (hence panchronic) texts. The present paper reports the study of the Shuttle Swing model construction based on appraisal categories. It first makes a case analysis of a text, then puts forward a critical and aesthetic view of Appraisal Category in terms of the latter’s sub-categories but surpassing the due theoretical paradigm, and finally accounts for 8 pairs of prototypical cases in swing balance. The attempt will benefit a better understanding of “literariness” from a more particular perspective that previous literary studies want. References | Related Articles | Metrics