New Linguistic Theories to learn

Biblical Greek morphology and syntax, aspect, linguistics, discourse analysis, and related topics
Matthew Longhorn
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New Linguistic Theories to learn

Post by Matthew Longhorn »

Can anyone suggest a linguistic theory that would complement my reading on Relevance Theory? I will be continuing to focus on RT as, frankly, I don't even have a chance at becoming competent at that with the free time I have; that said, I want to start exposing myself to another theory with different (perhaps complementary) points of view which wouldn't require learning massively different uses of the same terminology. While I love pragmatics, I am not opposed to starting to learn other branches of linguistic research.
If it is possible - just theories that have been applied fruitfully to Koine would be good, but not essential.
I am just about to start reading Markus Tendahl's "A Hybrid Theory of Metaphor" from which I hope to get a view of cognitive linguistics interacting with RT. Hopefully I get some ideas from that as well.
MAubrey
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Re: New Linguistic Theories to learn

Post by MAubrey »

On what topic?

The field is huge, so without a specific point of reference it's difficult to make suggestions.
Mike Aubrey, Linguist
SIL International
Koine-Greek.com
Matthew Longhorn
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Re: New Linguistic Theories to learn

Post by Matthew Longhorn »

Hi Mike, that is precisely my issue - the field being so huge that I don't even have a starting point.

I am finding Tendahl's discussion of conceptual metaphors interesting at the moment so may eventually take some time there but would prefer something to get a bit of a broader understanding. On the basis of that, I just bought Dirk Geeraerts' "Cognitive Linguistics: Basic Readings" to get a general overview of that along with Vyvyan Evans' "New Directions in Cognitive Linguistics". Both of those are really to just get a very basic understanding of some of the scope that the theory covers. Once I have finished reading those intro texts I still wouldn't have a clue which areas are widely seen as productive elements of that theory and which are somewhat fringe.
I want to try to avoid spending a lot of time on something that hasn't shown any real application by people in NT research. My mind tends to go down the rabbit hole, so to speak, quite easily and I can find myself focusing really heavily on small things; this can be somewhat expensive if I am not careful. Basically, I am not tied to Cognitive Linguistics, it appeals to me but I just wanted a bit of guidance before spending much time and money in any one area based on seeing something as generally quite interesting.

Sorry, still not overly clear but hopefully it makes more sense. Even if you could just throw out a handful as starting ideas that would be a great help.
Stephen Carlson
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Re: New Linguistic Theories to learn

Post by Stephen Carlson »

Geeraerts is good.

What I've found helpful linguistically are: grammaticalization theory (Joan Bybee et al.), polysemy (cognitive linguistics),and information structure.

What I don't recommend: anything generative or Chomskyan (they're just asking different questions about language than what's helpful to understanding the text).
Stephen C. Carlson, Ph.D.
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Matthew Longhorn
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Re: New Linguistic Theories to learn

Post by Matthew Longhorn »

Thanks Stephen. The article by Locatell and Andrasson references Bybee a lot and I certainly enjoyed that paper - that seems interesting and small enough with decent application as an area to get stuck into. Would there be any works I should read first in your opinion?
I saw some books on cognitive grammar, do you know Anything about that?
Stirling Bartholomew
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Re: New Linguistic Theories to learn

Post by Stirling Bartholomew »

Stephen Carlson wrote: September 10th, 2018, 8:24 am What I don't recommend: anything generative or Chomskyan (they're just asking different questions about language than what's helpful to understanding the text).
On the other hand, without any knowledge of generative grammar your going to be out of luck trying to understand what is going on in a huge segment of 20th century linguistics.

Also transformational ideas were fundamental to bible translation theory[1] in the mid-20th century.

[1] E.A. Nida

Postscript: The first linguists I encountered were Phd students from U of Washington studying Chomsky. In that era Chomsky was the guy to study.
C. Stirling Bartholomew
Stephen Carlson
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Re: New Linguistic Theories to learn

Post by Stephen Carlson »

Stirling Bartholomew wrote: September 10th, 2018, 2:57 pm On the other hand, without any knowledge of generative grammar your going to be out of luck trying to understand what is going on in a huge segment of 20th century linguistics.
Unfortunately true. But I still don't recommend it.
Stephen C. Carlson, Ph.D.
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Matthew Longhorn
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Re: New Linguistic Theories to learn

Post by Matthew Longhorn »

Finally settled on construction grammar and am finding the introductory works really interesting. I have bought a number of general books on it such as the oxford handbook (found a surprisingly/comparatively cheap one on abebooks). I am going to put some work in on trying to find papers / books applied to koine from this perspective but if any immediately spring to people’s minds it would be appreciated. I have found some applied to Ancient Greek so far but a koine focus would be great if it is out there.

On a semi-related note, at some point I am going to have to take the dive down the rabbit hole and start reading work on second language acquisition. Has anyone else found this a benefit for teaching introductory Greek?
Ryan Robinson
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Re: New Linguistic Theories to learn

Post by Ryan Robinson »

Paul Danove's work applies Construction Grammar. Largely influenced from Fillmore and Kay, though I'm sure he has engaged properly with people like Goldberg (as he references Goldberg).

He has three main monographs. Numerous articles.

Check out Mike's reviews of his second monograph on his website. Also, I'm sure he could say some more as he has seemed to connect with Danove.

This is a playlist of videos on youtube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=P ... 3n4NrpdgWk
Matthew Longhorn
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Re: New Linguistic Theories to learn

Post by Matthew Longhorn »

Thanks Ryan. I had previously read Danone’s work but remembered it as case-frame analysis and forgot he is explicitly using construction grammar in his work. Guess that means I have to reread it as I have forgotten that
Appreciate the help. I will watch those videos when I get the chance
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