Convergence towards a Dynamic Theory of Linguistics and Semantics

From the dawn of civilization mankind was aware of the importance of language. We live, think, have knowledge and our being in language. All knowledge of the world and ourselves is expressed and mediated through language. Therefore, it is not surprising that in ancient views language (Greek logos) encompassed everything as the soul of the universe, and had mystical and religious dimensions and origins. The term logos which literary means “word,” “reason,” or “plan” denotes a deep concept of divine controlling principle manifested by speech that can be found also in Indian, Persian, and Egyptian theological systems. The opening verses from St. John’s Gospel — “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” — became a standard quotation in supporting the ancient philosophical conception of language as the universal foundation of life and thought. The philosophical investigation upon the essence of everything led inevitable, at some stage or other, every system of philosophy to consider language and its relation with thinking, cognition, and reality. The early foundations of the systematic study of language can be traced back to Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle in the Western tradition (Modrak, 2001) and to Yāska, Pānini, and Bhartrhari of the ancient Indian Grammar School (Coward, 1980; Matilal, 1985). The merit of these schools of thought is that they realize that understanding the nature of language means understanding ourselves in relation with the universe we live in. However, the ancient dimensions faded in time, and it is only recently that modern science has begun seriously to investigate language. A considerable research effort was and is still involved. One direction of investigation is conceptual, and has the aim to answer the fundamental philosophical quests regarding the nature, origins, and usage of language. Modern philosophy of language follows the same type of speculative inquiry into language by pure a priori reasoning established by the ancients. Its main concern is the development of a theory of meaning and the relationship between language and reality (Lycan, 2000; Malmkjaer, 2009; Morris, 2007). Other topics of interest for philosophers of language are language cognition and language acquisition, generation and speech acts. Here, of particular interest is to understand how language is related to the minds of both the speaker and the hearer. Also, a theory is sought to explain how words are translated into other words. The other direction is mostly empirical in nature (Sampson, 2002), i.e., based on observation and experimentation, and is specific to modern scientific approach. Initially, the study of Source: Convergence and Hybrid Information Technologies, Book edited by: Marius Crisan, ISBN 978-953-307-068-1, pp. 426, March 2010, INTECH, Croatia, downloaded from SCIYO.COM