Using Language [Hardcover]

This book argues that language use is more than the sum of a speaker speaking and a listener listening.In contrast to work within the cognitive sciences, which sees language use as an individual process, and to work within the social sciences, which sees it as a social process, this text argues strongly that language use embodies both individual and social processes.In contrast to work within the cognitive sciences, which sees language use as an individual process, and to work within the social sciences, which sees it as a social process, this text argues strongly that language use embodies both individual and social processes.Herbert Clark argues that language use is more than the sum of a speaker speaking and a listener listening. It is the joint action that emerges when speakers and listeners, writers and readers perform their individual actions in coordination, as ensembles. In contrast to work within the cognitive sciences, which has seen language use as an individual process, and to work within the social sciences, which has seen it as a social process, the author argues strongly that language use embodies both individual and social processes.Preface; Part I. Introduction: 1. Language use; Part II. Foundations: 2. Joint activities; 3. Joint actions; 4. Common ground; Part III. Communicative Acts: 5. Meaning and understanding; 6. Signaling; Part IV. Levels of Action: 7. Joint projects; 8. Grounding; 9. Utterances; Part V. Discourse: 10. Joint commitment; 11. Conversation; 12. Layering; Part VI. Conclusion: 13. Conclusion; References. This is a bold, imaginative, and important book. Clark's focus on language use, and his contention that conversation transforms the nature of production and comprehension, pose a challenge to the prevailing psycholinguistic approach to language. Cognitive scientists, social psychologists, sociologists, anthropologists--indeed, all concerned with the way people employ language to accomplish their purposes in the world--will find mul%