Complexity Applications in Language and Communication Sciences

Description

This book offers insights on the study of natural language as a complex adaptive system. It discusses a new way to tackle the problem of language modeling, and provides clues on how the close relation between natural language and some biological structures can be very fruitful for science. The book examines the theoretical framework and then applies its main principles to various areas of linguistics. It discusses applications in language contact, language change, diachronic linguistics, and the potential enhancement of classical approaches to historical linguistics by means of new methodologies used in physics, biology, and agent systems theory. It shows how studying language evolution and change using computational simulations enables to integrate social structures in the evolution of language, and how this can give rise to a new way to approach sociolinguistics. Finally, it explores applications for discourse analysis, semantics and cognition. Front Matter ....Pages i-xi Introduction (Àngels Massip-Bonet, Gemma Bel-Enguix, Albert Bastardas-Boada)....Pages 1-13 Front Matter ....Pages 15-15 Science as a Social Self-organizing Extended Cognitive System. Coherence and Flexibility of Scientific Explanatory Patterns (Robert Hristovski, Natàlia Balagué, Pablo Vázquez)....Pages 17-30 The Paradigm of Complexity in Sociology: Epistemological and Methodological Implications (Alvaro Malaina)....Pages 31-42 How and Why to Model the Complexity of Thought Systems (Leonardo G. Rodríguez Zoya)....Pages 43-73 Front Matter ....Pages 75-75 Linguistic Variation and Change: Approach from the Perspective of Complex Adaptive Systems (Àngels Massip-Bonet)....Pages 77-92 Some theoretical Prerequisites for the Integrated Study of Linguistic “Macrochange” (Enrique Bernárdez)....Pages 93-105 The Impact of Social Reputation in Language Evolution (Gemma Bel-Enguix)....Pages 107-116 Front Matter ....Pages 117-117 ‘Restricted’ and ‘General’ Complexity Perspectives on Social Bilingualisation and Language Shift Processes (Albert Bastardas-Boada)....Pages 119-137 Patterns of Linguistic Diffusion in Space and Time: The Case of Mazatec (Jean Léo Léonard, Marco Patriarca, Els Heinsalu, Kiran Sharma, Anirban Chakraborti)....Pages 139-170 Common Knowledge in Conversation of Bilinguals and the Ecology of Pressures. The Complex Processes of Using Language and Learning to Coordinate Actions with Other Speakers (Roland Terborg, Virna Velázquez)....Pages 171-184 Front Matter ....Pages 185-185 Discourse Analysis: The Constructivist Perspective and Transdisciplinarity (Esperanza Morales-López)....Pages 187-205 A Complex Approach to Prosodic Discourse Variation (Raquel García Riverón, Alejandro F. Marrero Montero)....Pages 207-225 Amazing Grace: An Analysis of Barack Obama’s Raciolinguistic Performances (H. Samy Alim, Geneva Smitherman)....Pages 227-248 Front Matter ....Pages 249-249 Eureka! A Simple Solution to the Complex ‘Tip-of-the-Tongue’-Problem (Michael Zock)....Pages 251-272 The Emergence of Hubs in Complex Syntactic Networks and the DP Hypothesis: The Relevance of a Linguistic Analysis (Lluís Barceló-Coblijn, Maia Duguine, Aritz Irurtzun)....Pages 273-288 The World Color Survey: Data Analysis and Simulations (Peter Lewinski, Michal Lukasik, Konrad Kurdej, Filip Leonarski, Natalia Bielczyk, Franciszek Rakowski et al.)....Pages 289-311 Cognitive Meaning: Review of the Concepts of Imagination, Image Schema and Mental Image and Consequences on the Conceptualization of Emotions (Maria Antònia Font Fernández)....Pages 313-323 Correction to: The World Color Survey: Data Analysis and Simulations (Peter Lewinski, Michal Lukasik, Konrad Kurdej, Filip Leonarski, Natalia Bielczyk, Franciszek Rakowski et al.)....Pages C1-C1 Back Matter ....Pages 325-331