Having a Word for It

Having a Word for It
Geoff Nunberg
School of Information
UC Berkeley/CSLI
Stanford Linguistics Colloquium
May 11, 2007
Having a Word for It
Geoff Nunberg
School of Information
UC Berkeley/CSLI
Stanford Linguistics Colloquium
May 11, 2007
Word and Concept
What does it mean to have a word* for
something?
only
What can we learn about a society from its lexicon?
^
*Word = ordinary-language fixed expression of some
currency (OLFESC) -- A. Zwicky
3
Two research traditions on lexicalization:
Some (very rough) generalizations
Lx/Cogsci
History
Crucial data
Obligatory grammatical
categories or basic lex. cats.
(e.g., aspect,
classifiers/color names,
motion verbs, etc.)
Socially relevant keywords, etc. (e.g.,
sincerity, sentimental, culture,
community, liberal, civilité, naissance,
Herrschaft, etc.)
Relata
lg & thought
lg & concepts
Research question
Theoretical: Does lg shape
thought?
Methodological: What does lg reveal
about concepts?
How do words work to
mobilize/rationalize/legitimate, etc.?
Synchronic
Diachronic
Notion of
lexicalization
Popular View of WordConcept Identity
Having a word is a precondition for having the
concept
(or: Emergence of a word signals emergence of
associated concept)
A popular notion:
Cf. "Language X has no word for Y"
French: nice, home, shallow, goofy
Spanish: sportsmanship, flunky, accountability
Chinese: brand, yes, privacy
Arabic: rape, responsibility, ironic, compromise
Russian: marketing, freedom, privacy
German: humor, frustration, appreciate, etc.
5
Word-Concept Identity
Language X has a curious word for Y
(Untranslatable words)
e.g., Ger. Schadenfreude, Zeitgeist; Yiddish farpotshket,
French frotteur, etc.
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Word-Concept Identity
Language X has a curious word for Y
The world's most difficult word to translate has been
identified as ilunga from the Tshiluba language spoken
in south-eastern DR Congo. It came top of a list drawn
up in consultation with 1,000 linguists. Ilunga means a
person who is ready to forgive any abuse for the first
time, to tolerate it a second time, but never a third time.
—BBC report, 22 June 2004
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Ideological Implications
Cf Orwell's fable of Newspeak, with many earlier
antecedents
We could scarcely have a lesson on the growth of our
English tongue, we could scarcely follow upon one of its
significant words, without having unawares a lesson in
English history as well, without not merely falling upon
some curious fact illustrative of our national life, but
learning also how the great heart which is beating at the
centre of that life, was being gradually shaped and
moulded.
—Richard Chevenix Trench
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Ideological Implications
…civil liberty as it exists in the United States of America
being unknown to the subjects of a despotic government,
they could in the very nature of things, have no word or
phrase in their language to describe or define it...
(Supreme Court of Wyoming in 1897, refusing to allow voter to use
Finnish translation to satisfy requirement that voters be able to read
state consitution.)
…English is the underlying force, at least indirectly,
behind the outbreak of democratic reform sweeping the
communist world. The common bond of democracies
everywhere is the inherent capability of the English
language to define and exhort the essence and spirit of
government by consent of the governed.
—William Robertson, Miami Herald
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Lacking a word for a concept
doesn't preclude having the
concept
Another commonsensical notion: cf Atlantic's Word
Fugitives:
cylences: The long gaps in phone conversation that occur
when a person is reading e-mail or cybershopping at the
same time.
schoogle: A popular pastime, consisting of Googling the
names of old classmates
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Independence of Words &
Concepts
Concepts that antedate their names
original Having the quality of that which proceeds directly
from oneself; such as has not been done or produced
before; novel or fresh in character or style. (1756)
originality in this sense from 1782
But cf. Milton's "things unattempted yet in prose or
rhyme" (1667)
Hist of concept of originality history of originality
Cf plot twist (1920) An unexpected turn of events in
a work of fiction
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The Importance of
Lexicalization
Still, lexicalization obviously has historical &
social implications.
Signal just new things (podcast, palmtop, personal
shopper) but new concepts or new formulations of
old ones
ethnic, WASP, color blind
Traditional furniture (1933), ~ house (1936), ~ grammar
(1938/*1960), values (1940's), etc.
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Psychological consequences of
lexicalization
Lexicalization of concepts facilitates coding & recall, chunks
content in short-term memory, foregrounds lg-relevant
percepts, makes reference more convenient…
relating to the
maintenance of a balance
between producing and
using carbon, especially
balancing carbon-dioxide
emissions by activities
such as growing plants to
use as fuel or planting
trees in urban areas to
offset vehicle emissions
carbon-neutral!!!
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Social Implications of
Lexicalization
The surest sign that a group or society has entered
into the self-conscious possession of a new concept
is that a corresponding vocabulary will be developed,
a vocabulary which can then be used to pick out and
discuss the concept with consistency.
—Quentin Skinner, Language and Social Change
Assumptions:
• Concepts belong to social groups
• Concepts precede lexicalization
• Lexicalization signals group (meta-)awareness of
concept
• Lexicalization signals collective interest in coordinating
usage/concept
• Concepts are associated with vocabularies
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Words as Signaling New
Concepts
The vocabulary of "literacy"
(illiterate: 1. Ignorant of letters or literature; without booklearning or education; unlettered. (1556))
literacy: knowledge of letters; condition in respect to
education, esp. ability to read and write (1880)
Let us compare the statistics of population, of literacy and
illiteracy, and of crime in these two classes of States,
carefully eliminating from our calculation the influence of
foreign immigration upon the criminal record of the Northern
States….
—Richard Grant White, 1880 (OED 1883)
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Implications of Novel Words
The emergence of literacy
Correlates with importance of literacy as social force,
literacy rates as measure of modernity, etc.
Libraries movement, educational reform…
Changing view of literacy as agent of social control…
The growth of new wants, … is the best lever for raising the status of
the idle, quarreling, sensual, ravishing Afro-American. Certainly the
infecting of the backward portion of the race with a high estimate of
cleanliness, neatness, family privacy, domestic comfort, and literacy is
an agent quite as moralizing as the dreadof future punishments or the
love of an ethical God. (Edward Alsworth Ross in the Am. Jrnl. Of
Sociology, 1898)
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Emergence & Extension of
"literacy"
Sense -extensions of literacy:
economic literacy, etc. 1943
functional literacy 1954
cultural literacy 1987
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Further Implications of
Lexicalization
Lexicalization:
… permits reference to C without requiring specification of
content of C.
… accommodates variation in C (synchronic and
diachronic)
… facilitates deferential use of C (i.e., linguistic division of
labor)
Hence possibilities for misconception & deception
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Idols of the Market (idola fori)
…men converse by means of language, but words are
formed at the will of the generality, and there arises
from a bad and unapt formation of words a wonderful
obstruction to the mind.
Francis Bacon, Novum Organum, 1620
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Idols of the Market
Lexicalization can lead to reifications, false
unities & distinctions, etc.
Whenever we have made a word to denote a certain group of
phenomena, we are prone to suppose a substantive entity
existing beyond the phenomena, of which the word shall be
the name.
—William James, Principles of Psychology…
The same words may be used with different significance, and
by assuming the word to have the same significance always,
erroneous conclusions may he reached.
— Franz Boas
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Idols of the Market
Imputing identity to distinct concepts, etc.
The student of politics must be on his guard against the old
words, for the words persist when the reality behind them
has changed.
—Aneurin Bevan, In Place of Fear, 1952
Cf debates about "true liberalism" etc.
Cf recent use of hate-speech, entrepreneur, etc.
The kind of words we’re hearing now from the Democratic
candidates go beyond legitimate political discourse—this is
political hate speech. RNC Chairman Ed Gillespie, 2004
Senator Kerry ... wants to ignore the some 10 million
workers in that survey that are the entrepreneurs who are
self-employed like truck drivers, like painters, like childcare workers, like hairdressers, like auto mechanics.
Commerce Sec'y Don Evans, 2004
Cf also (economic) freedom, interest, class, etc.
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Role of Words in Shaping
Concepts
Are there concepts that can exist only in virtue of a
particular means of expression? (i.e. features of
concepts that can't be independently derived from
culture or nonlinguistic experience)
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A Familiar Example:
Grammatical Gender
Cf differences in conceptualization of categories
named by masc. and fem. nouns (Boroditsky et al.)
E.g. bridge:
Sp. el puente: described as big, dangerous, strong, etc.
Ger. die Brücke: described as elegant, fragile, etc.
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A Familiar Example:
Grammatical Gender
Cf differences in conceptualization of categories
named by masc. and fem. nouns (Boroditsky et al.)
E.g. bridge:
Sp. el puente: described as big, dangerous, strong, etc.
Ger. die Brücke: described as elegant, fragile, etc.
Note: presumes that speakers have determined that
articles and other gender markers are unambiguous in
use with animate and inanimate nouns.
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A Familiar Example:
Grammatical Gender
Cf differences in conceptualization of categories
named by masc. and fem. nouns (Boroditsky et al.)
E.g. bridge:
Sp. el puente: described as big, dangerous, strong, etc.
Ger. die Brücke: described as elegant, fragile, etc.
Note: presumes that speakers have determined that
articles and other gender markers are unambiguous in
use with animate and inanimate nouns.
But these distinctions have no particular
social importance …
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The importance of vocabularies:
the historical development of -ism
Waves of coinings:
16th-17th c.: -ism forms names of sects considered
heretical
Anabaptism, Lutheranism, Romanism, papism, etc.
late 18th c-19th: names of doctrines, not necc.
abusive
individualism, collectivism, liberalism, utilitarianism, etc.
later 19th c.: names of systems of government, social
forces, social phenomena, etc.:
capitalism, nationalism, colonialism, communism…
Cf also modern racism, sexism, etc.
(after Höpfl, 1983))
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How does language shape
concepts?
Take away the -ism, and the 'thing', agency or 'force'
constituted by the -ism dissolves, leaving behind a
whole range of distinct experiences, events and
phenomena which might be rejoined or disconnected
in a variety of ways… H. Höpfl
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Exploiting similarities of
provenance
linguistic identity/similarity of words can
impute identity or relatedness of
provenance of concepts
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Formal Markers of Conceptual
Provenance
A second point about -ism; association with
intellectual formation, particularly in c. 19. (e.g.,
postivism, etc.) though many then pass into general
use (optimism, scepticism, idealism, egotism, etc.)
I.e., -ism affixation a mark of provenance (social, etc.)
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Conceptually incoherent words
Conflicts bet. provenance & content:
e.g., caucasian
Freq of caucasian has doubled in newspaper frequency
since 1975, as opposed to other categories introduced
by Blumenbach (mongoloid, negroid, etc.)
Regarded as scientific appelation
But use is inconsistent with popular understanding of
scientific categories:
It's not Arabs against Caucasians, Jack Cafferty on
CNN, Sept 14, 2001
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Conceptually incoherent words
Conflicts bet. provenance & content:
e.g., caucasian
Freq of caucasian has doubled in newspaper frequency
since 1975, as opposed to other categories introduced
by Blumenbach (mongoloid, negroid, etc.)
Regarded as scientific appelation
But use is inconsistent with popular understanding of
scientific categories:
It's not Arabs against Caucasians, Jack Cafferty on
CNN, Sept 14, 2001
Words as Christmas fruitcakes…
31
The Diffusion of Lifestyle
Appearance vs emergence of words; cf lifestyle
(OED 1929)
32
Emergence of Vocabularies
Cf reconfiguration of vocabulary of class in terms of
consumer categories in 1970's & 1980's:
Appearance of middle America (1969), upscale (1966),
trendy (UK 1962), yuppie (1984), etc.
Shifting meanings of preppie, blue-collar, etc.
Also: shifting meanings of elite, populist...
33
The Diffusion of Demographic
Cf Increasing frequency of demographic (OED:
1882)
Occurrences of demographic by decade,
Chicago Tribune
1950-59
13
1960-69
129
1970-79
547
1980-89
730
Note appearance of demographics (n.) 1965
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A Case in Point:
The Vulgarization of
Personal Descriptions
The emergence of assholep:
Lieutenant (SG) Dove, USNR. a Cornell man, a Deke, a perfect
asshole. He was six feet two and weighed about a hundred and
sixty pounds, with straight ash-blond hair cut close, and a clean
pleasant vacuous face.
—Norman Mailer, The Naked and the Dead, 1948
1st recorded citation as personal description: 1933
literal meaning attested from 1500
spatial meaning ("worst spot") attested from 1865
A novel concept?
Cf earlier words:
egoist, ass, jackass, churl, chuff, scut, boor; cad, bounder, whelp,
coxcomb, puppy, upstart, bully, bouncer, lout, bloat, huff, belswagger,
jackanapes, bashaw, popinjay, etc.
35
Transferring provenance
Note: Nothing inherently sexual or scatalogical about
social type denoted by assholep
assholep inherits vulgarity from literal meaning.
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The Emergence of Vulgar
Social Descriptions
Emergence of asshole part of more general pattern:
The vulgar vocabulary of character types:
Date of first attested personal use of term
(first attested use in literal meaning)
shit < 1886* (1585)
cocksucker < 1918 (1863)
fuck < 1927 (1500)
prick < 1929 (1592)
asshole < 1933 (1500)
turd < 1936* (1000)
dick < 1966 (1891)
*possible Renaissance outliers
Cf emergence of other descriptive terms based on vulgar models:
bullshit (1914), chicken-shit (1934), pissed off (1943), fuck-up
(1945), pain in the ass (1951), etc.
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Emergence of Vulgar
Descriptive Terms
Part of general shift from profanity to obscenity as
basis for meaning shifts:
Cf also widened use of fucking etc. as intensifiers
over course of c. 20. (often replacing hell)
Obscenities mediated by WWII:
Among the working class fucking had always been a popular
intensifier, but in wartime it became precious as a way for millions
of conscripts to note, in a licensed way, their bitterness and
anger. Paul Fussell
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Underdetermination of
Extended Meanings
Not a wholly natural metaphor: asshole
metaphorically conveys "small, contemptible," etc.
but underdetermines full meaning of assholep.
Asshole could denote other personal types:
[Waiting to be called up in 1942 and 1943], my roommate and I
invented an imaginary student named Philip Phallus. Philip was a
nerd -- a chemistry major -- who played the violin… Philip Phallus
was clearly an asshole, dumb, sincere, dull, and harmless.
— Paul Fussell, Doing Battle (1966)
Cf also approx. equivalents in other languages: Ger. Arschloch,
but It. stronzo, turd; Spanish pendejo, public hair, etc.
I.e. meaning of assholep can't be independently derived
from lit. mng + associations.
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Meanings of vulgar
descriptions
Vulgar descriptions all suggest offenses against
standards of civility/sociability (e.g., rules defined
independent of instutional role, status, legal
obligations, etc.)
You can be an asshole for:
Taking credit for subordinate's work
BUT NOT plagiarizing paper
Cutting into left turn lane
BUT NOT misusing handicapped placard
Cheating on girlfriend
BUT NOT cheating on taxes
Smirking at reporters
BUT NOT lying about WMD's
40
The Semantics of Insults
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Meanings of vulgar
descriptions
Assholep etc. denote offenders against civility, but
divest ‘civility’ of explicit class-based connotations:
Contrast earlier, class-based terms: churl, boor,
cad, bounder, whelp, coxcomb, puppy, upstart, lout,
bloat, huff, belswagger, jackanapes, bashaw,
popinjay, etc.
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Changing notions of
vulgarity
Vulgarity invests assholep with spontaneity &
populist associations:
Cf. Bush’s 2000 campaign remark about Adam Clymer,
"major-league asshole"
David Nyhan, Boston Globe: "So much for the Civility Boyz. The
pair that vowed piously to bring civility back into national politics
took a Labor Day header into a dry swimming pool."
Steve Dunleavy, NY Post: Remark showed that Bush was "still a
knockabout Texas fly-boy," urged Bush not to apologize:
"Everyone, from workers in factories in Gary, Ind., to farmers in
Nebraska, will stand and applaud… It will show there's a little
lead in the pencil of combat."
Cal Thomas compares Bush to "scripted" Al Gore...
"essential humanity" contrasted with elite pretension
43
Lexicalization & Concept
Formation
Demotic (i.e. populist) significance of assholep
signaled by derivation from vulgar term — could
not be expressed by a nonvulgar word (e.g.,
goober).
44
Lexicalization & Concept
Formation
Demotic (i.e. populist) significance of assholep
signaled by derivation from vulgar term — could not
be expressed by a nonvulgar word (e.g., goober).
Contrast asshole with jerk:
"I love him because he doesn't know how to kiss, the jerk!"
—Barbara Stanwyck as Sugarpuss O'Shea in Ball of Fire
(1941)
"I'm in love with you, you jerk!"
—Jennifer Love Hewitt to Scott Wolf in Party of Five (1994)
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Lexicalization & Concept
Formation
Words don't merely serve to encode preexisting concepts; form of concept may
depend crucially on mode of expression.
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