Holistic Linguistics: Anthropocentric Foundations and the Functional-Cognitive Paradigm

Abstract

This paper dwells on some aspects of language, grammar in particular, through the prism of the functional-cognitive approach. It covers such issues as language and mind, the embodiment of language, the peculiarities of language acquisition, and the metaphoric nature of the human mind. The functional-cognitive approach is regarded as part of a holistic anthropocentric paradigm where language is conceived of as a natural biological phenomenon connected with the adaptive functions of a human being as a holistic living organism. A new paradigm gives rise to new epistemologies and generates new forms of scientific collaboration. Thus, neurosciences, quantum physics, and biology become involved in processing language data, influencing the direction and goals of linguistic research. As suggested by the author of this paper, changes in language can be viewed with regard to quantum effects observed in the macroworld, or an autopoietic reconstruction of the language system. Dwelling on the ideas of cognitive typology, the paper also makes an attempt to elucidate some reasons for the appearance of new structural features in language which influence the reconstruction of its grammatical interface in the first place. Such processes are viewed as the reflection of global shifts in the linguistic world image of language bearers under the influence of the outer world/extralinguistic factors, and as connected with encoding by language of the changes in socio-discursive parameters of the intercourse. Finally, some perspectives of grammar analysis are outlined

Keywords

• functional-cognitive approach
• holistic interpretation of language phenomena
• alternative research paradigms
• universal typological principles
• grammar as a language generator