4 1. ‘Communication’: A Fundamental Concept in Linguistic Metatheory
Our aim, among others, is to lay bare the sometimes unconscious assumptions that linguists bring to their theories of language and to follow the consequences of those assumptions
through the elaboration of the theories, often over long periods of time. If we so choose, we might also simultaneously reconstruct the philosophical and sociological contexts within
which particular periods of linguistic activity take place. Thus, examination of the historical record provides us with a broad perspective on the variety of factors which contribute to the
construction of a theory of language.
Andresen 1987 :647
Looking back while looking ahead allows us to evaluate rather than simply react. Newly developing perspectives may not always fulfill the objectives of communities, but
they may serve to open new horizons.
1.2. Discussion plan
The study is arranged in six chapters, with this introductory chapter serving as chapter 1. Chapters 2 through 6 are here briefly introduced.
Chapter 2 , Model as Metaphor, addresses the metaphorical quality of models and
their role in metatheory. In particular, attention is given to the perspectives on metaphor espoused by the rhetorician Kenneth Burke, linguists George Lakoff and Ronald
Langacker, and the philosopher Mark Johnson. The chapter then documents numerous appeals to the code model that appear in linguistic literature, followed by a brief
discussion of the current vitality of the code model.
Chapter 3 , The Code Model Decoded, discusses the constituent models which have
given rise to the code model: the conduit metaphor, Saussure’s speech circuit, and information theory. It also addresses their integration within the code model. Finally, it
lists common metatheoretical conceptual axioms which depend upon the code model concept.
Chapter 4 , Code Model Linguistics: Patch or Abandon?, reviews how the code model
serves as an exemplar for contemporary practitioners of the Saussurean paradigm of linguistics.
4
The discussion also reviews basic elements of Kuhn’s theory, with attention specifically given to how various linguists have used or rejected Kuhn’s theory in
accounting for the history of linguistics Kuhn 1996
. The chapter also employs Kuhn’s theory in discussing uses of the code model within the “normal phase” of the Saussurean
paradigm, including several patches which have been applied to the code model in efforts to overcome anomalies it supports. As representatives of normal linguistics, the study
addresses the approaches of generativists, stratificationalists, sociolinguists, functional- typologists, and inferentialists. Finally, the chapter discusses several non-code model
approaches to linguistics, which, to the extent that they reject the Saussurean paradigm, may be regarded as “revolutionary.” As representatives of revolutionary linguistics, the
study addresses the approaches of emergent grammarians, cognitivists, and integrationalists.
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‘Exemplar’ is here used in the sense of an “ideal model.”
1. ‘Communication’: A Fundamental Concept in Linguistic Metatheory 5
Chapter 5 , Developing an Alternative, offers a critique of the code model, as well as
a review of several other models available in linguistic and related literature. The study then suggests a composite alternative model. The alternative model is not proposed as the
singular replacement for the code model, but as an antithesis—an essential element in the evaluation and evolution of linguistic metatheory. In closing, the chapter discusses the
role of emerging metatheoretical perspectives within the life cycle of a discipline.
Chapter 6 , Summary and Concluding Comments, provides a summary of each
chapter in turn, together with concluding comments for the study as a whole.
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2. Model as Metaphor
