Theory of language
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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Theory of language is a topic from theoretical linguistics and philosophy of language. It has the goal of answering the questions “What is language?”; "Why do languages have the properties they have?"; or "What is the origin of language?".
Even though much of the research in linguistics is descriptive or prescriptive, there exists an underlying assumption that terminological and methodological choices reflect the researcher's opinion of language. Linguists are divided into different schools of thinking, with the nature–nurture debate as the main divide. Some linguistics conferences and journals are focussed on a specific theory of language, while others disseminate a variety of views.
Like in other human and social sciences, theories in linguistics can be divided into humanistic and sociobiological approaches. Same terms, for example 'rationalism', 'functionalism', 'formalism' and 'constructionism', are used with different meanings in different contexts.
