The ideas of the classical Prague Linguistic Circle are still stimulating Cover Image

Ideje klasického Pražského lingvistického kroužku jsou i dnes aktuální
The ideas of the classical Prague Linguistic Circle are still stimulating

Author(s): Petr Sgall
Subject(s): Language and Literature Studies
Published by: AV ČR - Akademie věd České republiky - Ústav pro jazyk český
Keywords: markedness; dependency; valency; topic; focus; typology; colloquial; communication

Summary/Abstract: Ideas concerning several areas are still fruitful: (1) The concept of markedness as underlying the difference between the centre of the language system, patterned in a relatively simple way, and its vast and complex periphery. (2) Dependency (valency) based syntax, tested in detail and enriched in the Prague Dependency Treebank. (3) The description of the topic-focus articulation, connected with the scope of negation, presupposition and allegation; the fundamental nature of the articulation and a relatively perspicuous description of its interplay with syntactic dependency within the underlying sentence structure. (4) In linguistic typology, a single basic structural property of every type: the manner of expression of grammatical values is favourable to the other properties. (5) The stratification of Czech as a national language, with colloquial speech exhibiting an oscillation of forms of the “literary” norm and of Common Czech. This attitude is only slowly finding its way into school education. (6) In the field of word formation, attention is focused on the transition zone towards morphemics. (7) In the study of the process of communication, the degrees of activation in the stock of shared knowledge are especially significant.

  • Issue Year: 69/2008
  • Issue No: 1-2
  • Page Range: 34-43
  • Page Count: 10
  • Language: Czech