Markedness Theory: The Union of Asymmetry and Semiosis in Language

234 Pages·1990·14.213 MB·

by  Edna Andrews

MarkednessTheory
Soundand Meaning:
The RomanJakobson Seriesin Linguistics and Poetics
C. H. van Schooneveld, Series Editor
Markedness Theory
The Union ofAsymmetry and Semiosis in Language
= =
Edna Andrews
Duke University Press Durham and London, 1990
©1990DukeUniversityPress
Allrightsreserved.
PrintedintheUnitedStatesofAmerica
onacid-freepaper
00
LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData
willbefoundonthelastprintedpageofthisbook.
To my parents, Nickand Goldie

Contents
Acknowledgments ix
Introduction 1
One The Principles ofJakobsonian Markedness Theory 9
Gesamtbedeutung and a DefinitionofMarkedness
A BriefHistory ofMarkedness: FromTrubetzkoy to
the Present
Jakobson's and van Schooneveld's MorphologicalFeatures
Mark orFeature?
Deixis: AGeneral Definition
Deixis and Reference
The Union ofConceptual Feature and DeicticCategory:
Shifters in the Russian Verb
Two PeirceandJakobson Revisited: AReconciliation 44
Peirce's Influence onJakobson
Markedness Theory as aTheoryofInterpretants
Sign, Object, and Interpretant
The Categories ofFirstness, Secondness, and Thirdness
The Ultimate Interpretant
Meaning and Interpretants
Icon, Index, Symbol, and Artifice?
Dyads orTriads?
An Application ofPeircean Interpretants to
Linguistic Analysis
viii MarkednessTheory
Three MarkednessTheory as Mathematical Principle 81
Mathematics: Topology and Its Relevance toJakobsonian
Linguistics
The Role ofSyllogisms and DifferentTypes ofInference
Deductive, Inductive, and Abductive Reasoning
ContinuityorDiscontinuity?
Dynamics and StructuralStability
CatastropheTheoryand LinguisticSignTheory
An Axiomatic Base for Markedness
The Morphological Conceptual Features and Group Theory
The Laws ofForm and the Form ofLaws
Four Myths About Markedness 136
StatisticalFrequency
Neutralization
Markedness Assimilation
Markedness Reversals
Substitutability
Five The Categoryof Grammatical Gender in Russian,
Serbo-Croatian, and Modern Greek 166
Modern Greek (Dhimotiki/Demotic) and the Role of
the -5 Marker
Jakobson's Analysis ofthe CategoryofGenderin
Modern Russian
The Serbo-CroatianGender Hierarchy
Shifting Genders
Grammatical Genderversus Declension: Syntagmatic
Vs. Paradigmatic
Is GenderMeaningful?
Notes 189
Bibliography 199
Index 211
= Acknowledgments =
In writing the present work Ihave been fortunate to receive the sup
port of many of my colleagues and friends. I would like to thank
the following people for their suggestions, comments, and interest
in my project: Ron Butters, Ron Feldstein, Barbara Fennell, Michael
Holquist, Michael Morgan, Stefan Pugh, and Rodney Sangster. Spe
cial thanks are in order to Laura Severin for patiently editing the
manuscriptatvarious stages inits development, to SandyBostian for
photocopyingdrafts ofthe manuscript, and to ReynoldsSmithfor his
professionalismand encouragement.
Iwould also like to thank Krystyna PomorskaJakobson for reading
parts of my manuscript, even though she was very ill at the time. I
only regret that she is not able to see the final product.
Finally, I would like to thank Kees van Schooneveld for his con
stant support at every stage of my career. It was his gentle manner
of teaching linguistics that originally motivated my interest in Slavic
linguistics.