Language And Communicative Practices

by William F. Hanks

This book focuses on major theories of language from several disciplines and aims to develop an approach to communicative practice that combines the formal properties of linguistic systems with the dynamics of speech as social activity.

354 pages, Paperback

First published November 30, 1995

Reviews

[Sean Lundergan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Should be required reading for all linguists. It's a critical perspective that we almost never get in linguistics itself but informs how we conceptualize language.

"The actuality of practice is neither the sheer emergence of space, participation, and time nor the simple realization of transcendent units. It is the interplay between the two." 🔥

[Mike Mena · Rating 5 out of 5]

It is difficult to say what this book really is...perhaps a synthesis, overview, or genealogy on our perception of language and what makes communication possible. With that said, I imagine this book should not be a first book, but a book a person reads after a couple years of becoming familiar with the history of language scholarship. This book will then help you put it all together.