The limits of thematization

Bibliographic Data

ID2286410
AuthorsCharles H P Zuckerman (0000-0002-4101-3428, University of California San Diego, corresponding author), N J Enfield (0000-0003-3891-6973, The University of Sydney, corresponding author)
Year2023
Volume33
Issue3
Pages234-263
Publication date2023-12-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of Linguistic Anthropology (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1055-1360 • E-ISSN: 1548-1395
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/jola.12399
OpenAlexW4386606623
LanguageEN
Citations received5
References cited97

A fundamental capacity of language is its reflexivity. But not every aspect of language is equally accessible to being reflected upon. Michael Silverstein's 1981 paper, the "Limits of Awareness," set the terms of this discussion in linguistic anthropology with his study of speakers' "awareness" of pragmatic forms and their corresponding capacity to talk about them. His notion of differential "awareness" of aspects of language has since been foundational to linguistic-anthropological understandings of language ideologies. Here we consider Silverstein's argument with reference to our research in Laos, exploring the limits of metalinguistic discourse. We argue that the apparent constraints on our capacity to talk about aspects of language do not evidence limits of awareness of elements of language, but rather constraints on our ability to thematize those elements, that is, to bring them into joint attention. The central issue is thematization, and the relation of interest is a relation of joint attention between speakers. Metalanguage is thus constrained not (only) by psychological limits but by the social and semiotic limits on what people can bring into mutual focus within interactions. To present our framing of the issue and show what it helps us see, we distinguish two kinds of thematization and describe their subtypes, affordances, and constraints. We then demonstrate how social conventions-broadly understood-can circumvent these constraints, allowing people to thematize otherwise difficult to thematize forms

Affordance · Argument (complex analysis · Cognitive psychology · Epistemology · Framing (construction · Ideology · Linguistics · Metalanguage · Metalinguistics · Reflexivity · Relation (database · Semiotics · Set (abstract data type · Social science · Sociology · Computer Science · History · Language, Discourse, Communication Strategies · Multilingual Education and Policy · Philosophy · Psychology · Syntax, Semantics, Linguistic Variation

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