Annual Review of Anthropology· 2015Q1· Review
Chronotopes, Scales, and Complexity in the Study of Language in Society
- 560citations
- Q1SCImago
- 2015year
Short summary
Language in society research is shifting from linear to complex models, emphasizing 'chronotopes' (invokable historical chunks organizing discourse) and 'scales' (scope of communicability for these chunks).
AI-generated from the title and abstract; the full text is not read.
Key points
- Language in society studies are increasingly adopting complex, non-linear models.
- Chronotopes are defined as historical chunks that organize the indexical order of discourse.
- Scales determine the scope of communicability for chronotope invocations.
- The cultural content of chronotopes is conditioned by sociolinguistic conditions of scale.
AI-generated from the title and abstract; the full text is not read.
Abstract
Recent developments in the study of language in society have moved the field increasingly away from linear models toward complex models. The complexity of timespace as an aspect of what is called context is of key importance in this development, and this article engages with two possibly useful concepts in view of this: chronotope and scale. Chronotope can be seen as invokable chunks of history that organize the indexical order of discourse; scale, in turn, can be seen as the scope of communicability of such invocations. Thus, whenever we see chronotopes, we see them mediated by scales. The cultural stuff of chronotopes is conditioned by the sociolinguistic conditions of scale. This nuanced approach to timescale contextualization offers new directions for complexity-oriented research in our fields.
The authors' abstract, as published at the source. Annual Review of Anthropology, 2015 · DOI ↗
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Field: Linguistics and Language
Linguistics and LanguageSocial Sciences