John Rupert Firth: Use

John Rupert Firth was English linguist. Explore interesting quotes on use.
John Rupert Firth: 28   quotes 0   likes

“The phonetic animal par excellence is man. All men are born with an infinite capacity for making noises and using them.”

John Rupert Firth

1964, p. 141; Chapter 1; Chapter 1: The Origin of Speech
Speech, 1930

Men , Animals

“In English we have noticed twenty-five consonant and about twenty vowel phonemes. Although individual pronunciations may differ, the phonemic habits of the same group or class will be similar. They will make similar use of heterophony. Words not phonetically separated — that is, homophones — may be separated by function or by experiential context”

John Rupert Firth

Source: Speech, 1930, p. 182

“There is always the danger that the use of traditional grammatical terms with reference to a wide variety of languages may be taken to imply a secret belief in universal grammar. Every analysis of a particular ‘language’ must of necessity determine the values of the ad hoc categories to which traditional names are given. What is here being sketched is a general linguistic theory applicable to particular linguistic descriptions, not a theory of universals for general linguistic description.”

John Rupert Firth

Source: "A synopsis of linguistic theory 1930-1955." 1957, p. 21; as cited in: Olivares, Beatriz Enriqueta Quiroz. The interpersonal and experiential grammar of Chilean Spanish: Towards a principled Systemic-Functional description based on axial argumentation. Diss. University of Sydney, 2013.

Secret , Universe

“A western scholar must de-europeanize himself, and, in view of the most universal use of English, an Englishman must de-Anglicize himself as well.”

John Rupert Firth

J. R. Firth, (1956). "Descriptive linguistics and the study of english." in: F.R. Palmer (ed.), Selected Papers of J.R. Firth, Indiana University Press, p. 96; As cited in: Angela Senis (2016)

Universe