In linguistics, Communicative Dynamism (CD) is one of the key notions of the theory of Functional Sentence Perspective (FSP), developed mainly by Jan Firbas and his followers in the Prague School of Linguistics.
CD is canonically described as "a phenomenon constantly displayed by linguistic elements in the act of communication. It is an inherent quality of communication and manifests itself in constant development towards the attainment of a communicative goal; in other words, towards the fulfilment of a communicative purpose." [1]
Extensive research in FSP has established that Communicative Dynamism is a matter of degree:
"Entering into the flow of communication, the meaning conveyed by a linguistic element acquires the character of information and participates in the development of the communication and in the fulfilment of the communicative purpose. If unhampered by other factors, linear modification produces the following effect. The closer to the end of the sentence an element comes to stand, the greater the extent to which it contributes towards the development and completion of the communication. Whereas the element occurring finally contributes most to this development, the element occurring initially contributes least to it. Elements occurring neither at the beginning nor at the end rank between the two. In this way, the element occurring finally proves to be the most dynamic element within the sentence, for it completes the development of the communication; it is the element towards which the communication is perspectived. The element occurring initially is the least dynamic. The other elements rank between them. In regard to the dynamics of the communication, all elements display different degrees of communicative dynamism (CD)." [2]
The notion of Communicative Dynamism was introduced into linguistics by Jan Firbas in 1956 in a study called Poznámky k problematice anglického slovního pořádku s hlediska aktuálního členění větného [Some notes on the problem of English word order from the point of view of functional sentence perspective]. [3]
Today, the term is firmly established in major academic grammars, as well as in general reference works on language and linguistics:
- "Communicative dynamism refers to the variation of communicative value as between different parts of an utterance." [4]
- "communicative dynamism: variation in the importance or prominence of different parts of an utterance in conveying communication." [5]
Czech, historically also Bohemian, is a West Slavic language of the Czech–Slovak group. Spoken by over 13 million people, it serves as the official language of the Czech Republic. Czech is closely related to Slovak, to the point of high mutual intelligibility, as well as Polish to a lesser degree. Like other Slavic languages, Czech is a fusional language with a rich system of morphology and relatively flexible word order. Its vocabulary has been extensively influenced by Latin and German.
Functional linguistics is an approach to the study of language characterized by taking systematically into account the speaker's and the hearer's side, and the communicative needs of the speaker and of the given language community. It is contrasted with linguistic formalism, which instead attempts to isolate syntax and consider it autonomously from meaning. Both functionalism and formalism spawned from the 1920s-1930s from Ferdinand de Saussure's systematic structuralist approach to language (1916).
In linguistics, the topic, or theme, of a sentence is what is being talked about, and the comment is what is being said about the topic. This division into old vs. new content is called information structure. It is generally agreed that clauses are divided into topic vs. comment, but in certain cases the boundary between them depends on which specific grammatical theory is being used to analyze the sentence.
Vilém Mathesius was a Czech linguist, literary historian and co-founder of the Prague Linguistic Circle. He is considered one of the founders of structural functionalism in linguistics.
In sociolinguistics, a sociolect is a form of language or a set of lexical items used by a socioeconomic class, a profession, an age group or other social group.
The Prague school or Prague linguistic circle is a language and literature society. It started in 1926 as a group of linguists, philologists and literary critics in Prague. Its proponents developed methods of structuralist literary analysis and a theory of the standard language and of language cultivation from 1928 to 1939. The linguistic circle was founded in the Café Derby in Prague, which is also where meetings took place during its first years.
An ethnolect is generally defined as a language variety that mark speakers as members of ethnic groups who originally used another language or distinctive variety. According to another definition, an ethnolect is any speech variety associated with a specific ethnic group. It may be a distinguishing mark of social identity, both within the group and for outsiders. The term combines the concepts of an ethnic group and dialect.
The coat of arms of the Czech Republic displays the three historical regions—the Czech lands—which make up the nation. The current coat of arms, which was adopted in 1992, was designed by Czech heraldist Jiří Louda.
Czech word order is relatively free. However, the Czech language belongs to the SVO type.
The Czech language developed at the close of the 1st millennium from common West Slavic. Until the early 20th century, it was known as Bohemian.
Jan Firbas, was a Czech linguist and a prominent representative of the Prague School of linguistics.
Jaroslav Malina is a Czech archaeologist, anthropologist, publishing editor, head of the Department (Institute) of Anthropology of the Faculty of Science of Masaryk University, Brno, Czech Republic, and founder and head of Universitas (Masarykiana) Foundation.
Usus is the common usage of linguistic units in a particular speech community. It may be used as one of the criteria of laying out prescriptive norms for standard language usage.
In linguistics, functional sentence perspective (FSP) is a theory describing the information structure of the sentence and language communication in general. It has been developed in the tradition of the Prague School of Functional and Structural Linguistics together with its sister theory, Topic-Focus Articulation.
Radoslav Večerka was a Czech linguist, university professor, journalist, editor and literary scholar active in the field of Slavic studies with a focus on paleography, comparative studies of Slavic languages and Slavic history.
Aleš Svoboda, was a Czech linguist and a prominent representative of the Prague School of linguistics.
Miloslav Petrusek was a prominent Czech sociologist who served as a dean of Faculty of Social Sciences at Charles University in Prague between 1992–1997, as well as the prorector for academic affairs of the university in 1997–2000. For his consistent contribution to sociology and education, he received numerous awards, such as Ordre des Palmes Académiques or Golden Medal of Masaryk University. In 2012, Petrusek received The VIZE 97 Prize.
Léto s Oskarem is a 1998 Czech adventure game authored by Pavel Širůček and distributed by Vochozka Trading.
Libuše Dušková is a Czech linguist specializing in the fields of contrastive analysis of English grammar and functional syntax, member of the Prague Linguistic Circle and key representative of the Prague School of Linguistics. She is Professor Emerita of English Linguistics at Charles University. Her research spans a broad spectrum of topics in English linguistics, namely the verb phrase, the noun phrase, simple and complex sentences, the grammar-text interface, and aspects of the theory of Functional Sentence Perspective viewed through the prism of Jan Firbas' approach.
Pavel Materna is a Czech philosopher, logician and key representative of transparent intensional logic.
Portal