Dialogue – The Mixed Game

Edda Weigand
University of Münster
The ‘Mixed Game Model’ represents a holistic theory of dialogue which starts from human beings’ competence-in-performance and describes how language is integrated in a general theory of human action and behaviour. Human beings are able to adapt to changing conditions and to pursue their interests by the integrated use of various communicative means, mainly verbal, perceptual and cognitive. The core unit is the dialogic action game or ‘the mixed game’ with human beings at the centre acting and reacting in cultural surroundings. The key to opening up the complex whole is human beings’ nature. The Mixed Game Model demonstrates how the different disciplines of the natural and social sciences and the humanities are mutually interconnected. After a detailed overview of the state of the art, the fundamentals of the theory are laid down. They include a typology of action games which ranges from minimal games to complex institutional games. The description is illustrated by analyses of authentic games.
[Dialogue Studies, 10]  2010.  xii, 304 pp.
Publishing status: Available
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ISBN 9789027210272 | EUR 95.00 | USD 143.00
 
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Table of Contents

Preface
xi–xii
Introduction: The simple and the complex
1–8
I. Rethinking theory
9–10
1. The state of the art
11–38
2. The turning point in theorizing: Starting from the integrated whole
39–50
II. The Theory of Dialogic Action Games or the Mixed Game Model
51–54
1. Premises about the object: From human affairs to language
55–70
2. The methodology: Principles of Probability
71–124
3. To sum up: The mixed game of human competence-in-performance
125–126
III. Minimal action games or the issue of a speech act taxonomy
127
1. Minimal versus complex action games
129–130
2. Controversial issues in setting up a taxonomy of speech acts: The state of the art
131–140
3. The issue of a dialogic taxonomy of speech acts
141–206
4. To sum up
207
IV. The architecture of complex action games
209–210
1. Extending the minimal game
211–228
2. Complex human affairs: Dialogue in the stream of life
229–250
3. Literary action games or touching on the mystery of life
251–266
4. To sum up: Dialogue in human affairs
267–268
Summary and outlook: Towards an understanding of the dialogic species
269–272
References
273–288
Appendix
289–296
Index
297–304

Quotes

“Professor Edda Weigand’s new book “Dialogue - The Mixed Game” offers an entirely new look at language use. It focuses on the complexity of human communication in a holistic approach by analyzing how human beings tackle the challenges of social life in dialogic interaction. Dr. Weigand claims that language use cannot be separated from the use of other human abilities. Consequently, only an integrative approach can explain the complexity of human dialogic interaction. The book is full of intriguing ideas, insightful observations and makes a rigorous analysis of language use. It certainly is a must read to all who are interested in any aspect of language.”
Istvan Kecskes, Professor of Linguistics and Communication, State University of New York, Albany
“Professor Weigand’s new book marks a fundamental renewal of the language sciences and most notably linguistic pragmatics by developing a new theory of ‘language as dialogue’ which conforms to recent discoveries in neuroscience. She lays out the principles which constitute dialogic action in its fundamentals and draws up a typology of ‘dialogic action games’, by means of which she fundamentally renews classical speech act theory. This is an extremely important book: informed, rigorously argued, innovative, and free of dogmatism. It proposes a new paradigm for the social sciences and humanities that will inspire researchers who are looking for an approach that will unify the human sciences and the natural sciences.”
Alain Trognon, Professor of Social Psychology at Nancy University
“Dialogue - The Mixed Game embraces the complexity of life and uses it to reveal the beauty of language as it unfolds in human interactions. Edda Weigand’s book gives us a fresh perspective on dialogue and language and shows the many points in common between human language and human performance. Its implications are both theoretical and methodological. If you are interested in language, you must study who’s speaking it: human beings.”
Marco Iacoboni, Professor of Psychiatry at UCLA and author of Mirroring People

Subjects

Benjamins Subject classification

Communication Studies

Philosophy

BIC Subject

CFG: Semantics, Pragmatics, Discourse Analysis

BISAC Subject

LAN009000: LANGUAGE ARTS & DISCIPLINES / Linguistics
U.S. Library of Congress Control Number:  2010038021
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