"I Think" vs. "The Thought Tells Me": What Grammar Teaches Us about the Monastic Self
While languages vary enormously in the way in which thinking is grammaticalized and how it figures in discourse, think appears to be a universal linguistic concept. Linguistic interpretations of this basic human activity can thus provide an important source of evidence for uncovering conceptual sy...
| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Johns Hopkins Univ. Press
[2017]
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| In: |
Journal of early Christian studies
Year: 2017, Volume: 25, Issue: 2, Pages: 255-279 |
| Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains: | B
Church
/ Monasticism
/ Mentality
/ Language behavior
/ Grammar
/ History 30-600
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| IxTheo Classification: | CD Christianity and Culture KAB Church history 30-500; early Christianity KCA Monasticism; religious orders |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (Verlag) Volltext (doi) |
| Summary: | While languages vary enormously in the way in which thinking is grammaticalized and how it figures in discourse, think appears to be a universal linguistic concept. Linguistic interpretations of this basic human activity can thus provide an important source of evidence for uncovering conceptual systems. Accordingly, this paper analyzes linguistic constructions of thinkingthe ways in which this state or activity is semanticized or construed in languagepreserved in the literary evidence of eastern monasticism, in order to uncover early monastic perceptions of the self and how these are formed and employed. Drawing on modern theories in linguistics, I argue that the unique linguistic interpretation of thinking employed by late antique monks was not simply a convenient or expressive way to talk about mental processes, but a way of bringing about a profound shift in understanding of the self as distinct from one's thoughts. This paper thus points to the important role of language, and especially the grammar, in the formation of the monastic self. |
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| ISSN: | 1086-3184 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Journal of early Christian studies
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1353/earl.2017.0021 |