Beyond the Symbol Model: Reflections on the Representational Nature of Language

Beyond the Symbol Model: Reflections on the Representational Nature of Language presents arguments on several sides of the contemporary debate over the representational nature of language. Contributors include philosophers, linguists, psychologists, semioticians, and communication theorists from the U. S., Canada, Britain, Northern Ireland, and Israel. The chapters respond to the argument that language can no longer be viewed as a system of signs or symbols, and that a post-semiotic account can be developed from the recognition that language is first and foremost constitutive articulate contact. Three chapters extend this argument, two frame it historically, three disagree, and one contextualizes the "beyond enterprise" itself.

The book is a companion volume to Language as Articulate Contact: Toward a Post-Semiotic Philosophy of Communication. These two books contribute to the ongoing conversation about the nature of language that is strongly influencing theory and research in virtually all the human studies.

John R. Stewart is Professor in the Department of Speech Communication at the University of Washington. His previous books include Language as Articulate Contact: Toward a Post-Semiotic Philosophy of Communication, also published by SUNY Press, as well as Bridges Not Walls: A Book About Interpersonal Communication and (with Carole Logan) Together: Communicating Interpersonally, 4th Edition.