| Lemma | material |
|---|---|
| Categoria grammaticale | AG |
| Lingua | inglese |
| Sigla | Sapir (1921) |
| Titolo | Language |
| Sinonimi | |
| Rinvii | concrete concept (inglese) content (inglese) expression (inglese) inner (inglese) mold (inglese) radical word (inglese) relation (inglese) sentence (inglese) significance (inglese) structure (inglese) transitional concept (inglese) word (inglese) |
| Traduzioni | |
| Citazioni | [...] if we substitute such radical words as 'man' and 'chick' for 'farmer' and 'duckling', we obtain a new material content [...] but not in the least a new structural mold. The new sentence, 'the man takes the chick', is totally different from the first sentence in what it conveys, not in how it conveys it. [...] the two sentences fit precisely the same pattern, that they are really the same fundamental sentence, differing only in their material trappings. [...] in exotic languages [...] we may be quite sure of the analysis of the words in a sentence and yet not succeed in acquiring that inner 'feel' of its structure that enables us to tell infallibly what is 'material content' and what is 'relation.' It is possible for a concrete concept, represented by a simple word, to lose its material significance entirely and pass over directly into the relational sphere without at the same time losing its independence as a word. [...] language struggles towards two poles of linguistic expression -material content and relation- and that these poles tend to be connected by a long series of transitional concepts. |