Over a year since I last posted, and almost nothing done on this topic...very little to say for myself. And, as I look down the blog, scan it in a cursory way, I don't even have what I need to get started on it. Here's what's going on:
1. I took out a Cooley book from the library, and ordered another: V. Cook's Inside Language. Cook is really where I start. Chapter 1 is: Right metaphor, wrong conclusion. I kind of wanted to start there and see where it took me, but that book might be a week getting here and I just ordered it today. I don't really want to depend on others' writing but there are a number of people I must research before I really lay it all out.
2. Where are the people who have already written about language as a self-organized system? I have a small collection somewhere (don't see it at the moment) and will unite my ideas using theirs, I hope.
3. What about Saussure? I assume he's the person I'm thinking about, from long ago, who set out (and I agreed) the idea that language was a social contract. I think it's necessary to go over that, review what it does and how it functions, before trying to explain it in any way.
4. Somewhere I have a piece of paper where I tried to organize my chapters, the progression of ideas; I didn't get very far. I got frustrated and gave it up for another season, this one the Christmas one, where one gets absolutely nothing done unless one has enormous unwrapped reservoirs of energy. Finally, after an exhausting Christmas season and a 2-week single parenting stint, I got a minute today with which to go to the library. How I am able to use that Cooley, remains to be seen. I have some organizing to do, as you can see.
As of now, I start. Sorry for the delay. It's like a New Year's resolution, only it's a little more inspirational than cleaning the garage!
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