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Language and Creativity: The Art of Common Talk
Language and Creativity explores the creativity inherent in everyday spoken language.
Creativity in language has conventionally been regarded as the preserve of institutionalised discourses such as canonical literature and the discourse of advertising. In Language and Creativity Ronald Carter analyses naturally-occurring spoken language to reveal that ordinary people in everyday speech contexts demonstrate creative capacities for sensitivity to their contexts. Illustrated with examples, and integrating current theory in both language and literature studies, the book underlines the importance of the creative choice, automaticity and repetition which is involved in informal communication.
Creativity in language has conventionally been regarded as the preserve of institutionalised discourses such as canonical literature and the discourse of advertising. In Language and Creativity Ronald Carter analyses naturally-occurring spoken language to reveal that ordinary people in everyday speech contexts demonstrate creative capacities for sensitivity to their contexts. Illustrated with examples, and integrating current theory in both language and literature studies, the book underlines the importance of the creative choice, automaticity and repetition which is involved in informal communication.
272 pages, Paperback
First published January 29, 2004
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
October 13, 2018
What is being creative? For many, the gift of a few geniuses, miraculously inspired and whose exceptional talents serve only purely aesthetical benefits.
Well, drawing upon CANCODE (Cambridge And Nottingham Corpus of Discourses in English) a massive computerised source of data containing several millions of utterances in British English and recorded in various contexts, the linguist Ronald Carter brushes aside this post-Romantic vision of creativity to demonstrate that, it is in fact a feature of us all that serves deeply socio-cultural purposes, beyond the mere pleasure it procures.
The millions of conversations provided by CANCODE show we are indeed delivering performances after performances every time we are conversing. From the wealth of figures of speech, other numerous plays with languages and, up to certain metalinguistic characteristics the author insists: we do not only use language, we create and re-create it constantly. Creativity is therefore not the sole feature of isolated individuals serving solely artistic purposes only but, also, a sociocultural fact inherent to us all.
Far from devaluing the creativity of artists whose works survived the test of time -to become part of a canon, for instance (not everything worth the same!)- Ronald Carter on the contrary invites us here to recognise and evaluate to its just value creativity as its expresses itself in our everyday interactions, yet considered dull and devoid of interest. Such an approach does more than enlightening with a new perspective our conversations. It also opens new paths in all the fields concerned by creativity per se -from psychology to art and literature.
Sure, this is a difficult book! It's loaded with linguistic terminology and not quite engaging, but for whose willing to digest it (200 pages are not that bad!) it interestingly (and convincingly!) smashes into pieces a whole idea surrounding the act of creating, both in its scope and its purposes. Beyond its academic rigour, here's therefore a must read for anyone baffled by the notion of creativity.
Well, drawing upon CANCODE (Cambridge And Nottingham Corpus of Discourses in English) a massive computerised source of data containing several millions of utterances in British English and recorded in various contexts, the linguist Ronald Carter brushes aside this post-Romantic vision of creativity to demonstrate that, it is in fact a feature of us all that serves deeply socio-cultural purposes, beyond the mere pleasure it procures.
The millions of conversations provided by CANCODE show we are indeed delivering performances after performances every time we are conversing. From the wealth of figures of speech, other numerous plays with languages and, up to certain metalinguistic characteristics the author insists: we do not only use language, we create and re-create it constantly. Creativity is therefore not the sole feature of isolated individuals serving solely artistic purposes only but, also, a sociocultural fact inherent to us all.
Far from devaluing the creativity of artists whose works survived the test of time -to become part of a canon, for instance (not everything worth the same!)- Ronald Carter on the contrary invites us here to recognise and evaluate to its just value creativity as its expresses itself in our everyday interactions, yet considered dull and devoid of interest. Such an approach does more than enlightening with a new perspective our conversations. It also opens new paths in all the fields concerned by creativity per se -from psychology to art and literature.
Sure, this is a difficult book! It's loaded with linguistic terminology and not quite engaging, but for whose willing to digest it (200 pages are not that bad!) it interestingly (and convincingly!) smashes into pieces a whole idea surrounding the act of creating, both in its scope and its purposes. Beyond its academic rigour, here's therefore a must read for anyone baffled by the notion of creativity.
December 12, 2014
Ronald Carter's publication, 'Language and Creativity: The Art of Common Talk' is an attempt to build on existing theories of creativity in order to examine whether language can be a creative phenomenon in everyday conversation, or specifically reserved for the solitary literary genius. It asks questions such as whether we create language ourselves or simply build upon existing idioms within the general mass populace, bringing about an argument as to whether anyone can create linguistic creativity, either with conscious effort or via literary devices.
The book itself is in actuality the first set-text for the Open University Level 3 module 'E301: The Art of English', which explores the English language as a creative phenomenon in both spoken and written interaction. I chose to take this module as an optional course in order to complete a BA in Humanities with English Language, and this book certainly aids in helping to understand what the OU's course materials attempt to teach its students. In fact, Ronald Carter himself provides a few articles and chapters to the E301 module, so this first set-text is an excellent addition to what is an already interesting academic journey.
Published by Routledge in 2004, it can be said that the examples that Carter provides are a bit dated, especially since, in 2014, we are steadily entering into a greater technological age with smartphones, and computer tablets, for example. (This goes for the course itself I would say.) However, Carter's utilisation of the Cancode database and heavy focus on other such linguistic corpora illustrates just how he attempts to explore everyday language as creative in its ubiquitous presence.
Splitting his publication into three parts of 'Backgrounds and Theories', 'Forms and Functions' and 'Contexts and Variations', Carter outlines examples and explorations of spoken discourse taken from the Cancode database across six chapters altogether. He focuses on the clines and continua of linguistic creativity, with background exploration of theories from fellow linguists and scholars, in order to examine how our everyday speech can be seen as a creative act, using viewpoints from various cultures and time periods.
I would say that 'The Art of Common Talk' is definitely not intended for light reading; far from it. The E301 course team gives its students two weeks to read this set-text, and I found it extremely difficult to follow for the first few days. However, once I got into Carter's format and began to understand his terminology better, I became enthralled with the idea that language can have the power for fictional worlds to be created on a daily basis, via our creative methods of language usage. We ultimately have power over our spoken interaction, which can be either intertextually influenced or created via interdiscursive methods.
If you are an aspiring linguist and decide to pick up this book as some exploration of the art of spoken discourse, please be patient and take your time in coming to grips with Carter's own specific methodology regarding his subject matter. I would give the same advice to Open University E301 students, and I would also advise that you work with your tutor and fellow students in examining Carter's viewpoints from a critical perspective, especially since it is more than likely that the OU will expect at least some reference to this material when submitting your tutor-marked assignments online.
The book itself is in actuality the first set-text for the Open University Level 3 module 'E301: The Art of English', which explores the English language as a creative phenomenon in both spoken and written interaction. I chose to take this module as an optional course in order to complete a BA in Humanities with English Language, and this book certainly aids in helping to understand what the OU's course materials attempt to teach its students. In fact, Ronald Carter himself provides a few articles and chapters to the E301 module, so this first set-text is an excellent addition to what is an already interesting academic journey.
Published by Routledge in 2004, it can be said that the examples that Carter provides are a bit dated, especially since, in 2014, we are steadily entering into a greater technological age with smartphones, and computer tablets, for example. (This goes for the course itself I would say.) However, Carter's utilisation of the Cancode database and heavy focus on other such linguistic corpora illustrates just how he attempts to explore everyday language as creative in its ubiquitous presence.
Splitting his publication into three parts of 'Backgrounds and Theories', 'Forms and Functions' and 'Contexts and Variations', Carter outlines examples and explorations of spoken discourse taken from the Cancode database across six chapters altogether. He focuses on the clines and continua of linguistic creativity, with background exploration of theories from fellow linguists and scholars, in order to examine how our everyday speech can be seen as a creative act, using viewpoints from various cultures and time periods.
I would say that 'The Art of Common Talk' is definitely not intended for light reading; far from it. The E301 course team gives its students two weeks to read this set-text, and I found it extremely difficult to follow for the first few days. However, once I got into Carter's format and began to understand his terminology better, I became enthralled with the idea that language can have the power for fictional worlds to be created on a daily basis, via our creative methods of language usage. We ultimately have power over our spoken interaction, which can be either intertextually influenced or created via interdiscursive methods.
If you are an aspiring linguist and decide to pick up this book as some exploration of the art of spoken discourse, please be patient and take your time in coming to grips with Carter's own specific methodology regarding his subject matter. I would give the same advice to Open University E301 students, and I would also advise that you work with your tutor and fellow students in examining Carter's viewpoints from a critical perspective, especially since it is more than likely that the OU will expect at least some reference to this material when submitting your tutor-marked assignments online.
December 10, 2009
Unfortunately, I never did get on with this book when studying for my degree. Although it covers important concepts, I never gelled with the author's style. I found it a bore and a chore to read. I suppose a little must have gone in eventually, but for the most part I dreaded being told to read this book. It just wasn't for me.
July 29, 2012
Hard going.
March 31, 2018
This book is actually a set book of one my courses I took when I was an undergrad. The book explains the commonality of creativity in language of everyday conversations and their continuum of the one found in artistic texts such as literary works, notable rhetorical speeches or religious eloquent sermons. Ronald Carter with this book demystifies the idea of creativity that it is restricted to "the individual genius" and to "the few elite" emphasising its routine occurrence in our everyday language just as literary works or literary language in other words. The book is asurvey of creativity in everyday communications, basically, general English in spoken forms of everyday talks and it discusses creativity of everyday language using different approaches from linguistic and sociocultural to cognitive fields.The book is meant for those who are interested in linguistics and the language is full of specialised terms that are familiar with the fields, but all in all it is an exotic uncovering a marginalised aspect of our everyday lives which is creativity and it is not a characteristic of exceptional people, but it is exceptional attribute of people and it is proved by our everyday language. Let me give you a concrete example from my own experience. In Arabic, the word human is called / I'nsan/ and the word forgetfulness is called / Nis-Yan/, OK, I still remember when we ( I and my friend) were patching up the furniture of my friend's stable because there was someone who has agreed to rent the stable, he came to us told us to pack up all the furniture in the living room because he will customise the rooms himself. Later on, he came and told us that he has some carpets and he told the laborers to not take them although he did not at all and we had already packed them up and tied them on the truck. We acquiesced to let the labourers untie them although the carpet was down under the heavy stuff, but we managed that. Then, he came and said in Arabic:
أ- السموحة بس أنا قايل للعمال خلوا الفرش لكن مادري
A: Forgive me, but i told the workers to not touch the carpets but I donnu.
ب- سهلات لو تبي جم غرض تاخذهم ماكو مشكلة سهلات
B: No worries, if you'd like to get other few stuff, no problem, it's ok.
أنا- سهلات الإنسان نساي مأخوذة من نسيان أكيد بتنسى لا تقول لهم.
I: It's OK. A human (i'nsan) is forgetful (Nasai), it's ( the arabic word insan) derived from forgetfulness (Nis-Yan), of course, you'll forget ( Tnsa) to tell them so.
أ- السموحة والله صاج أخوي والعذر منكم.
A: Forgive me, you're right for sure and I apologise.
Creativity here is found in my reply which is alliterative with the consonants /n/ and /s/ in the arabic words. It is recognisable how he the one who rents was trying to be free of the guilt and how he had blamed the labourers for nothing until I replied to him and approved his involvement out of unconscious status, an accusation but not that direct. My friend's reply could be interpreted as an irony when he told him that he could take other things if he wants, but it is ambiguous. So this shows that creativity in language is more common in our daily conversations.
أ- السموحة بس أنا قايل للعمال خلوا الفرش لكن مادري
A: Forgive me, but i told the workers to not touch the carpets but I donnu.
ب- سهلات لو تبي جم غرض تاخذهم ماكو مشكلة سهلات
B: No worries, if you'd like to get other few stuff, no problem, it's ok.
أنا- سهلات الإنسان نساي مأخوذة من نسيان أكيد بتنسى لا تقول لهم.
I: It's OK. A human (i'nsan) is forgetful (Nasai), it's ( the arabic word insan) derived from forgetfulness (Nis-Yan), of course, you'll forget ( Tnsa) to tell them so.
أ- السموحة والله صاج أخوي والعذر منكم.
A: Forgive me, you're right for sure and I apologise.
Creativity here is found in my reply which is alliterative with the consonants /n/ and /s/ in the arabic words. It is recognisable how he the one who rents was trying to be free of the guilt and how he had blamed the labourers for nothing until I replied to him and approved his involvement out of unconscious status, an accusation but not that direct. My friend's reply could be interpreted as an irony when he told him that he could take other things if he wants, but it is ambiguous. So this shows that creativity in language is more common in our daily conversations.
November 15, 2014
There is a special place in hell for an author who persistently lets his sentences run to 5 lines full of jargon. This isn't a beginner's book but Chapter 2 is by far the worst written of all the chapters. The sentences were so long, with so many sub clauses, that I had forgotten the point by the time I reached the end. I can only assume that the linguist was having an off day as it would've been so easy to make things more understandable, by using smaller sentences. I had to bribe myself to read 5 pages at a time with the reward of a chapter of a novel. It was the only way I could get through this book for a course. Chapters 5 and 6 are more understandable and content interesting although dated (2004).
If the book is to be republished with a revised section on creativity in online language, I really hope Carter re-reads Chapter 2 with new eyes and amends it to make it reader friendly. A list of jargon definitions wouldn't go amiss either.
If the book is to be republished with a revised section on creativity in online language, I really hope Carter re-reads Chapter 2 with new eyes and amends it to make it reader friendly. A list of jargon definitions wouldn't go amiss either.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews