Wendell Johnson, People in Quandaries, The Semantics of Personal Adjustment, Harper & Row (1946, New York)

This book is a practical guide to the sensible use of language, based on Alfred Korzybski's theory van de General Semantics (Eng.). It addresses in a very accessible way the relation between language and reality, the psychological implications of correct and incorrect use of language, and its abuse.
    Wendell Johson (Wikipedia) (home page) was a psychologist, specialized in the treatment of stuttering. That is why it is somewhat of a surprise that, in contrast to Hayakawa , he starts with a systematic and scientific approach, and gives his applications, mostly in the field of psychology, afterwards - as becomes clear from the table of contents given below (some small sections are available through links):


Part I.   People in Quandaries
   I. Verbal Cocoons

PART II.   Scientific Living
  II. Never the Same River
 III. Science and Personality
 IV. Science and Tomorrow

PART III.   Words and Not-Words
   V. The World of Not-Words
  VI. The World of Words
 VII. The Process of Abstracting
VIII. Three Basic Notions
  IX. Working Principles
    X. Practical Devices and Techniques

PART IV.   The Making of a Difference
   XI. The Language of Maladjustment
  XII. Language as Technique
 XIII. The Major Maladjustments
 XIV. Our Common Maladjustments
  XV. And So, Forth

PART V.    Applications
 XVI. In Other People's Quandaries
XVII. The Indians Have No Word for It (The Problem of Stuttering)
XVIII. The Urgency of Paradise



Naar Literatuur home , Alg. semantiek, lijst  , Alg. semantiek, overzicht  , of site home .