ABSTRACT

British variant of structuralism, which distin-guishes itself from other branches above all through the following. (a) The object of investigation is not primarily the language system (langue) ( langue vs parole), but rather language use ( usage vs use) as part of a more extensive social process. (b) This social process takes place in situations, i.e. each linguistic expression is determined by its situational context as well as by its linguistic context (i.e. its distribution). (c) In contrast to mentalistic approaches ( mentalism), meaning is understood to be a complex relation in the context of situations. Based on the research of the Polish anthropologist B.Malinowski (1884-1942) and developed primarily by J.R. Firth (1890-1960), Firthian linguistics has exerted significant influence on language acquisition theory, due to its orientation towards language use.