Introduction

This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book provides language as a complex adaptive system in action, in context and in vivo. It addresses the social nature of language and language use and considers the mutual constitution of language and society and the mutual influence of language and culture through time and space. The book explores the symbolic and expressive dimensions of language as a vital tool of meaning making and meaning conveyance for personal and interpersonal purposes, and the ways in which it serves these functions in varying real-world settings. It deals with a probe into a variety of literary and artistic materializations of Chinese language art and the symbolic devices that enable them and branches out into subjects that are largely subsumed under pragmatics. The book also deals with the societal impacts of the new media.