Abstract
For many decades, psychologists have contemplated the concept of the self and the meanings associated with it. For example, Baumeister (1998) noted the diversity of the self as a topic of study, including the numerous terms social psychologists have created using the prefix self: self-concept, self-evaluation, self-perception, and self-presentation, to name a few. However, only within the past 30 years have we addressed the dynamic and culture-specific nature of the self (Markus & Kitayama, 1991; Triandis, 1989). For example, individualistic cultures (e.g., Western countries such as Canada and the United States) view the self as an independent entity distinct from its social environment, while collectivistic cultures (e.g., East Asian countries) define the self as interdependent and fundamentally connected to its social surroundings. Huang and Jaszczolt understand these differences and take them into account by incorporating the “cross-cultural pragmatics” of the self in the present text.
The book is a thoughtful, interdisciplinary volume that brings attention to the linguistic and philosophical aspects of referring to the self. It explores the topics of expressing the self, beyond a linguistic point of view (i.e., grammatical and lexical choices), and puts forward a philosophical approach to thinking about oneself. The text is organized into three main sections: (a) the self across languages, (b) self-awareness and self-expression, and (c) de se thoughts and indexicality. The first section is the largest with seven chapters focusing on how the self is portrayed with different semantic and pragmatic properties. It explores how the self is communicated in a variety of languages, from the specific Sino-Tibetan Newari language found in Nepal to the widely studied Japanese and Korean languages. There are three chapters in the second section on self-awareness and self-expression that are more cognitive in nature, concentrating on broader linguistic discussions of the self such as speech acts and first-person referencing. Last, the third section on de se thoughts (thoughts about oneself) and indexicality attempts to unite the philosophical and linguistic aspects of self-referencing. The three chapters which comprise this section are abstract in nature, in their critique and examination of different theories. The contributors to this volume are researchers in the fields of linguistics and philosophy, whose expertise in semantics, pragmatics, cognitive linguistics, and the philosophy of language is evident in the writing. As a result, this book is not recommended for readers at an early stage of their studies in linguistics, philosophy, or psychology; rather, it would be more appropriate for advanced researchers who have a specific interest in the aforementioned study areas or who are interested in alternative viewpoints for evaluating and interpreting their research.
The editors take a philosophical approach in defining the self, focusing on the distinct status of de se thoughts. This term is likely to be unfamiliar to linguists or psychologists, but its scope is comparable to the experience of reflexive consciousness—the “conscious attention [of] turning back toward [one’s] own source and gradually constructing a concept of oneself” (Baumeister, 1998, p. 680). The authors center the book on de se thoughts and how they are communicated in diverse languages. The editors consciously include a variety of languages from distinct language families in their discussion of de se thoughts and the philosophy of language. Specifically, the chapters in the section on the self across languages include examination of several Asian languages, such as self-referencing in Korean (chapter 4) and indexical expressions in Japanese (chapter 5). Furthermore, the section on self-awareness and self-expression concentrates on topics such as multiple-perspective constructions (chapter 8) and referential functions of the generic “one” (chapter 9). Speech can be regarded as the most representative form of self-expression; expressing oneself can be considered a vital facet of self-disclosure and social help seeking (Kim & Ko, 2007). Thus, these chapters can be especially useful for qualitative researchers in linguistics or clinical and community psychology whose methods use narratives or discourse analysis and focus on the way participants convey their sense of self through language.
One caveat is that the text can be overwhelming for those who do not have a strong understanding of theoretical linguistics or linguistic terminology. The philosophical nature of the topics and the use of standard linguistic abbreviations and translation conventions make the readings complicated and quite technical at times. Nevertheless, how individuals project themselves to others and are viewed by others (as well as by themselves) are important social psychological concerns. This text is a guide to understanding how people communicate themselves and their de se thoughts via different language constructions across different languages. Expressing the Self’s editors compiled this volume as a means to share different ways of thinking about and representing the self with a perspective unique from typical linguistic texts by taking into consideration the philosophical roots behind the linguistic representations of expressing the self.
