2018 Volume 21 Issue 1 Pages 35-51
Contrastive study is more than merely one field of linguistics. The method of contrast forms the basis of language study. This is because it is through contrast that differences can be identified. What contrastive study, a field that already has generated a number of outstanding studies, needs today is the development of a fundamental theoretical basis of contrastive study. Elucidation of the state of language itself from the ontological viewpoint of how language comes into existence, or how language is realized, is an essential point in asking the question of what to contrast, and how. There is a need to make a sharp distinction between those things that have appeared in the form of words and those that have not—i.e. language in utero —and to exclude the metaphysics of language. There is a fundamental danger of a utilitarian view of language that trivializes language as a mere tool of communication and of a teleological view of language that sees it as being conducted for some purpose. Instead of seeing language as merely a semiotic subject, there is a need to look closely at language as something deeply related to human existence, by focusing on the linguistic fields in which language actually is practiced.
