Communication & Language Studies

Phenomenology of Language Use
Sibansu Mukherjee (Mukhopadhyay), PhD
Soumya Sankar Ghosh, PhD

Phenomenology of Language Use

In Production
Pub Date: Forthcoming February 2026
Hardback Price: $180 US | £140 UK
Hard ISBN: 9781779642264
E-Book ISBN: 978-1-77964-227-1
Pages: Est 278 pp w/index
Binding Type: Hardback / eBook

Analyzing the complex relationships between language, culture, and identity is essential in the contemporary world as digital environments and technological progress are transforming interpersonal connections. This new book, Phenomenology of Language Use, examines the evolution of language dynamics and the influence of external circumstances on human communicative practices through the frameworks of phenomenology, pragmatism, and semiotic theory. It explores the intricate relationship between the visible and the invisible aspects of human experience and underscores how presence and the manifestation of absence often reflect various facets of our perception and communication. The research examines both the impacts of direct social contacts and the instances of introspection and isolation that illuminate the more nuanced and sometimes obscured facets of human existence. The book prompts readers to contemplate the existence of these dualities in both public and private realms.

The book also discusses the tremendous changes that language is going through in the post-digital age, with a particular emphasis on the ways in which capitalist systems, through digital platforms and interactions that take place online, are progressively influencing our linguistic behaviors and personal identities. It also examines the influence of technological breakthroughs on the natural progression of language.

This work also places a strong emphasis on the relationship that exists between linguistic signs and the sociopolitical aspects that they possess. The chapters interact with problems about the regulation and standardization of language, as well as how these processes contribute to larger control systems, achieved by examining the development of communication systems in relation to human needs and the imperatives of power structures.

This methodology combines phenomenological and pragmatic traditions to clarify the impact of language on reality and its role in social interaction. Grounded in practical examples and case studies, the authors illustrate how linguistic practices affect individual behaviors and collective experiences in many circumstances, emphasizing how our interactions in both physical and virtual environments influence, challenge, and sometimes distort our personal and cultural identities.

The authors remind us that beyond being a means of communication, language serves as an essential tool for human connection, capable of fostering empathy, resistance, and transformation. Yet, as language becomes enmeshed with surveillance mechanisms and commodification efforts, the risk of it being reduced to mere data or a set of marketable algorithms looms large. Through this critical lens, this volume prompts readers to reflect on the future of language, challenging us to reclaim its vibrancy and authenticity amid the influences that seek to regulate and monetize it.

CONTENTS:
Preface

1. The Speaker Under Surveillance: The Signs Stand Bewildered

2. Constructing Reality Through Language: Phenomenology and Pragmatism in Dialogue

3. Phenomenology, Pragmatics, and the Role of Particles: Bridging Language, Meaning, and Communication

4. Semiotic Phenomenology: Context, Culture, and Communication

5. Beyond Syntax: A Phenomenological Approach to Recursion and Language Evolution

6. Role of Prosody in Semiotic Interpretation of Poetry

7. Philosophy of the (Social) Act

8. “End Note: Who Says, Thus Undecided Speaking Subject and the Social Facts”

Index


About the Authors / Editors:
Sibansu Mukherjee (Mukhopadhyay), PhD
Director (SNLTR), Department of Information Technology and Electronics, Govt. of West Bengal, India

Sibansu Mukherjee PhD, is currently Research Director at Department of Information Technology and Electronics of the Society for Natural Language Technology, Government of West Bengal, India. He formerly held the position of Visiting Research Associate at Germany’s University of Konstanz. His focus in academia is on semiotic systems (historical and contemporary semiotics: sociocultural semiotics, language as a semiotic system, literary semiotics, and post-digital semiotics). He has been in academia for almost 20 years and has taught for 15. Dr. Mukherjee has published over 80 papers in high-quality peer-reviewed journals both nationally and internationally. Recently, he has received recognition for being nominated for 2021’s Best Essayist Award from Little Magazine Library and Research Centre in Kolkata. He holds a doctorate in Linguistics from the Indian Statistical Institute (ISI), Kolkata, and an MA in linguistics and Bengali from the University of Calcutta, India.

Soumya Sankar Ghosh, PhD
Senior Assistant Professor, School of Advanced Sciences and Languages, VIT Bhopal University, Madhya Pradesh, India

Soumya Sankar Ghosh, PhD, is Senior Assistant Professor (I) at the School of Advanced Sciences and Languages at VIT Bhopal University, Madhya Pradesh, India. His teaching experience is in applied linguistics, core linguistics, and communicative and business English. Dr. Ghosh has worked on conversation model building and dialogue processing in the field of machine learning. He is interested in both natural language understanding and natural language generation (NLG) to extract meaning from spoken or written discourse and feed NLG systems so that machines can deliver the desired output. He has publications in University Grants Commission CARE-listed, ACL-, SCOPUS-, and CPCI (Web of Science)-indexed journals and proceedings. He is a member of various committees and associations. Dr. Ghosh holds a doctorate from the School of Languages and Linguistics at Jadavpur University, Kolkata, India. As a research fellow, he has worked at Potsdam University, Germany. He also holds two master’s degrees among other qualifications.




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