Wort-Arten aus Nähe und Distanz

The article attempts to deduce pragmatic categories of signs from universal parameters of ‘Nähe- und Distanzsprechen’ (orality and literacy) and thus to establish a systematic account of discourse signs. An essential precondition for this attempt is the analysis of different perspectives on the notion of word. By asking the question whether it is appropriate – from a deductive-pragmatic point of view – to consider the ‘word’ to be the default case of linguistic signs, the author joins the traditional controversy over parts of speech. The article argues that a systematic account of parts of speech on the one hand, and a model of discourse signs on the other, represent independent and complementary perspectives on signs.