Gestalt Theory
What is What? Focus on Transdisciplinary Concepts and Terminology in Neuroaesthetics, Cognition and Poetics / Was ist Was? Transdisziplinäre Konzepte und Terminologien in Neuro-Ästhetik, Kognition und Poetik. Guest Editors: Renata Gambino, Grazia Pulvirenti, Elisabetta Vinci.
Published Online: Jul 25, 2019
Page range: 173 - 183
DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/gth-2019-0017
Keywords
© 2019 Alexander Bergs, published by Sciendo
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.
This paper investigates the nature of creativity in language and linguistics. Following Sampson (2016), it distinguishes between F-creativity (which roughly equals linguistic productivity) and E-creativity (which leads to new and unexpected innovations). These two notions of creativity are discussed on the basis of examples from three different domains: snow cloning, mismatch/coercion, and aberration. It is shown that pure E-creativity may only be found in the case of aberration. Both snow cloning and mismatch/coercion are examples for F-creativity, but to varying degrees. As a consequence, it is suggested that in practice, F- and E-creativity actually form a cline, rather than a dichotomy.