Linguistics

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PROFESSIONAL COMMUNICATION AND TRANSLATION STUDIES, 9 / 2016 
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THE CONCEPT OF NORM FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF INTEGRAL 
LINGUISTICS 
Nadia OBROCEA 
West University of Timișoara, Romania 
Abstract: 
The concept of norm, developed by Eugeniu Coșeriu in 1952 as part of the trichotomy 
system, norm, speech, and later related to the notion of language type, was defined as a system 
of obligatory, common, normal actualizations and traditions of the language, which are not 
necessarily functional, and which vary from one community of speakers to another. In the view of 
the Tübingen linguist, within the same linguistic community and the same functional system more 
types of norms can be identified: the norm of the literary language, the norm of the vernacular, the 
norm of familiar language, the norm of formal language, the norm of vulgar language, etc. In what 
concerns norm, the Romanian linguist also makes another important distinction, namely that 
between social norm and individual norm. The present paper deals with linguistic norm, as it was 
theorized by Eugeniu Coșeriu, and then focuses on the norm of the Romanian language in 
particular. Considering the “architecture” of historical language, i.e. the internal differences of the 
language: diatopic, diastratic and diaphasic 
– also described and analysed by Eugeniu Coșeriu – 
it will illustrate the division of the norm within the Romanian language. 
Keywords: 
Eugeniu Coșeriu, language, integral linguistics, norm, system, type, speech
1. Introduction
Eugeniu 
Coșeriu’s famous study, Sistema, norma y habla, published at Montevideo 
in 1952, represents for linguists, whether they are followers of Coșeriu or not, a 
fundamental theoretical milestone in the definition of the concept of linguistic norm. 
Eugeniu Coșeriu’s approach is characterized by a genuine depth of vision, which 
focuses on relating the notion of norm to other linguistic concepts, and by methodological 
complexity. Significant for the uniqueness of his perspective in linguistics is also the 
comparative and integrative way in which he makes use of multiple perspectives upon 
articulate human language, in its essence as well as in its reality. 
The present paper will first outline the most significant aspects of Eugeniu Coșeriu’s 
conception of linguistic norm. This approach will be complemented by a brief discussion 
of the norm of the Romanian language from the perspective the “architecture” of the 
historical language also theorized by Eugeniu Coșeriu, which will illustrate the diversity 
of the language norm.
This topic regarding Coșeriu’s view of norm has been of great interest to linguists, 
and was approached in various ways over time: purely theoretically, by the descriptive 
and/or critical presentation of Coșeriu’s perspective upon norm (Lara 1983; 
Constantinescu 2006; Dupuy-Engelhardt 2009); in an interdisciplinary manner, by the 
presentation of the impact the concept of norm has had upon other fields of linguistics, 
such as cognitivism, the neuropsychology and the pathology of language (Jacquet-
Andrieu 2003, 2007, 2011), language teaching (Montes Giraldo 1976; Jacquet-Andrieu 
2003, 2007) or interpretive semantics (Rastier 1987; Missire 2004); at the level of 

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PROFESSIONAL COMMUNICATION AND TRANSLATION STUDIES, 9 / 2016 
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practical applications, by the use of Coșeriu’s theory of norm in researching the units of 
histo
rical language (Milică 2009, 2012), etc.