For
linguist Ferdinand de Saussure, for
example, the content of a sign in linguistics is ultimately determined and
delimited not by its internal content, but by what surrounds
it:
the synonyms redouter(“to dread”), craindre (“to fear”), and avoir peur (“to be afraid”) have their particular values because, if two of the terms disappeared, then the remaining sign would take on their roles, become vaguer, less articulate, and lose its “extra something” because it would have nothing to distinguish itself from.For de Saussure, this suggests that thought is a chaotic nebula until linguistic structure dissects it and holds its divisions in equilibriums.
This is akin to
the philosophy of Sir William Hamilton, who
indirectly influenced Saussure[ and believed that the mind
could only grasp an idea through distinguishing it from something that it is
not. He reasoned that the two objects would otherwise collapse together for the
mind and become indistinguishable from the other.
The term heteroglossia refers to the qualities of a language
that are extralinguistic, but common to all languages. These include qualities
such as perspective, evaluation,
and ideological positioning.
Heteroglossia is "the base condition governing the operation
of meaning in
any utterance. To make an utterance means to
"appropriate the words of others and
populate them with one's own intention
In this way most languages are incapable of neutrality, for every word is inextricably bound to the context in which
it exists.
As to writers, for the purpose of his/her writing, an author
must create entire worlds and, in doing so, is forced to make use of the
organizing categories of the real world in which he lives.
No comments:
Post a Comment