Difference between revisions of "Linguistics"

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"[[linguistics]]" ([[Fr]]. ''[[linguistique]]'')
 
"[[linguistics]]" ([[Fr]]. ''[[linguistique]]'')
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References to the work of other influential linguistics... are almost completely absent from [[Lacan]]'s work.
 
References to the work of other influential linguistics... are almost completely absent from [[Lacan]]'s work.
  
There is a corresponding focus on the [[sign]], rhetorical tropes, and phoneme analysis, at the espense of an almost complete neglect of other areas of [[lingusitics]] such as syntax, semantics, pragmatics, sociolinguistics and language acquisition.
+
There is a corresponding focus on the [[sign]], rhetorical tropes, and phoneme analysis, at the espense of an almost complete neglect of other areas of [[linguistics]] such as syntax, semantics, pragmatics, sociolinguistics and language acquisition.
  
 
-----
 
-----
 +
 +
[[Saussure]] was the founder of 'structural lingusitics.'
 +
 +
In contrast to the study of language in the nineteenth century, which had been exclusively ''diachronic'' (i.e. focusing exclusively on the ways that languages change over time), [[Saussure]] argued that linguists should also be ''synchronic'' (i.e. focus on the state of a language at a given point in time).
 +
 +
This led him to deelop his famous distinction between ''langue'' and ''aprole'', and his concept of the [[sign]] as composed of two elements: [[signifier]] and [[signified]].
 +
 +
All these ideas are developed in [[Saussure]]'s most famous work, the ''Course in General Linguistics," which was constructed by his students from notes they had taken at [[Saussure]]'s lectures at the Unviersity of Geneva and published three years after his death.<ref>Saussure. 1916</ref>
 +
 +
[[Jakobson]] further developed the line laid down by [[Saussure]], pioneering the development of phonology, as well as making important contributions to the fields of grammatical semantics, pragmatics and poetics.
 +
 +
--
 +
 +
From Saussure, Lacan borrows the concepts of language as a structure, although whereas Saussure had conceived it as a sytem of signs, Lacan conceives it as a system of signifiers.
 +
 +
From Jakobson, Lacan borrows the cocnepts of [[metaphor]] and [[metonymy] as the two axes (synchronic and diachronic) along hwich all lingusitic phenomena are aligne,d using these terms to understand [[Freud]]'s concepts of [[condensation]] and [[displacement]].
 +
 +
Other concepts which [[Lacan]] takes from [[linguistics]] are those of the [[shifter]], and the distinciton ebtwen the [[statement]] and the [[enunciation]].
 +
 +
 +
----
 +
 +
 +
In his borrowing of linguistic concepts, [[Lacan]] has been accused of grossly distorting them.
 +
 +
[[lacan]] responds to such criticisms by arguing that he is not doing [[linguistics]] but [[psychoanalysis]], and this requires a certain modification of the concepts borrowed from [[linguistics]].
 +
 +
In the end, [[Lacan]] is not really interested in linguistic theory in itself, but only in the ways it can be used to develop [[psychoanalytic theory]].<ref>Lacan. 1970-1. seminar of 27 january 1971</ref>
 +
 +
It was this that led [[Lacan]] to coin the neologism ''linguistérie'' (from the words ''linguistique'' and ''hystérie'') to refer to his psychoanalytic use of linguistic concepts.<ref>{{S20}} p.20</ref>
 +
 +
 +
 +
--
 +
 +
[[Lacan]]'s concept of the [[letter]] is the subject of a critique by [[Jacques Derrida]] (1975) and by two of Derrida's follows (Lacoue-Labarthe and Nancy, 1973).
 +
 +
[[Lacan]] refers to the latter work in his 1972-3 seminar.<ref>{{S20}} p.62-6.</ref>
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 +
 +
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==References==
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<references/>
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[[Category:Psychoanalysis]]
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[[Category:Jacques Lacan]]
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[[Category:Dictionary]]
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[[Category:Symbolic]]
 +
[[Category:Concepts]]
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[[Category:Terms]]

Revision as of 19:04, 10 August 2006

"linguistics" (Fr. linguistique)


While Lacans interest in language can be traced back to the early 1930s, when he analyzed the writings of a psychotic woman in his doctoral dissertation, it is only in the early 1950s that he begins to articulate his views of language in terms derived from a specific linguistic theory,a dn not until 1957 that he begins to engage with linguistics in any detail.

--

Lacan's "linguistic turn" was inspired by the anthropological work of Claude Lévi-Strauss who, in the 1940s, had begun to apply the methods of structural linguistics to non-linguistic cultural data (myth, kinship relations, etc.), thus giving brith to "structural anthropology."

In so doing, Lévi-Strauss announced an ambitious programme, in which linguistics would provide a paradigm of scientificity for all the social sciences:

"Structural linguistics will certainly play the same renovating role with respect to the social sciences that nuclear physics, for example, has played for the physical sciences."[1]

---

Following the indications of Lévi-Strauss, Lacan turns to linguistics to provide psychoanalytic theory with a conceptual rigour that it previously lacked.

The reason for this lakc of ocnceptual rigour was simply due, Lacan argues, to the fact that structural lingusitics appeared too alte for Freud to make use of it.

however, Lacan argues that when Freud is reread in the light of linguistic theory, a coherent logic is revealed which is not otherwise apparent; indeed, Freud can even be seen to have anticipated certain elements of modenr linguistic theory.[2]

--

Lacan's engagement with linguistics revolves almost entirely aorund the work of Ferdinand de Saussure and Roman Jakobson.

References to the work of other influential linguistics... are almost completely absent from Lacan's work.

There is a corresponding focus on the sign, rhetorical tropes, and phoneme analysis, at the espense of an almost complete neglect of other areas of linguistics such as syntax, semantics, pragmatics, sociolinguistics and language acquisition.


Saussure was the founder of 'structural lingusitics.'

In contrast to the study of language in the nineteenth century, which had been exclusively diachronic (i.e. focusing exclusively on the ways that languages change over time), Saussure argued that linguists should also be synchronic (i.e. focus on the state of a language at a given point in time).

This led him to deelop his famous distinction between langue and aprole, and his concept of the sign as composed of two elements: signifier and signified.

All these ideas are developed in Saussure's most famous work, the Course in General Linguistics," which was constructed by his students from notes they had taken at Saussure's lectures at the Unviersity of Geneva and published three years after his death.[3]

Jakobson further developed the line laid down by Saussure, pioneering the development of phonology, as well as making important contributions to the fields of grammatical semantics, pragmatics and poetics.

--

From Saussure, Lacan borrows the concepts of language as a structure, although whereas Saussure had conceived it as a sytem of signs, Lacan conceives it as a system of signifiers.

From Jakobson, Lacan borrows the cocnepts of metaphor and [[metonymy] as the two axes (synchronic and diachronic) along hwich all lingusitic phenomena are aligne,d using these terms to understand Freud's concepts of condensation and displacement.

Other concepts which Lacan takes from linguistics are those of the shifter, and the distinciton ebtwen the statement and the enunciation.




In his borrowing of linguistic concepts, Lacan has been accused of grossly distorting them.

lacan responds to such criticisms by arguing that he is not doing linguistics but psychoanalysis, and this requires a certain modification of the concepts borrowed from linguistics.

In the end, Lacan is not really interested in linguistic theory in itself, but only in the ways it can be used to develop psychoanalytic theory.[4]

It was this that led Lacan to coin the neologism linguistérie (from the words linguistique and hystérie) to refer to his psychoanalytic use of linguistic concepts.[5]


--

Lacan's concept of the letter is the subject of a critique by Jacques Derrida (1975) and by two of Derrida's follows (Lacoue-Labarthe and Nancy, 1973).

Lacan refers to the latter work in his 1972-3 seminar.[6]


References

  1. Levi-Strauss. 1945. p.33
  2. {E}} p.162
  3. Saussure. 1916
  4. Lacan. 1970-1. seminar of 27 january 1971
  5. Lacan, Jacques. Le Séminaire. Livre XX. Encore, 1972-73. Ed. Jacques-Alain Miller. Paris: Seuil, 1975. p.20
  6. Lacan, Jacques. Le Séminaire. Livre XX. Encore, 1972-73. Ed. Jacques-Alain Miller. Paris: Seuil, 1975. p.62-6.