Structures of Language: Notes Towards a Systematic Investigation

316 Pages·2022·2.365 MB·

by  Joan Casser

Structures of Language: Notes towards a Systematic Investigation
Studies in

Critical Social Sciences
Series Editor
David Fasenfest (Wayne State University)
Editorial Board
Eduardo Bonilla- Silva (Duke University)
Chris Chase- Dunn (University of California– Riverside)
William Carroll (University of Victoria)
Raewyn Connell (University of Sydney)
Kimberlé W. Crenshaw (University of California, Los Angeles/
Columbia University)
Raju Das (York University)
Heidi Gottfried (Wayne State University)
Karin Gottschall (University of Bremen)
Alfredo Saad- Filho (King’s College London)
Chizuko Ueno (University of Tokyo)
Sylvia Walby (Lancaster University)
volume 231
The titles published in this series are listed at brill.com/scss

Cover illustration: Writing Chair (USA), early 19th century. Courtesy: Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design
Museum. Gift of George A. Hearn. Smithsonian Public Domain.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Casser, Joan, author.
Title: Structures of language : notes towards a systematic investigation /
by Joan Casser.
Description: Leiden ; Boston : Brill, [2023] | Series: Studies in critical
social sciences, 1573-4234 ; vol. 231 | Includes bibliographical
references and index. | Summary: “This annotated commentary of Pêcheux’s
materialist theory of discourse anticipates the formation of a real social
science which supersedes the metaphysical meanings of the empirical
ideologies ‘always-already-there’. Structures of Language presents
Pêcheux’s theory in reference to Ferdinand de Saussure’s epistemological
breakthrough that founded the science of linguistics : the theoretical
separation of sound from meaning. Noam Chomsky’s generative grammar,
John Searle’s philosophy of language, B.F. Skinner’s indwelling agents,
J.L. Austin’s speech situations, Lacan’s symbolic order, and the influential
theories of other linguistic researchers, are cited to explain the functioning
of semantic ideology”– Provided by publisher.
Identifiers: LCCN 2022034467 (print) | LCCN 2022034468 (ebook) |
ISBN 9789004520776 (hardback ; acid-free paper) | ISBN 9789004520783 (e-book)
Subjects: LCSH: Meaning (Philosophy) | Ideology. | Language and
languages–Philosophy. | Philosophy, Modern.
Classification: LCC B105. M4 C385 2023 (print) | LCC B105. M4 (ebook) |
DDC 121/.68–dc23/eng/20221004
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022034467
LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022034468
Typeface for the Latin, Greek, and Cyrillic scripts: “Brill”. See and download: brill.com/brill-t ypeface.
issn 1573- 4234
isbn 978- 90- 04- 52077- 6 (hardback)
isbn 978- 90- 04- 52078- 3 (e- book)
Copyright 2023 by Joan Casser. Published by Koninklijke Brill nv, Leiden, The Netherlands.
Koninklijke Brill nv incorporates the imprints Brill, Brill Nijhoff, Brill Hotei, Brill Schöningh, Brill Fink,
Brill mentis, Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Böhlau, V&R unipress and Wageningen Academic.
Koninklijke Brill nv reserves the right to protect this publication against unauthorized use. Requests for
re-use and/ or translations must be addressed to Koninklijke Brill nv via brill.com or copyright.com.
This book is printed on acid- free paper and produced in a sustainable manner.
The nature of the following work will be best understood by a brief
account of how it came to be written
charles darwin
∵

Contents

P reface xi
A cknowledgements xiii
Introduction 1
1 M ichel Pêcheux (1938– 1983) 4
Semantic scientificity – linguistic phenomena – domain of linguistics –
sentence formation – epistemological obstacles – everyday language –
ideological phenomena – realization of the real – self- evident meaning –
social science – non- subjective theory of subjectivity – semantic
self- evidence – syntactic recognition – philosophical hermeneutics –
scientific practice – co- reference
2 F erdinand de Saussure (1857– 1913) 20
Theoretical ideologies – Saussure’s rupture – speech sounds –
linguistic co- ordination – social psychology – language and speech –
ideological mis/ recognition – institutional discourse – discourse
analysis – contextual cues – base/s uperstructure – value and meaning –
acceptability – imaginary associations – Althusserian principles –
scientific history – analogy
3 N oam Chomsky (1928– ) 36
Problem of meaning – linguistic idealism – generative grammar –
competence and performance – sentential transformations – universal
grammar – Port- Royal logic – propaganda model of meaning – linguistic
value – pre- Saussurian ideology – state discourse – Saussurian double
structure – transcoding – formatives – state apparatus – dogma of
meaning
4 J ohn Searle (1932– ) 54
Philosophy of language – spontaneous ideology – reading codes –
contextual rules – ideology of context – illocutionary acts –
context- utterance relation – expressibility – brute/ institutional
facts – intentionality – social reality – performative utterances –
the Background – speaker position – structural elements – social
commitment – tied information.
viii Contents
5 B . F. Skinner (1904– 1990) 73
S- O- R model – illusion of spontaneous subjectivity – indwelling
agents – Munchausen effect – introspection – verbal behavior – operant
conditioning – discursive contingencies – colloquial communication –
verbal faculty – social control – forms of reinforcement – inner man –
technology of behavior – autonomous subjection – subject of speech
6 J . L. Austin (1911– 1960) 90
Subjective self- evidence – predictable speech – speech
situations – conventional mis/ recognition – verbal contexts –
performative assumptions – meaningless speech – ideologies of agency –
responsible subject – plea for excuses – imaginary associations –
ideology of ordinary language – institutionalized speech acts – rituals of
performativity – performative success – ideological speech activity
7 J acques Lacan (1901– 1981) 107
Mental automatism – repetition automatism – letter of
meaning – automatic ideation – discursive automatism – subject of
enunciation – site of speech – ideological automaticity – symbolic
order – derealization – transference – structures of identification –
psychogenic interpretations – the echo – ideo- verbal subjection –
symbolic agencies
8 R oland Barthes (1915– 1980) 125
Pre- Saussurian regression – mythical systems – discursive
discrepancies – mythemes – meaning and myth – muthos – novel
mythology – accepted stories – politics and myth – noble lie – rhetoric –
mythological beliefs – personal agency – mythological freedom –
rhetoric of freedom – myths of subjectivity – rhetorical practice –
meaningful narratives
9 L udwig Wittgenstein (1889– 1951) 141
Philosophy as ideology – meaningless nonsense – propositional logic –
Saussurian principles – useless signs – ideological practice – everyday
language – non- subjective theory of language – mechanical protocols –
misunderstood meaning – unconscious subjection – meaning as
use – socially accepted signs – ideological problems – language games –
linguistic behavior
Contents ix
10 Z ellig Harris (1909– 1992) 157
Non- subjective theory of language – meaning as frequency –
institutional ideologies – ideology of meaning – distribution – recurring
sequences – normative social conditions – architecture of meaning –
social sub- systems – distributed meaning effects – forms of language –
ideological basis of ordinary language – language and situation
11 R oman Jakobson (1896–1982) 173
Meaningful ideology – sound and meaning – phonemes – semantic
effects – code recognition – double structure – Saussure’s break –
shifters – subject positions – imaginary representation – discourse
structure – subject as shifter – preconstructed social relations – self-
subjection – ordinary language – literal subjection – literary discourses
12 J acques Derrida (1930– 2004) 188
Semantic deconstruction – Saussurian break – illusory forms of
control – metaphysics of meaning – ideology and belief – ideological
superstructure – phonocentric discourse – subjective interiority –
textual transparency – meaning and soliloquy – symbolic linearity –
psychographism – repression – ideological structure of subjectivity –
logic of the supplement
13 M ikhail Bakhtin (1895– 1975) 207
Author function – individualistic subjectivism – normative
inculcation – transverse discourse – semantic and metonymic
dominance – identificatory obviousness – official/ unofficial ideology –
illusion of subjectivity – social psychology – hierarchies of discourse –
addressivity and answerability – relative autonomy of meaning – social
science as ideology
14 J ürgen Habermas (1929– ) 226
Universal pragmatics – observation and understanding – critical theory
of subjection – background consensus – normative structures – subject
positions – spirit of capitalism – socially situated speech – legitimate
rule – ideological subjection – non- coercive coercion – liberal state –
state apparatus – legitimation problem – psychoanalysis and self-
reflection – unconscious ideology – consensus and meaning
x Contents
15 É mile Benveniste (1902– 1976) 244
Self- generating subjectivity – materialist theory of discourse –
symbolic interaction – linguistic immediacy – ideological conditions
of enunciation – individual agency – psychological subjectivity –
structures of verbal interaction – non- subjective theory of language –
epistemological rupture – social domination – state authority –
symbolic control – institutional materiality – subjectivity and speech
16 M ichel Foucault (1926– 1984) 262
Discourse analysis – non- subjective theory of subjectivity – discursive
formations – language and ideology – linguistic base – disciplines –
archaeology of knowledge – modern soul – objective conditions
of discursive practice – institutional materiality – accepted forms
of subjection – ideology of freedom – writing systems – epistemic
panopticon – disciplinary norms – Munchausen effect
C onclusion 278
R eferences 281
I ndex 288