In this paper, we address the problematic of film narration and its narrator from a re-reading of Émile Benveniste’s theory of enunciation in open discussion with both the theories of film enunciation that have derived from it, and the cognitive theories that, by discarding it, have tried to take its place. This has led us to a differentiation between two dimensions of the problem of enunciation that are usually ignored: that which separates the act of (...) class='Hi'>enunciation and the subject who performs it from that of the textual subjects who inscribe that act in the text. An erroneous understanding of the modes of enunciation of story and discourse has derived from their ignorance, which has led to reducing the former to a kind of form that derives from the latter, constituting no more than a form of discourse that would hide its basis. A precise enunciative definition of the lie is derived from their conscience. Certainly, there is always a subject of the act of enunciation whose traces can be recognized in the materiality of the statement. But there is a properly ontological distance that separates them – as material traces – from the enunciator, as a purely formal textual figure that, by being that, may or may not be present in the text. In this way, the Benveniste’s affirmation can be sustained according to which the story, the pure mode of the narrative, so to speak, is characterized by the absence – not the erasure, nor the invisibility – of any enunciator. (shrink)

ABSTRACT This article aims to reflect upon the presence of the language acquisition theme in the works of Ferdinand de Saussure, Mikhail Bakhtin and Émile Benveniste, in order to, based on such reflection, describe how this presence gave rise to work perspectives around the theme in research panorama in Brazil. Three major perspectives for studying language acquisition in the country are highlighted: based on Saussurean assumptions, there are the social interactionist studies; in the Bakhtinian perspective, the dialogic-discursive approach; from (...) the Benveniste perspective, the enunciative acquisitional perspective. The reflection presents a summary table with the configuration of each perspective derived from its affiliation with the authors in question. (shrink)

The present article reviews the concepts of enunciation in Greimas’s and other semioticians’ works; it examines the way in which these latter revisit Benveniste, the reorientations they propose or the aspects they leave aside, such as the distinction between speaker and enunciator (as the source of a point of view in a propositional content composed of a.

Cet article vise à réintégrer la question du langage intérieur dans les idées linguistiques de l’énonciation, notamment celles sur le mode de signifiance et l’opération énonciative. En nous référant aux études de Benveniste, de Merleau-Ponty et de Culioli, nous examinons dans quelle mesure le langage intérieur se distingue du monologue intérieur au sens de se parler à soi-même : ce langage intérieur en tant qu’expression pure et naturelle du sens général, implique une réflexivité non consciente et non verbale, dans (...) la genèse du sens ainsi que dans la construction dynamique des formes discursives. Eu égard à ces valeurs, nous procédons à l’analyse énonciative du discours littéraire de la conscience. Plusieurs faits de discours, liés à la non-coïncidence entre le mot et la chose vécue dans la conscience, tels que la nomination, l’indéfinition, la négation, manifestent les traces du langage intérieur global, non construit, inconscient et silencieux, qui mobilise le langage extériorisé. (shrink)

In this paper, I will deal with the way linguistics and semiotics focus on person and subjectivity in language. I start from two different meanings of the “person” word and from Benveniste and Latour’s theories of enunciation. Later, I deal with the problem of subjectivity in language and I connect it to two different views: Benveniste’s idea that subjectivity is grounded on the “I” and Guillaume’s idea of a primacy of the “he”. Starting from the Iliad and (...) from the semiotic idea of subject, I take side for Guillaume and Latour’s theory: it is the delocutive structure of the “he” which, in language, expresses subjectivity, namely the capacity of the subject to make himself the object of his reflections and of his words. (shrink)

To apply the notion of language to the animal world is admissible only at the price of misusing terms. We know that it has been impossible until now to prove that animals enjoy, even in a rudimentary form, a means of expression endowed with the characteristics and functions of human speech. All serious observations made of animal communities, all attempts to establish or verify, by means of various technical devices, any form of speech comparable to that of man have failed. (...) It does not seem that animals which emit certain kinds of calls are thereby displaying any behaviour from which we may infer that they are conveying ‘spoken’ messages to one another. The fundamental conditions for a strictly linguistic communication seem to be lacking even in the higher animal world. (shrink)

ABSTRACT In this article, we discuss the concept of affiliation in the theoretical-methodological framework of Discourse Analysis to analyze the relationship between Benvenistian thought and Saussurian thought as a relationship of affiliation within the history of ideas that delimits the field of language studies. The analysis, which cuts out paraphrastic formulations from the Course in General Linguistics and Problems in General Linguistics, allowed the understanding of this affiliation relationship as a dialogue, in which a constitutive paradoxical relationship is materialized. This (...) relationship signifies the movement of approximation and displacement/detachment of Benvenistian thought to Saussurian thought. This understanding showed that the different ways of reading the Benveniste-Saussure relationship, already historicized in some way within the history of linguistic ideas belongs to the order of the effect of interpretation in the dispute of the history of science games. (shrink)

For all his profound interest in Secondness and its manifestation in various kinds of indices, including deictics, Peirce rarely addresses the inter-pronominalrelationships. Whilst the American founder of semiotics would designate language as a whole to Thirdness, only within the larger framework of which deictics can work, the German philosopher Cassirer observes that “what characterizes the very first spatial terms that we find in language is their embracing of a defi nite ‘deictic’ function”. For Cassirer the significance of pronominals, especially the (...) I-Thou relationship, lies in its impact on the development of spatial concept that lays the foundation of symbolic forms. It may look strange why the “designatives” of I, Thou, He, in Peirce’s own terms, so obvious in their categorial and empirical differentiation, should fail to be reduceable to the triad of Firstness, Secondness, and Thirdness. It is interesting, however, that in his 1906 correspondence with Lady Welby, Peirce should refer to the strange “Communicational Interpretant”, or “the Cominterpretant, which is a determination of that mind into which the minds of utterer and interpreter have to be fused in order that any communication should take place”. Peirce asserts that this communication of a Form, say, being in love, is made possible by sign. This paper discusses Peirce’s and Cassirer’s references to deictics or indexical sign, in particular, inter-personal relationships, in light of Benveniste’s concept of discourse, and probes into a possible subtext underlying the Peirce-Welby correspondence. (shrink)

Previous chapter It is time now to introduce the revolutionary work of Émile Benveniste, which is largely underestimated nowadays, especially in English speaking countries. Benveniste was of the same generation as Lefebvre, he crossed his path several times but he does not seem to have been politically engaged, although his sympathies seem clearly to have been towards the left. After having excelled in Iranian micro-comparativism, Benveniste embarked in the 1930s in - Linguistique et théorie du langage – (...) Nouvel article. (shrink)

Previous chapter In Problems of General Linguistics Vol. I, Benveniste famously claimed that “language is in the nature of man”. In this chapter, I would like to analyze the peculiar meaning he gave to this statement, to show how it resumed a reflection on the radical historicity of human beings already initiated by Humboldt and Saussure and how it made thereby language itself susceptible of rhuthmic - Linguistique et théorie du langage – Nouvel article.

Previous chapter In our elaboration of the phrase radically historical anthropology, we have insisted, so far, on the terms radically historical. Benveniste helped us to suggest the outlines of a rhuthmic conception of human life independent of most modern philosophical theories. We must now approach the notion of historical anthropology itself. Indeed, at the same time as he was describing the relation between language and society, language and the individual, Benveniste sketched out a - Linguistique et théorie du (...) langage – Nouvel article. (shrink)

It is time now to introduce the revolutionary work of Émile Benveniste, which is largely underestimated nowadays, especially in English speaking countries. Benveniste was of the same generation as Lefebvre, he crossed his path several times but he does not seem to have been politically engaged, although his sympathies seem clearly to have been towards the left. After having excelled in Iranian micro-comparativism, Benveniste embarked in the 1930s in Indo-European - Linguistique et théorie du langage – Nouvel (...) article. (shrink)

Resumen: En la novela Nadie nada nunca, Juan José Saer narra la desarticulación de la instancia de la enunciación. Uno de los motivos en los que se anuncia esta temática es la relación intersubjetiva de intimidad. Entre otros temas, la novela narra la imposibilidad de establecer un vínculo de intimidad entre los cuerpos. De allí es que se pueda hablar de un modelo narrativo antifenomenológico. El cuerpo propio como instancia fundamental de la enunciación no se instituye en la sede originaria (...) de la significación. Para reconstruir el motivo de la intimidad corporal en el universo ficcional de Nadie nada nunca el trabajo usa como criterio de lectura el concepto de intimidad de Martin Heidegger.: Juan José Saer tells in the novel Nadie nada nunca the dissolution of the Enunciation instance. One of the narrative motive in that this topic reveals is the intersubjective relationship of intimacy. Among other topics, the novel tells the impossibility to set an intimacy bound between the bodies. Hence, it is possible to talk about an antiphenomenological narrative model. The own body as fundamental Enunciation instance doesn´t show itself as the original place of meaning. To bring to light this motive of corporal intimacy in the fictional universe of Nadie nada nunca this paper uses, as lecture criterion, the Heideggerian Concept of intimacy. (shrink)

This article seeks to explore the implications of Jean-Luc Nancy’s reading of the subject for educational philosophy by connecting his re-interpretation of Descartes to his later thinking on what he names the ontological singular plural. Nancy’s re-imagining of the Cogito coalesces around the figure of the mouth through which the subject enunciates itself within the world. Reading this extension of the ego through the mouth as an enunciation of ontological singular plurality exposes a speaking subject that communicates via a (...) sharing of its own being with other singular subjects. The article concludes that Nancy’s singular plural holds potential for affirming a substance-less subjectivity that can nevertheless serve as a locus of meaning in the classroom. (shrink)

ABSTRACT Ferdinand de Saussure, Mikhail Bakhtin, and Émile Benveniste came from different countries and continents; these authors coexisted throughout the 20th century, leaving a significant legacy for linguistic thought-a heritage that continues to shape and influence contemporary academic discourse. Besides their roles as linguists and philosophers of language, another shared characteristic binds them together: their commitment to education. Throughout their careers, all three were dedicated educators. This article explores the biographical intricacies that unite and set apart this trio towards (...) linguistic studies, especially in their pedagogical pursuits, emphasizing singular attributes that characterized their academic journeys. (shrink)

What kind of reading and viewing space is created within contemporary platforms? While existing research has explored the impact of surveillance, this article moves on to theoretically discuss the intersection of technosocial reading. It examines how algorithmic interpellation and profiling function as enunciative strategies, and how this is explored from a transgender perspective. The article raises theoretical questions about the flattening of enunciation and its implications for a critical reading and observation space. To further explore these concepts, it analyses (...) Ada Ada Ada’s year-long in transitu Instagram performance. Through this analysis, the challenges posed by fixed, binary gender categorisations prevalent on platforms like Instagram are unpacked. Ada Ada Ada’s performance serves as an imminent criticism of the enunciative, representational and gender policies of platforms, demonstrating their arbitrary and absurd nature. Ultimately, in transitu invites platform users to reconsider their roles as technosocial readers and observers. (shrink)

Cet article a déjà paru dans Langages, 29e année, n° 118, juin 1995, p. 31-55. On y trouvera pages 38 à 48 une discussion très précise de l'article de Catherine Dalimier, « Émile Benveniste, Platon et le rythme des flots (Le père, le père, toujours recommencé...) », Linx, n° 26, 1992, p. 137-157. - Poétique et Études littéraires – GALERIE – Nouvel article.

ABSTRACT With this article, we aim to address aspects related to the treatment of languages in the theoretical postulations of two linguists: Ferdinand de Saussure and Émile Benveniste. To do so, we examine selected works by these authors, seeking to discuss-based on evidence-the role they grant to languages in their formulations. The analyses allow us to demonstrate the protagonism of the diversity of languages as one of the points where the two linguists meet, even though there are differences in (...) their approaches. (shrink)

What matter who's speaking, someone said what matter who's speaking. Beckett, Texts for Nothing (in Stories and Texts for Nothing) 111 “What does it matter who is speaking”, someone said, “what d...

Journal Name: Semiotica Issue: Ahead of print.

This paper explores the relation between images and databases in a twofold way. The first part examines image databases as sources for image computational analysis, while the second part studies image databases as sources for image generation (notably through the generative artificial intelligence model Midjourney). Image analysis and image generation will be analyzed through the concept of enunciative praxis. Traditionally, enunciative praxis concerns cultural transformations over the long term (the relation between sedimentation and innovation); in our case it will be (...) used notably to study the generation of new images through old, traditional ones. (shrink)

This paper seeks to shed light on an unwritten chapter in the history of Tartu semiotics, that is, to draw a parallel between Juri Lotman and Emile Benvenisteon the status of natural language among other systems of signs. The tenet that language works as a ‘primary modelling system’ represents one of the trademarksof the Tartu-Moscow school. For Lotman, the primacy assigned to natural language in respect to other systems of signs lied in the fact that the former functions as a (...) ‘model’ for the latter thus regarded as ‘secondary modelling systems’. Yet how does language carry out its function of being a model for other sign systems? Is language the only primary modelling system? This paper seeks to foster the abovementioned claim of the primacy of natural language and argues that this issue deserves a closer inspection. In order to follow this route, it suggests a parallel between Lotman and Benveniste arguing that there exist several points in common that lead to a convergence of positions between these two remarkable scholars. The paper explores such a possibility, arguing that Lotman’s and Benveniste’s positions open up an interesting debate with specific reference to the relations laid down between language and other system of signs. (shrink)

Benveniste’s experiments were at the origin of a scientific controversy that has never been satisfactorily resolved. Hypotheses based on modifications of water structure that were proposed to explain these experiments were generally considered as quite improbable. In the present paper, we show that Benveniste’s experiments violated the law of total probability, one of the pillars of classical probability theory. Although this could suggest that quantum logic was at work, the decoherence process is however at first sight an obstacle (...) to describe this macroscopic experimental situation. Based on the principles of a personalist view of probability, a modeling could nevertheless be built that fitted the outcomes reported in Benveniste’s experiments. Indeed, in QBism, there is no split between microscopic and macroscopic, but between the world where an agent lives and his internal experience of that world. The outcome of an experiment is thus displaced from the object to its perception by an agent. By taking into account both the personalist view of probability and measurement fluctuations, all characteristics of Benveniste’s experiments could be described in a simple modeling: change of the biological system from resting state to “activated” state, concordance of “expected” and observed outcomes and apparent “jumping” of “biological activities” from sample to sample. No hypothesis on change of water structure was necessary. In conclusion, a modeling of Benveniste’s experiments based on a personalist view of probability offers for the first time a logical framework for these experiments that have remained controversial and paradoxical till date. (shrink)