Journal Name: Semiotica Issue: Ahead of print.

The rise of the sitar from a limited accompaniment instrument used in the regional courts of Northern India to an internationally recognized cultural icon underscores its importance both as an instrument and a cultural symbol—the sitar mirrors India’s social complexity. This story encapsulates the social, political and economic trauma resulting from the dismantling of Mughal empire to the partition of Pakistan, reflecting contesting social narratives and Hindu/Muslim cultural heritages through the distinctive musical styles modern India. A musical instrument and material (...) object of contested origins, the sitar extends from wood, gourd, wire, and ivory into complex social and cultural networks. I argue that the sitar, as object, cannot be reduced to either an empirical or phenomenological entity; it is a space of potentiality, the actualization of a virtual object. I examine the sitar as both byproduct and narrative, demonstrating how it defies attempts to limit its constantly rupturing borders with imposed cognitive frames, and how materiality and philosophical systems can inform ethnographic practice. (shrink)

Veganic agriculture, often described as farming that is free of synthetic and animal-based inputs, represents an alternative to chemical-based industrial agriculture and the prevailing alternative, organic agriculture, respectively. Despite the promise of veganic methods in diverse realms such as food safety, environmental sustainability, and animal liberation, it has a small literature base. This article draws primarily on interviews conducted in 2018 with 25 veganic farmers from 19 farms in the United States to establish some baseline empirical research on this farming (...) community. Its qualitative perspectives illuminate farmer perceptions of and experiences with veganic growing, including definitions, knowledge acquisition, values, and challenges. Results highlight a lack of agreement about the meaning of veganic agriculture in terms of allowable inputs and scope. Participants have drawn on a wide array of veganic and non-veganic resources to ascend their veganic production learning curves, also relying on experimentation and trial-and-error. Their farming is motivated by a diversity of real and perceived benefits, most notably consistency with veganism, food safety advantages, and plant and soil health benefits. Veganic product sourcing and the dearth of veganic agriculture-specific resources present considerable challenges to farmers. The article briefly discusses possibilities for developing veganic agriculture in the United States, such as through a US-based certification system and farmers’ associations, based on considerations of the trajectory of the US organic farming movement and veganic developments in Europe. Finally, the article suggests the importance of expanded research into soil health and fertility in plant-based systems to support practicing and potential veganic farmers. (shrink)

Les relations entre les travaux de Latour et la sémiotique de Greimas ont été explicites depuis les années 1970. Le présent article est consacré à la manière dont Latour reprend et fait évoluer la théorie sémiotique de l’énonciation, depuis « A Relativistic Account of Einstein’s Relativity » et « Petite philosophie de l’énonciation » jusqu’à l’Enquête sur les modes d’existence, où il utilise la théorie de l’énonciation pour fonder sa théorie des modes d’existence. Sera ainsi retracée l’évolution de la théorie (...) de l’énonciation, tant chez Latour qu’en sémiotique. Nous montrerons que dans les deux cas, on peut décrire cette évolution comme un mouvement de l’énonciation énoncée vers l’énonciation pratique.Since the late 1970s, Latour’s work has had close ties with Greimas’ semiotics. This article is devoted to Latour's further consideration and development of the semiotic theory of enunciation, beginning with « A Relativistic Account of Einstein’s Relativity » and « Petite philosophie de l’énonciation » all the way up to the Inquiry Into Modes of Existence, where he uses the theory of enunciation to establish his theory of modes of existence. The evolution of the theory of enunciation is charted through both Latour’s work and semiotic theory. We argue that in both cases this evolution can be described as a movement from uttered enunciation to practical enunciation. (shrink)

Social media is changing social accountability practices. The release of the Panama Papers on April 3, 2016 by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) unleashed a tsunami of over 5 million tweets decrying corrupt politicians and tax-avoiding business elites, calling for policy change from governments, and demanding accountability from corporate and private tax avoiders. The current study uses 297,000+ original English-language geo-codable tweets with the hashtags #PanamaGate, #PanamaPapers, or #PanamaLeaks to examine the trajectory of Twitter-based social accountability conversations and (...) the potential for the emergence of a longer-term social accountability user network. We propose that it is the combination of financial inscriptions and evaluative ethical utterances that incite and sustain social accountability conversations and social accountability networks. Financial inscriptions simultaneously remind audiences of both the information event that fomented the initial public reaction and the monetary magnitude of the event. Value-based ethical messaging, in turn, enunciates an ethical stance that simultaneously evaluates existing practices and emphasizes the need for accountability. It is the combining of these two types of messaging that helps to construct and sustain a normative narrative about social accountability. The results illustrate how the repetition and re-working of these two forms of messaging facilitated the construction of a normative narrative that coalesced into a social accountability network which persisted beyond the initial Panama Paper information event and which was re-activated in 2017 when the ICIJ published the Paradise Papers. (shrink)

The phenomenon of presupposition suspension can be analyzed in terms of explicatures and the corresponding non-presumptive interpretative reasoning underlying it. On the view presented in this paper, the polyphonic articulation of an utterance at different levels can be used to explain cases in which presuppositions are suspended. Presuppositional suspensions indicate that the presumptive reading does not hold and a different interpretation is needed. Utterances can display various types of polyphonic structures, accounting for the speaker’s and the hearer’s commitments. A speaker (...) can be held directly responsible for what he says, but he is committed only indirectly to what he presupposes, i.e. what is uttered by a second voice (the second utterer or enunciator) representing what the common opinion accepts to be true. The reconstruction of the pragmatic structure of an utterance is guided by a complex type of reasoning, which can be represented as an argumentative abductive pattern, grounded on hierarchies of presumptions. By comparing the possible presumptions associated with the explicit meaning and the contextual information, the hearer can find a best possible explanation of the intended effect of the utterance. (shrink)

ABSTRACT This work aims to reflect on possible meanings for the evangelical faith based on utterances produced by three evangelical ministers in their social networks when they enunciate on themes that are linked, directly or indirectly, to political agendas. Based on the theoretical scope of studies in Applied Linguistics and on Bakhtinian conceptions of language, our analyzes point to three predominant meanings, which mean the evangelical faith as: i) reaffirmation of identity; ii) exercise of otherness and respect to the other; (...) and iii) political practice. Such meanings demonstrate that there are contradictions within the religious discursivity, which allows the beating between hate speeches and respect and empathy ones within the realm of the evangelical faith. Thus, looking for cracks in religious discourse that oppose fundamentalist and authoritarian discourses is an ethical duty of a religious leader who recognizes his social and discursive role as influential in taking positions and, therefore, in the lives of the members of their congregation. (shrink)

RESUMO Neste artigo, estabelece-se uma relação entre o conceito de autoria trabalhado por Bakhtin e Possenti e o de responsabilidade enunciativa, proposto por Adam. Para aqueles, a inserção de vozes alheias e o distanciamento em relação à linguagem são aspectos característicos de um texto autoral; para este, a responsabilidade enunciativa é uma dimensão constitutiva do enunciado e se relaciona ao agenciamento de vozes e ao uso de marcadores de pontos de vista. Partindo dessa discussão, analisam-se diários de leitura de estudantes (...) de Ensino Médio, observando como eles agenciam outras vozes e utilizam recursos de modalidades para constituir um discurso autoral. Os resultados apontam para a inserção de vozes alheias e utilização de lexemas afetivos, avaliativos e axiológicos nos diários, ora de forma mais elaborada e consciente, ora de forma mais simplória e carente de criticidade, do que se depreende a necessidade de atividades de retextualização para configuração de uma escrita autoral.ABSTRACT In this article, we established a relationship between the concept of authorship studied by Bakthin and Possenti and that of enunciative responsibility, as proposed by Adam. For the first, the insertion of the voice of others and the outsideness in relation to language are characteristic features of an authorial text; for the latter, enunciative responsibility is a constitutive dimension of the utterance and is related to managing voices and utilizing markers of points of view. From that discussion, we analyzed reading journals of high school students, observing how they manage the voices of others and use modality resources to attain authorial speech. The results point to the insertion of the voices of others and the use of affective, evaluative and axiological lexemes in the journals in more elaborate and conscious ways, and in simpler, less critical ones, from which one can surmise the necessity of retextualization activities in order to achieve authorial writing. (shrink)

Language creates; it does not simply reflect. Speaking is a doing that is more than an enunciative act. To utter a sentence may be to do the thing of which one speaks. In and through speaking, we create that which we seem only to represent. These are just a few of the key insights from J. L. Austin’s groundbreaking work on linguistic performativity, a number of which have found a home in contemporary democratic theory. If from Austin we get the (...) classic examples of performative speech acts—“I do” and “I bet”—from democratic theory, we are introduced to the performativity of utterances such as “we the people” or “I have a right”. Austin’s examples remind us that one’s status... (shrink)

The question ‘what is to be done?’ is most often uttered at moments of great urgency and political crisis. It operates in a divide between theory and practice, when thinking should end, and action must proceed. This article considers how the grammar of this question produces relationships between subjects, action and the future, drawing a relationship between the constituent grammar of the question and Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari's notion of the collective assemblage of enunciation. For Deleuze and (...) Guattari, the collective assemblage of enunciation denotes amongst other things an immanent relationship between language and action: a relationship in which politics and language are bound together in a relationship of forces. This approach aims to rethink the urgency and force that is associated with the question through examining and re-proposing the connection between the linguistic organisation of the question and the different forms of political organisation that the question might produce. In so doing, Deleuze and Guattari provide a conceptual and linguistic apparatus for rethinking the plane of political action and organisation. (shrink)

The demand for the recognition of non-Western philosophy has often brought about the opposition of substantialized entities such as ‘India’ and the ‘West,’ which has nourished the drifts of nationalistic rhetoric. As a decolonizing process but also as a deconstruction of nationalistic revivals, it is necessary to investigate the presuppositions involved when defining ‘Indian philosophy’ in these post-colonial demands for recognition. Considering that the understanding of what is ‘Indian philosophy’ and its claim for recognition is a prerequisite for its reception, (...) I focus in this paper on analyzing the problems of reception of post-colonial Anglophone Indian philosophy. What is it today that prevents the reception of Anglophone Indian philosophy in Indian academics and in the global world? Leaving aside the insufficient integration in Western structures of non-Western philosophies, I focus here on the internal difficulties of Anglophone Indian philosophy in India today. I suggest that the following interrelated obstacles prevent a global reception: the language, in terms of disparity of linguistic communities; the conditions of distribution and diffusion of the philosophical material; the historical rupture in the forms of transmission of knowledge; regionalism or fragmentation into micro-groups; and finally, the complexity of the situation of utterance or enunciative context, namely, the difficulty for Indian philosophers to answer the question: to whom are we speaking? (shrink)

ABSTRACT In this study, we present an analysis of the utterance Aonde tu vai rapaz [Where’d Ya Go Man], focusing on linguistic-enunciative resources from a dialogic perspective. The methodology consists of a dialogic analysis interconnected to the concepts of chronotope, ideology, utterance, dialogism, and social axiologies. Results reveal that institutionalized ideologies tend to nullify the one in everyday life. However, those results are confronted in some way with the counter word that is manifested by the ladrão de marabaixo chants. Intonation (...) refracts pain, lamentation, indignation, anger, and slander, in addition to expressing value judgments of disapproval and opposition. Re-enunciation of the everyday-life word allows us to take a glimpse at segregation, denunciation, powerlessness, and the silencing of culture and identity. However, at the same time, it reverberates consolidated values such as African descent, identity, resistance, resilience, and re-existence. (shrink)

Para o “descanço dos Mestres, e utilidade dos Discipulos”: direções para a educação dos infantis no manual pedagógico Nova Escola de Meninos (Portugal, século XVIII) Resumo: O presente estudo, de natureza historiográfica e filosófica, pretende desenvolver uma análise dos discursos relativos à boa educação de sujeitos infantis que estão presentes na obra Nova escola de meninos [...]. Publicado em Coimbra no ano de 1784. O impresso de autoria do presbítero português Manoel Dias de Sousa (1753-1823) tinha como principal objetivo apresentar (...) um método pedagógico, proporcionado à primeira infância, para a aprendizagem da leitura, da escrita e das principais operações aritméticas, bem como instruir os meninos portugueses nos princípios da religião e da civilidade. Fundamentado na categoria conceitual governamentalidade, o estudo defende que a relação discursiva estabelecida por Sousa estabeleceu um conjunto de enunciados e de normativas sobre valores ético-religiosos, a conservação da saúde e adiantamento nos estudos. Entende-se, assim, que tais elementos enunciados na obra podem ter atuado na constituição discursiva acerca de modelos específicos de educação, buscando garantir a produção de um específico tipo de sujeito infantil masculino. Palavras-chave: História da Educação; Infância; Meninos; Portugal; Século XVIII. For the “rest of the teachers and usefulness of the disciples”: guidelines for educating childhood in the pedagogical manual Nova Escola de Meninos (Portugal, 18th century) Abstract: The present study, of historiographical and philosophical nature, aims to develop an analysis of the discourses related to the good education of children's subjects that are present in the work Nova Escola de Meninos(...) [New Boys School (…)]. Published in Coimbra in 1784, the form authored by the priest Portuguese Manoel Dias de Sousa (1753-1823) had as main objective to present a pedagogical method, provided to early childhood, for the learning of reading, writing and the main arithmetic operations, as well as instructing Portuguese boys in the principles of religion and civility. Based on the conceptual category governmentality, the study argues that the discursive relationship established by Sousa established a set of utterances and norms on ethical-religious values, health conservation and advances in studies. It is understood, therefore, that these elements enunciated in the work may have acted in the discursive constitution about specific models of education, seeking to guarantee the production of a specific type of male infant subject. Keywords: History of Education; Childhood; Boys; Portugal; 18th Century. Para el “resto de los profesores y utilidad de los discípulos”: pautas para educar la infância en el manual pedagógico Nova Escola de Meninos (Portugal, siglo XVIII) Resumen: El presente estudio, de carácter historiográfico y filosófico, tiene como objetivo desarrollar um análisis de los discursos relacionados com la buena educación de los sujetos infantiles que están presentes em la obra Nova escola de meninos(...) [Nueva escuela de niños (...)]. Publicada en Coimbra en 1784, la forma del sacerdote portugués Manoel Dias de Sousa (1753-1823) tenía como objetivo principal presentar un método pedagógico, proporcionado a la primera infancia, para el aprendizaje de la lectura, la escritura y las principales operaciones aritméticas, así como la instrusción de los niños portugueses em los principios de religión y civilidad. Sobre la base de la gubernamentalidad de la categoría conceptual, el estudio argumenta que la relación discursiva establecida por Sousa estableció un conjunto de expresiones y normas sobre valores ético-religiosos, conservación de la salud y avances em los estudios. Se entiende, por lo tanto, que estos elementos enunciados en la obra pueden haber actuado en la constitución discursiva sobre modelos específicos de educación, buscando garantizar la producción de un tipo específico de sujeto infantil masculino. Palabras clave: Historia de la Educación; Infancia; Niños; Portugal; Siglo XVIII. Data de registro: 18/05/2020 Data de aceite: 05/10/2020. (shrink)

Guy Jobin | : L’objet de cet article est l’identification de quelques linéaments d’une éthique de la parole croyante dans l’espace public des sociétés démocratiques. Cette éthique sera élaborée à partir de la notion de style, notion qui résulte de récentes recherches sur l’herméneutique du concile Vatican II. Nous proposons une démarche en trois parties sur un objet bien précis, soit la parole des évêques catholiques proposée dans le cadre de débats moraux. Le premier temps de notre démarche sera consacré (...) à la réflexion d’André Naud sur l’éthique de la parole épiscopale. Cette réflexion tardive dans la production théologique de Naud n’a pas été, à notre connaissance, l’objet d’une étude approfondie. Sans prétendre offrir une analyse complète et définitive de ce travail, mais tout en soulignant son caractère pionnier, nous en cernerons les limites pour notre réflexion. Le deuxième temps de la démarche montrera la pertinence du paradigme éthique de la responsabilité pour réfléchir à l’éthique de la parole épiscopale dans l’espace public. Enfin, penser l’éthique de la parole publique des croyants en l’inscrivant dans le paradigme de la responsabilité est un geste théologique, certes, mais il s’appuie sur une pratique, soit celle de la prise de parole à Vatican II. Plus précisément, c’est dans la Constitution pastorale Gaudium et Spes qu’une « pratique » de la responsabilité s’est manifestée. Cette pratique est en fait une pragmatique que nous mettrons en lumière, dans la troisième partie de l’article, par une analyse rhétorique de l’énonciation qui a prévalu dans la rédaction de la Constitution pastorale. | : The object of this article is the identification of some lineaments of an ethics of the believing word in the public space of our democracies. This ethics will be elaborated starting with the notion of style, a notion resulting from recent researches on the hermeneutics of the Vatican II Council. We propose a three-part approach on quite a precise object, namely the word of Catholic bishops uttered within the framework of moral debates. The first part of our approach will dwell on André Naud’s reflection upon the ethics of the episcopal word. This later reflection within Naud’s theological production has not so far been, to our knowledge, the object of a thorough study. Without pretending to offer a complete and definitive analysis of that work, but nevertheless underscoring its pioneer character, we will identify its limits for our reflection. The second part of the approach will show the relevance of the ethical paradigm of responsibility in order to reflect on the ethics of the episcopal word in the public space. Finally, to think out the ethics of the public word of believers while setting it within the paradigm of responsibility is a theological gesture, to be sure, but it is based on a practice, namely that of speaking at Vatican II. More precisely, it is in the Pastoral Constitution Gaudium et Spes that a “practice” of responsibility was manifested. That practice is in fact a pragmatic which, in the third part of the article, we will shed light on through a rhetorical analysis of the enunciation that prevailed in the wording of the Pastoral Constitution. (shrink)

Among professional philosophers, reasoning is identified with logic, and in our day logic is a formal calculus or deductive system, the truth of which, so far as truth is in any way its aim, is necessary only because it is tautological, and has no substantive content. Such reasoning discovers nothing new, and can reveal, at most, equivalences within material already at hand from other sources. It is, therefore, to borrow Kant's terminology, in no way constitutive. The only other sort of (...) reasoning countenanced by contemporary philosophy is inductive, which does no more than count concomitances among observed events, and authorize, in proportion to their frequency, the enunciation of general lawlike statements. It is to be observed that the result of this procedure is not the discovery of laws, but only the uttering of statements that resemble laws in the form of their expression. For induction, we are taught, discloses no necessity in nature but, at most, constant conjunction of certain phenomena. (shrink)

What is the meaning of language expressions and how to compute or calculate it? In this paper, we give an answer to this question by analysing the meanings of aspects and tenses in natural languages inside the formal model of an grammar of applicative, cognitive and enunciative operations , using the applicative formalism, functional types of categorial grammars and combinatory logic . In the enunciative theory and following , an utterance can be decomposed into two components: a modus and a (...) dictum . In GRACE, the modus is a complex operator applied to a proposition and is generated from more elementary operators of the categories of tense, aspect, and modality. The dictum is a proposition generated by a predicative relation. In this way, we can attribute a semantic meaning to different grammatical aspecto-temporal operators. The applicative expressions of CL can be easily translated into a functional programming language such as HASKELL or CAML. (shrink)

RESUMO No presente estudo de casos, discutimos a produção de sentidos carregados com elementos prosódicos no começo da vida. Alinhamos essa discussão com observações de Bakhtin acerca de características da enunciação. Com esse alinhamento investimos em explicações sobre o status linguístico da prosódia nos diálogos entre adulto e bebês em situação de aquisição de linguagem. Os dados foram registros videográficos da interação de duas díades adulto-criança, uma francesa e uma brasileira, durante atividades cotidianas1. Nas análises, comparamos variações da curva entonacional (...) dos enunciados dos adultos com vocalizações dos bebês. Nos resultados discutimos como essas variações refletiram exercícios de posições axiológicas, discutidas no âmbito da apropriação enunciativa. Concluímos que os aspectos prosódicos são recursos principais para enunciação no começo da vida e vinculam as práticas com a linguagem ao desenvolvimento humano. ABSTRACT In the present case study, we discuss meaning production, which is full of prosodic elements in early life. We align this discussion with Bakhtin's observations about the characteristics of enunciation. With this alignment, we invested in explanations about the linguistic status of prosody in dialogues between adults and babies in the process of language acquisition. The data we discuss consist of videographic records of interactions of two adult-child dyads, one French and one Brazilian, both recorded during daily life activities.1 In the analyses, we compared variations in the intonational curves of the adults’ utterances with the babies’ vocalizations. In the results, we discuss how these variations reflected in practices of axiological positions, discussed in the context of enunciative appropriation. We conclude that prosodic aspects are the main resources for enunciation at the beginning of life and they enable the link between language practices and human development. (shrink)

This paper discusses the principles of predictivity and falsifiability applied to semantic analysis and proposes an inductive approach based on parameters involved in the unfolding of meaning. It claims that linguistic meaning emerges out of ‘enunciative’ elaborations at every level of linguistic analysis. These elaborations proceed from unlimited development, induced by four sources of diversification: syntagms, paradigms, reformulations and paraphrases. A characterization of the utterance (seen as the French “énoncé”) is proposed here, based on the articulation between the reference to (...) be and the referential value it elaborates. Some parameters involved in the construction of meaning are discussed: what is described as “schematic forms” characterizing the identity of any lexical unity, but also the different modalities of articulation between referent and referential value, as well as inter-subjective positioning processes, which are bound to be involved in any construction of identity. (shrink)

RESUMO Este artigo visa promover um diálogo entre os sentidos de “protagonismo” nos campos teatral e educacional, a partir dos estudos de Bakhtin e o Círculo. Para tanto, analisa enunciados presentes em uma pesquisa documental, considerando as ocorrências da palavra “protagonismo” entre os sentidos emergentes, a fim de estabelecer possíveis pontos de contato com a categoria bakhtiniana de autoria. Para a investigação, partimos do texto da Base Nacional Comum Curricular do Ensino Médio e do Projeto Político-Pedagógico de uma universidade federal (...) em diálogo com os sentidos de protagonismo no teatro, em perspectiva educacional. Ao resgatar as cadeias discursivas de cada esfera em particular, a análise permitiu compreender que essa apropriação pela BNCC-EM assume uma nova dimensão discursiva, descaracterizando seus enunciadores e interlocutores originais e não oferecendo subsídios para a construção do protagonismo/autoria. Além disso, evoca um sujeito estudante passivo, refém das determinações do documento que impacta as ações da escola. ABSTRACT This paper aims to promote a dialogue between the senses conveyed by the word “protagonism” in the theatrical and educational fields based on the studies of Bakhtin and the Circle. It analyzes utterances from a documentary study, considering the occurrences of emerging meanings of the word “protagonism” so as to establish possible points of contact with the Bakhtinian category of authorship. From an educational perspective, the investigation stems from the analysis of the Base Nacional Comum Curricular do Ensino Médio [High School National Common Curricular Base] and the Political-Pedagogical Project of a federal university in dialogue with the meanings of protagonism in the theater. By retrieving the discursive threads of each sphere, the analysis allowed the understanding that this appropriation of “protagonism” by BNCC-EM assigns a new discursive dimension to it, decharacterizing its original enunciators and interlocutors and denying subsidies for the development of protagonism/authorship. In addition, it takes learners as passive subjects, who are a hostage to the document’s impositions that impact school actions. (shrink)

ABSTRACT Using Alain Rabatel’s reflections on points of view and enunciative responsibility, especially those founded in his work Homo narrans (2016; 2021), we sought to describe and interpret the operation of internal - enunciative - and interdiscursive - external - in the introduction to the encyclical letter Deus Caritas Est (2005), signed by the Emeritus Pope Benedict XVI, through the description and analysis of enunciative postures. Our main conclusion is that the primary speaker (S1), operates the dialogism of the text, (...) first, from under-utterance and, later, through co-utterance and even over-utterance. S1 assumes part of the enunciative responsibility and associates itself with the New Testament point of view while suggesting an update of the Old Testament. In our terms, the Old one that rules is overthrown in favor of the New one that loves - that is, Christian-Catholic love. This investigation is affiliated with a broad and ongoing research agenda of analysis of modern pontifical discourse. (shrink)

This chapter offers an analysis of the speech conditions constitutive for the staging of political disagreement. Rather than seeking to offer an explanation for various situations of protest, however, it aims to identify what, if anything, is unique or peculiar to such modes of address. Drawing on the resources of speech act theory, the chapter suggests a reading of ‘dissensual speech’ as a form of ‘unauthorised’ speech through which the ‘people’ appear, however, evanescently. It analyses the peculiarities of dissensual speech (...) in the following ways: first, in terms of specifying its modes of utterance, which are identified with phatic and agonic modes of address and, second, in terms of its performative attitudes. In analysing the latter, I turn to Foucault’s notion of parrēsiastic speech in order to confront a paradox that arises with my reading of dissensual speech viewed in terms of ‘performatives’, since parrēsia—‘speaking truth to power’—is radically opposed to two fundamental rules that govern performatives and illocutionary forces: that they are conventional and that their enunciator must be authorised to use them. The chapter proposes a resolution to this contradiction by showing that an affinity exists between parrēsiastic speech and dissensual speech insofar as both entail ‘risk’ to the speaker in uttering a truth. The question then is whether it is possible to collectivise that risk, or whether parrēsia necessarily remains the speech of the individual martyr. (shrink)

This chapter offers an analysis of the speech conditions constitutive for the staging of political disagreement. Rather than seeking to offer an explanation for various situations of protest, however, it aims to identify what, if anything, is unique or peculiar to such modes of address. Drawing on the resources of speech act theory, the chapter suggests a reading of ‘dissensual speech’ as a form of ‘unauthorised’ speech through which the ‘people’ appear, however, evanescently. It analyses the peculiarities of dissensual speech (...) in the following ways: first, in terms of specifying its modes of utterance, which are identified with phatic and agonic modes of address and, second, in terms of its performative attitudes. In analysing the latter, I turn to Foucault’s notion of parrēsiastic speech in order to confront a paradox that arises with my reading of dissensual speech viewed in terms of ‘performatives’, since parrēsia—‘speaking truth to power’—is radically opposed to two fundamental rules that govern performatives and illocutionary forces: that they are conventional and that their enunciator must be authorised to use them. The chapter proposes a resolution to this contradiction by showing that an affinity exists between parrēsiastic speech and dissensual speech insofar as both entail ‘risk’ to the speaker in uttering a truth. The question then is whether it is possible to collectivise that risk, or whether parrēsia necessarily remains the speech of the individual martyr. (shrink)

"Hetero-reformulation as a negotiation of meaning strategy. Verbal interaction and argumentation in a televised debate on identity and integration issues. This paper approaches the question of interaction through the phenomenon of reformulation, or more specifically hetero-reformulation, in a televised debate involving issues of identity and integration. The analysis will show that in a reformulation, semantic equivalence between the source utterance and the reformulated utterance does not necessarily imply argumentative co-orientation; and that the paraphrastic reformulation may also indicate a lack of (...) commitment to the utterance. Reformulation enables speakers to negotiate not only the content of the utterances and the direction the debate will take, but also the types of interactions within which they unfold. Keywords: auto-/hetero-reformulation; paraphrastic/non paraphrastic reformulation; enunciative postures; media discourse; integration. ". (shrink)

Dieser Text beschreibt die besondere Existenzweise und Operationalität des Rechts, das nicht von externen sozialen Faktoren determiniert wird, dessen Autonomie aber auch nicht die eines Subsystems ist. Was es in seiner absichtsvollen Oberflächlichkeit leisten kann, ist eine besondere Form der Verbindung: Seine Enunziationsform verknüpft alle Äußerungen und Handlungen so, dass sie eindeutig einem Sprechenden und Handelnden zugeordnet werden können: Dies ist der ununterbrochene Faden, mit dem es Menschen, Güter, Orte, Zeit, Beschlüsse etc. zusammenhält. The text describes the specific mode of (...) existence and operation of Law, which is not determined by external social factors, nor is its autonomy that of a subsystem. Its deliberate super ciality achieves a particular form of cohesion: Its form of enunciation connects utterances and actions in such a way that they can be assigned unambiguously to a single speaker and actor. This is the undisrupted thread which binds men, goods, locations, time, resolutions, etc. (shrink)

The text describes the specific mode of existence and operation of Law, which is not determined by external social factors, nor is its autonomy that of a subsystem. Its deliberate super ciality achieves a particular form of cohesion: Its form of enunciation connects utterances and actions in such a way that they can be assigned unambiguously to a single speaker and actor. This is the undisrupted thread which binds men, goods, locations, time, resolutions, etc.

Heart of Darkness is the story of a quest for truth but a quest, we discover, that is veiled in ironies. But just how radical are these ironies? When Marlow tells us that Kurtz’s dying whisper enunciates a truth, does he give us a solid kernel around which we can build our further questioning, concerning, for example, whether Marlow preserves or betrays the truth he has been given?” This has been the assumption of most critics; regardless of the ingenuities by (...) which the varieties of interpretation has shown that Marlow in the end lies or does not lie, the axis of interpretation has almost always been defined by Kurtz’s presumed truth. Why should this be so? Why should Kurtz’s whisper be more significant than, say, the cry of the Intended with which the story culminates? But there are presuppositions in force here so strong that it seems senseless to ask this question. Classic presuppositions: the woman is dominated by emotion and desire, and her cry is at the other pole from the nonlibidinal utterance of truth. Marlow would agree with this assessment—for him, women are “out of touch with the truth” which you have to be “man enough” to face. So our truth-seeking criticism, which doubts much of what Marlow says, does not doubt the terms in which Marlow conceives of truth and its authority.Let us consider an example of the truth-seeking reading of Heart of Darkness, examining the ideology that sanctions this form of interpretation and showing how its presuppositions cooperate with Marlow’s. Our specimen will be a fairly recent PMLA article by Garrett Stewart called “Lying as Dying in Heart of Darkness.” Stewart’s “existential” reading invokes an economics of truth: Kurtz truthfully confronts death, facing and passing judgment upon the corruption of his being that emerges as fulfilled in his final moment; Marlow “lives through” Kurtz’s death and has the opportunity to preserve and transmit Kurtz’s “legacy of insight”; his lie, however, “kills the meaning of a death,” “squandering … Kurtz’s delegated revelation on a squeamish deceit.”1 1. Garrett Stewart, “Lying as Dying in Heart of Darkness,” PMLA 95 : 330, 329, 326; all further references to this essay, abbreviated “L,” will be included in the text. Henry Staten is associate professor of English and adjunct associate professor of philosophy at the University of Utah. He is the author of Wittgenstein and Derrida. The present essay is part of a book in progress on mourning and idealization in Western literature. (shrink)

SUBJECT AS AN EFFECT OF LANGUAGE The article presents a detailed analysis of language as a dispositive. Drawing a general idea from the writings of Foucault, Deleuze, Agamben and Virno, the project of the linguistic constitution of the subject is developed in distinguishing three levels of the analysis, these levels being also the three modes of the existence of languagedispositive: the sentence, the enunciation and the utterance. According to the idea presented in the article, the analysis of the languagedispositive (...) consists in showing the basic oppositions, on which each level of the existence of the language operates, and how each of these oppositions enables the linguistic constitution of the subject – with these oppositions being: sense/reference, signiefié/signifiant and meaning/showing. The article concludes with the analysis of negation and negativity as the phenomenon introduced into the life of the human animal through language-dispositive. The distinction of the three modes in which language as a dispositive operates enables a complete presentation of how negation can be understood as a function of the process of subjectivization. (shrink)

This article deals with English causal subordinate clauses introduced by since or as. Both these markers may convey different meanings according to contextual variations, and can express temporal relations, from which their causal value is derived. The semantic closeness between as and since whenever they express a causal relation makes it necessary to harvest a large number of attested examples in order to compare and contrast them. The recourse to large on-line corpora such as the British National Corpus gives rise (...) to specific practical difficulties, however, especially as far as as is concerned; because of the high frequency of the subordinators in question, one is confronted to thousands of examples, few of which turn out to have a clear causal value in the case of as, hence the recourse to other means in order to make up a large enough corpus of examples.The concept of presupposition is examined, as it has often been argued that causal since subordinates, unlike as subordinates, introduce a presupposed content. But when confronted to a large number of examples, this criterion falls short of accounting for the subtle differences between the two conjunctions. A more theoretical approach is required; thanks to the tools provided by A. Culioli’s Theory of Enunciative and Predicative Operations, it becomes possible to formalise the hypothesis that a since causal relationship is presented as unproblematic and is addressee-oriented, whereas an as causal relationship is felt as unproblematic, and is speaker-oriented.This difference can be felt in the fact that it seems to be easier to find examples of causal as clauses in the press, while the causal use of since is more widespread in general, and does not seem to be specific to a genre in particular. In order to put this impression to the test, I have resorted to the multi-lingual parallel corpus Intercorp. (shrink)

A long philosophical tradition has regarded the use of metaphorical utterances as a stylistic figuration without any cognitive aspect. Metaphors are categorial mistakes diverting the ordinary usage of concepts, and therefore are in logical opposition to standard meaning. However, a metaphor can be regarded not only as a vague linguistic enunciation, but also as a significant process of thought. In other words, metaphor is a figure of the mind, a necessary way of thinking, because the language-world relation is not (...) bijective. Metaphorical truth implies meanings not initially perceived as rational, yet full of possible features which have to be historically and socially determined. This successive interpretation yields new concepts and produces a growth of knowledge. In addition, the metaphorical usage of language allows us to name what is outside the range of logically formalizable language: interior experiences, God and so forth. The metaphorical mind is capable of moulding different views of the world, including those selected in accordance with the current social needs of the human community. This essay suggests that the use of metaphors is already present in medieval philosophical thought, and it tries to ground this statement through the analysis of late-scholastic metaphorical reasonings in ontology, biology and theology. (shrink)

A central finding in experimental research identified with Embodied Cognition (EC) is that understanding actions involves their embodied simulation, i.e. executing some processes involved in performing these actions. Extending these findings, I argue that reenactment – the overt embodied simulation of actions and practices, including especially communicative actions and practices, within utterances – makes it possible to forge an integrated EC-based account of linguistic meaning. In particular, I argue: (a) that remote entities can be referred to by reenacting actions performed (...) with them; (b) that the use of grammatical constructions can be conceived of as the reenactment of linguistic action routines; (c) that complex enunciational structures (reported speech, irony, etc.) involve a separate level of reenactment, on which characters are presented as interacting with one another within the utterance; (d) that the segmentation of long utterances into shorter units involves the reenactment of brief audience interventions between units; and (e) that the overall meaning of an utterance can be stated in reenactment terms. The notion of reenactment provides a conceptual framework for accounting for aspects of language that are usually thought to be outside the reach of EC in an EC framework, thus supporting a view of meaning and linguistic content as thoroughly grounded in action and interaction. (shrink)

A closely reasoned, although overly long study of the somewhat less than revolutionary contributions of Moore, Stevenson, Toulmin, and Hare to meta-ethical theorizing. The final chapter moves beyond commentary to a balanced analysis of the problems of analyzing moral language. Kerner argues, following Austin, that the bifurcation of moral language into description and evaluation is crude and misleading. Rather, moral judgments differ from descriptive utterances because of their characteristic "performative force," their use or function. Hence moral philosophy properly does not (...) offer pseudo-descriptive definitions, but rather explores in an empirical way the criteria of application and the performatory forces of moral utterances. However, Kerner recognizes that the relevant criteria of application, as well as the specification of the performative forces, are fixed only by our decisions, which in turn can be supported only by arguments which attempt to establish the competence of the person making such decisions. In other terms, Kerner argues that since moral principles are neither descriptions of a nonnatural world of values nor empirical generalizations, they must be treated as enunciations by a legislator. Unfortunately, as Kerner points out, the concept of being well qualified as a moral legislator lacks clear-cut applicability if developed outside a particular moral system.--S. A. S. (shrink)

_Thoughts and Utterances_ is the first sustained investigation of two distinctions which are fundamental to all theories of utterance understanding: the semantics/pragmatics distinction and the distinction between what is explicitly communicated and what is implicitly communicated.

Utterances in situated activity are about the world. Theories and systems normally capture this by assuming references must be resolved to real-world entities in utterance understanding. We describe a number of puzzles and problems for this approach, and propose an alternative semantic representation using discourse relations that link utterances to the nonlinguistic context to capture the context-dependent interpretation of situated utterances. Our approach promises better empirical coverage and more straightforward system building. Substantiating these advantages is work in progress.

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)

Clark highlights a neglected issue in research on language use: the process by which speakers and addressees anchor utterances with respect to individual entities in their common ground. In his review, he identifies the challenges linked to investigations of anchoring, but also displays the pitfalls of evading it.

RESUMO Recorrendo a reflexões de Alain Rabatel sobre pontos de vista e responsabilidade enunciativa, principalmente aquelas contidas em Homo narrans (2016; 2021), buscamos descrever e interpretar a gestão dos dialogismos interno e interdiscursivo na introdução da encíclica Deus caritas est (2005), assinada pelo então papa Bento XVI, por meio da análise de posturas enunciativas. Nossa principal conclusão é a de que o locutor primário (L1) gere o dialogismo do texto, primeiramente, a partir da subenunciação e, posteriormente, por meio da coenunciação (...) e mesmo da sobre-enunciação. L1 convoca parte da responsabilidade enunciativa e se associa ao ponto de vista do Novo Testamento enquanto sugere uma atualização do Velho Testamento. Nos nossos termos, o Velho que manda é destituído a favor do Novo que ama - isto é, o amor cristão-católico. Esta investigação se afilia a uma agenda de pesquisa ampla, e em curso, de análise do discurso pontifício moderno. (shrink)

I argue that some utterances of sentences containing occurrences of indexical expressions should not be evaluated with respect to the context of utterance. I suggest that we distinguish between context of utterance and context of interpret‐ation, and I employ this distinction in the analysis of recorded messages and other interesting linguistic phenomena. I then discuss the implications of my views on contexts with respect to the logic of indexicals. Against the traditional view, I argue that sentences such as ‘I am (...) here now’ or ‘something exists’ should not be treated as logical truths. (shrink)

Slovenian philosopher Miran Bozovic's An Utterly Dark Spot examines the elusive status of the body in early modern European philosophy by examining its various encounters with the gaze. Its range is impressive, moving from the Greek philosophers and theorists of the body (Aristotle, Plato, Hippocratic medical writers) to early modern thinkers (Spinoza, Leibniz, Malebranche, Descartes, Bentham) to modern figures including Jon Elster, Lacan, Althusser, Alfred Hitchcock, Stephen J. Gould, and others. Bozovic provides startling glimpses into various foreign mentalities haunted by (...) problems of divinity, immortality, creation, nature, and desire, provoking insights that invert familiar assumptions about the relationship between mind and body. The perspective is Lacanian, but Bozovic explores the idiosyncrasies of his material (e.g., the bodies of the Scythians, the transvestites transformed and disguised for the gaze of God; or Adam's body, which remained unseen as long as it was the only one in existence) with an attention to detail that is exceptional among Lacanian theorists. The approach makes for engaging reading, as Bozovic stages imagined encounters between leading thinkers, allowing them to converse about subjects that each explored, but in a different time and place. While its focus is on a particular problem in the history of philosophy, An Utterly Dark Spot will appeal to those interested in cultural studies, semiotics, theology, the history of religion, and political philosophy as well. Miran Bozovic is Associate Professor of Philosophy at the University of Ljubljana, Slovenia. He is the author of Der grosse Andere: Gotteskonzepte in der Philosophie der Neuzeit (Vienna: Verlag Turia & Kant, 1993) and editor of The Panopticon Writings by Jeremy Bentham (London: Verso, 1995). (shrink)

Name der Zeitschrift: Cognitive Linguistics Jahrgang: 25 Heft: 4 Seiten: 617-653.

In recent years, some people have held that a radical relativist position is defensible in some philosophically interesting cases, including future contingents, predicates of personal taste, evaluative predicates in general, epistemic modals, and knowledge attributions. The position is frequently characterized as denying that utterance-truth is absolute. I argue that this characterization is inappropriate, as it requires a metaphysical substantive contention with which moderate views as such need not be committed. Before this, I also offer a more basic, admittedly less exciting (...) alternative characterization of the position, in terms of departing from the Kaplan–Lewis–Stalnaker two-dimensional framework. (shrink)

Most of the time our utterances are automatically interpreted as speech acts: as assertions, conjectures and testimonies; as orders, requests and pleas; as threats, offers and promises. Surprisingly, the cognitive correlates of this essential component of human communication have received little attention. This book fills the gap by providing a model of the psychological processes involved in interpreting and understanding speech acts. The theory is framed in naturalistic terms and is supported by data on language development and on autism spectrum (...) disorders. Mikhail Kissine does not presuppose any specific background and addresses a crucial pragmatic phenomenon from an interdisciplinary perspective. This is a valuable resource for academic researchers and graduate and undergraduate students in pragmatics, semantics, cognitive linguistics, psycholinguistics and philosophy of language. (shrink)