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