The Aesthetics of Communication: Poetic Iconicity, the Voice of Enunciation, and the Art of Conversation (original) (raw)
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The Aesthetics of Conversations: Dewey and Davidson
Contemporary Aesthetics, 2017
Conversation is one of the most mundane events of human life, yet the conversations we have can vary a lot. Some proceed only with great effort, while others engage us thoroughly. Drawing on Dewey's aesthetics, this paper argues that the movement and rhythm of conversations can make them into genuine candidates for an aesthetic status. The key term of the paper is interaction. For Dewey, all experience – aesthetic experience included – is constituted by an interaction between humans and their environment. In his later philosophy of language, which is critical of conventionalist explanations of language, Davidson, in turn, offers a very rich account of the interactions conversations can involve. He cites the novels of James Joyce as an extreme example of just how intricate the forms of linguistic interaction can become. Though the notion of aesthetic experience does not figure in Davidson's account, his analysis of the conditions for successful communication can nevertheless be seen to shed light on those features of conversations that explain Dewey's interest in their aesthetic dimension.
Conversational performance and the poetic construction of an ideology
Language in Society, 2004
This study places conversational performance, or speakers' attempts during everyday talk to draw attention to the aesthetic form of their utterances, at the center of an analysis of linguistic ideology. It examines, in particular, the ways in which two white, middle-class, U.S. university students use performance strategies to construct as Other an English-speaking man whom one student encounters on a flight from Saudi Arabia. Drawing on a socially and ideologically situated theory of verbal art, this article proposes five interconnected relations between performance and ideology. Together, these relations constitute a step toward an integrated theory of an inextricable link between the ideological structure of performance and the potential for performance in ideological discourse. (Oral performance, linguistic ideology, nonnative speaker, ideological discourse, verbal interaction, young adult discourse, verbal art in conversation)*
PEIRCE, SEBEOK, AND THE SEMIOTIC REFORMATION ON CONTEMPORARY COMMUNICATIONS
Language in a broad sense becomes imperative for communication to ensue. Language considered as a system of signs and signification is achieved through a process involving sign relations, e.g. semiosis. Charles S. Peirce’s Theory of Signs can provide a basic framework for the elucidation of the intelligibility of signs. Furthermore, the ability for generating sign processes in an organized manner is determined by what Thomas A. Sebeok designates as an organism’s modeling capacity. Modeling capacities range from primitive to complex, thus generating three orders of language corresponding to language as a Primary Modeling System (PMS), a Secondary Modeling System (SMS) and a Tertiary Modeling System (TMS). This Peirce-Sebeok framework for communication, which John Deely places as “postmodern” is premised upon, what he designates as the suprasubjective nature of sign relations and their equally suprasubjective function. Thus, Sebeok’s Modeling Theory together with Peirce's doctrine on the nature and behavior of signs can be used to direct the generation as well as the interpretation of language systems in accordance with the ultimate norm of communication, that is, to reflect truth as iconic of reality.
ORAL DISCOURSE. Oral communication and poetry conception of
In this paper I explored three aspects of oral discourse: prosody, oral language and memory, poetic function. Looking to the role of prosody in oral discourse, I pointed out that the intonation shows in a very clear way the supremacy of semantics over grammar and that oral language is essentially a phonic-acoustic technology that we use to share our social experience. A proper valuation of its sound and musical implications is basic to understand how oral discourse becomes a meaning maker and a knowledge agent. Then I addressed the relation between oral language and memory and I illustrated the phonic-acoustic facilities and the mnemotechnical media used by oral cultures to help the transmission of their knowledge. Finally I examined the dynamics of orality in Western culture following the fundamental analysis by Eric Havelock, scholar of classical age, on oral tradition and on Greek poetry. Discussing his observations I found an unexpected substantial parallelism concerning the poetic function between his historical vision and theoretical vision of the famous linguist Roman Jakobson. In the first half of sixties both have dealt with relation between poetry and poetic function. And both explained that poetic procedure, as distinguished from poetry, is a technology of oral language by means of which oral cultures realize mnemonic tools to pass on their tradition. The two scholars, independent of each other, discussed this topic in conceptually close terms and they went so far as to adopt very similar definitions of the phenomenon although inspired by distinctly separated paradigms.
Interface derives from a colloquium held in 2009 and originally published in 2010 by Mohr Siebeck in WUNT. Other than a list of corrections at the end, this edition does not appear to have updated the previous version. (The principle difference appears to be the cheaper price that comes with being softcover.) The volume comprises twenty-two essays grouped into four parts, with an author list and source, name, and subject indices.
Semiotics and discourse analysis
Cognitio, 2023
This article revises some of the main elements within Peirce's general theory of signs and their relationship with discourse analysis. Our discussion focuses on the dialogues between researchers in the areas of semiotics and discourse analysis to follow up interdisciplinary studies on the processes of language signifi cation. The article fi rstly relates the Peircean trivium and discourse analysis; secondly, examines Pignatari's analysis on the relations between verbal and non-verbal codes; and, thirdly, discusses Peirce's footprints in the development of the Linguistic Turn, especially through his infl uence in pthe works of Wittgenstein, Grice and Austin. The article concludes that such interdisciplinary postmodern dialogues can be used for the development of more grounded modalities of pragmatic discourse analyses.
Aesthetic speech acts: their pragmatic status, function, and realization
Tekst i dyskurs -- Text und Diskurs, 2023
The subject matter of this article concerns the interpretation of texts and statements of an aesthetic nature in the light of pragmatics, i.e. as aesthetic speech acts. The author treats aesthetic speech acts as stimulating ones, which are opposed to both representative acts and determinative acts (especially, directive ones). A characteristic feature of stimulating speech acts is their persuasive nature, i.e. such a language action that induces and encourages the addressee to experience emotions but does not influence them in a volitional way. Aesthetic reactions are self-steering and do not depend on the subject's will. Therefore, the realization of aesthetic speech acts, in comparison with other acts, is specific: it is not possible to use specialized (lexical or grammatical) exponents of the illocutionary function, e.g. performative verbs. To perform the aesthetic function, various elements of the plan of content and the plan of expression are used, which suggest the aesthetic intention of the sender: 1) the semantic content of the text or utterance; 2) its form and structure; 3) context and communication situation; and 4) translation of text/message, including the media. Due to their functional and formal features, aesthetic speech acts are divided into several subtypes: 1) macro-, meso-and micro-acts; 2) free and complementary acts; and 3) communicative and non-communicative acts.