Le flou — la septième fonction du langage?
| Title in English | Blurring as the Seventh Function of Language? |
|---|---|
| Authors | |
| Year of publication | 2024 |
| Type | Article in Periodical |
| Magazine / Source | Svět Literatury |
| MU Faculty or unit | |
| Citation | |
| web | https://svetliteratury.cuni.cz/wpcontent/%20uploads/sites/14/2025/01/%20Petr_Kylousek_151-159.pdf |
| Doi | http://dx.doi.org/10.14712/23366729.2024.3.13 |
| Keywords | Language Blurring; Noesis; Semantic Underdetermination; Semantic Overdetermination |
| Attached files | |
| Description | Laurent Binet's 2015 novel La Septieme fonction du langage (The Seventh Function of Language) features an enigmatic character who overcomes all obstacles where ordinary communication fails. While the six functions of language, as summarized by Roman Jakobson, seem to correspond to an indisputable classification, the one possessed by the character Slimane has to do with a secret rhetorical art that the novel's narrator notes without specifying. Is it a performative suggestion, akin to the conative function, which takes advantage of the communication situation to go beyond the framework of what is said? Does the power of language consist in exploiting the space of uncertain, imperfectly determined semantics to increase its effect? This is the angle from which we propose to approach the vagueness of language, viewing it as an imperfectly determined semantics, in other words, an imperfection transformed into a virtue. Without claiming to be exhaustive, we will attempt to illustrate the phenomenon from three angles: semantic underdetermination, semantic overdetermination and processes which, beyond the semantic “void” of language, raise the question of noesis. Exemplification, however, requires some general considerations. |
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