Samiksha Vol 5 No 1, 1951
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|||J^|CHQLOGICAL STUDY OF LANGUAGE* S§S;p V; ( Second Communication ) . Si: :v G. BOSE and D. GANGULY ::; In QUE first report which was read before the. Psychological Section |of the last Jubilee session; pf the Indian Science Congress at Caleutta, |W^,,disquj55e4 cettaw peculiarities pf language that could be . tr.ac.ed to |,||a|v,^wqr]^ings o£ psychological factors either qqnscjous or. l^jipus^..: The. present paper is a continuation of the previous^ pne |^!p£pBQS£ to enter directly into the problem without any preh'mina^y j explanation. Any person interested in this matter might refer to our ^previous paper. '• |:;i:;:; The infinitive form of verbs offers an interesting problem; for study. |::p/hy the preposition 'to' should precede an infinitive verb in some of |the languages requires an explanation. To' as a preposition means | that the noun it governs stands for an object with which contact is Intended, e.g,t,'R^ma went to his house'; means that Rama and his Ifsguse were- present together ; 'he went to him'; although np direct i^ntaet is meant here,, nearness of the spatial positions pf the two t Persons: is indicated. 'TQ' is represented by 'te' in Bengali and a very . iAtejrestirjg form of expression is to be seen in which this 'te'is attached to the nominative, e.g., Kakete phal kheyechhe' literally 'to the grow, eaten the fruit'meaning'the crow has eaten the fruit'. It w|il;be.S2en; that in this case'has eaten the fruit'is equivalent to a- nourt representing, a particular state of affairs. This state of affairs , a^am? which is really an abstract idea, is considered as an object, and |ig regresenjted as being attached to the nominative 'crow' in the lexamgle. The, illustration, therefore represents two objects, viz. (1) |^ve crow' and (2) 'the state of having eaten the fruit' attached to each |&jtai, The- infinitive which follows the nominative has thys fhe . ||gG,iilia]; effect of turning a verb into a noun. English grammariansi Haye^Qdescribed^ngun-infinitives', e.g., 'to err is human'. In. our |jpeviqru|.communication we indicated how behind the concept pf every -" * Read before the Indian Science Congress, Twenty-Sixth Annual Meeting, Lahore, January, 1938. jli BUO LJ. 1.5AMIKSA tfoL 5, No. 1] PSYCHOLOGICAL STUDY O# LANGUAGE 3 noun there is an action attitude represented by the root verb, show- 'I will eat a mango'. In the German language 'will' represents ing that the human mind cannot conceive of an object dissociated from . an intention when it is used with reference to sentient beings, while an action attitude. In the example just cited we have indications of in connection with inanimate objects it, represents an imminent the reverse process namely that all acts may be treated by the human possibility. 'Braten will verbrenen' means the roast is on the point mind as objects attached to the nominative. The preposition 'to' of being burnt. 'Will' thus stands as an expression of intense wish serves a very important role in our thought and it is to be noted that that brooks no obstruction. this preposition is ultimately related to the act of touching, which, Although .we do riot usually draw a distinction between 'I wish as already referred to in our previous paper, is an important mani- to eat a mango* and 'I want to eat a mango' that a real difference festation common to all the different forms of the libido. in meaning of a very important order exists is proved in the course In the domain of-wish fulfilment we-come across several words of analysis of a certain type of psycho-neurotic cases. When which though allied have individual characteristics. These words there is a very strong repression of the sexual tendencies in early are 'wish', 'will', 'desire', 'want', 'like', 'intend' and a few others. Is life due to the functioning of a severe super-ego, it is found that the there any difference in meaning in the following different expressions ? repression irradiates, in some cases at least, to spheres other than (1) I wish to eat a mango * that of sex. Such patients do not show any feeling of pleasure in (2) I will eat a mango > any activity \of life. The pleasure element seems to be completely (3) I desire to eat a mango banned from the psychical life. In the normal individual there is an : (4) I want to eat a mango innate and physiological connection between pleasure and instinctive (5) I like to eat a mango satisfaction. No one can maintain his existence without satisfying (6) I intend to eat a mango ' . " instinctive demands. Instincts mould our wishes, and the satisfaction We do not propose to discuss at this stage the difference of a wish in the normal individual always gives rise to pleasure between 'shall' and 'will'} 'may' and 'might' 'should' and 'would' and whether the person wants it or not. Since, it is the wish that leads other components of similar pairs. Ordinarily except examples (2) to pleasure there are to be found elements of responsibility and and (5) all the other expressions seem to be identical in meaning. deliberateness in all our instinctive pleasurable acts. A curious *I will eat a mango' is much more definite than the rest, while phenomenon is seen in the cases of patients of the type mentioned 'I like to eat a mango' suggests a pleasure, the demand for above. The punishing and severe super-ego makes the patient deny which may not be immediate. Will,, wish, desire, want, liking, all responsibility and pleasure in connection with his acts. These intention, etc., are all inner psychological states which can only patients feel that every thing happens to them and that they have no be felt by sentient beings. Curiously however 'shall' and 'will' responsibility: for their actions. The feeling of deliberateness is totally have been used as indicative of future tense both with reference wanting in i such cases. Analysis reveals that the patient's psyche to animate and to inanimate objects. The English saying 'Where maintains a distinction between instinctive demands on the one hand there is a will there is a way' gives us the clue to the use of and the efforts at their fulfilment on the other. The wish element 'shall' and'will' as indicators of the future tense A genuine strong is associated-with the efforts at fulfilment and is a function of the wish is followed by the corresponding act later on. This is how ego' which controls the voluntary muscles. The feeling of delibera- 'shall' and 'will' have come_ to be the symbols, of the future act. The teness, which may not be conscious, must inevitably be connected mechanism by which an inanimate object is made to function vas with all efforts at wish fulfilment. The wish is thus under the control an animate one, has already been discussed by us in our previous of the individual. An instinctive demand on the other hand is beyond paper and we need not go into it again. In expressions like 'it any person's control. We may choose to satisfy an instinctive demand will break' £he same definiteness is to be observed as in the. example.. by allowing a corresponding wish to rise in our consciousness or we \ G.BOSE and D.GANGULY - might decide to neglect the demand altogether.' Such neglect may at times lead to death. We must however remember that there ate hunger strikers "who would rather die than eat anything. We thus THE OEDIPAL SITUATION AND ITS CONSEQUENCES find that words like 'wish', 'will', 'intend' are associated with the iwish fulfilment side of. out psyche while words like twafet'^ 'desire' IN THE EPICS OF ANCIENT INDIA* etc., refer to the side of instinctive demands. The first -s&fies of GEORGE DEVEREUX Ph.D. •expressions is the product of the activity of what has been called the Freudian ego> while the second or the *waht' series % intimately • Psychoanalytic theories of infantile sexuality are frequently chal- connected with the demands of the id. Under what conditions the lenged both by non-analysts and by dissident "analysts." Thus, it one or the other predominates in the psyche is 'a problem that can is sometimes alleged that memories, and fantasies pertaining to not be tackled here. infantile sexuality ate not the spontaneous productions of the analytic patient, but merely his responses to certain overt or indirect "suggestions'* offered by the analyst. It may, perhaps, be possible to r-efute these criticisms by means of mythological material, written down -many centuries before the advent of psychoanalysis, in which, these fantasies and attitudes are expressed without an appre- ciable amount of distortion. Thfe Great Epics of Indian literature seem to reflect in an: almost "undisguised form a cluster of attitudes and fantasies which center about the Oedipus complex, the primal scene, the latency period and the revival of the Oedipus complex during puberty.; The material about to be discussed is, in its entirety, drawn from a single -book, written by a Sanskrit scholar who appears to have beeaentirely uninfluenced by psychoanalytic thought t- Two mythical episodes >will be discussed : , I l.King Kalmashapada, a member of the Kshattriya (warrior) caste, tfras hunting in the forest when he met Cakti, eldest son of the Brahmin Vasistha, whom the King held in high esteem. He ordered die Mtimi'Qakti to give him: the path, which the latter, being a Brahmin, refused to do. After some wrangling "the King, behaving "like a Rakshasa" '(demon), -struck Cakti with his whip, whereupon the insulted Brahmin laid the curse upon him that he should become a *' Sponsored by the Winter Veterans Administratiojn Hospital, Topeka, Kansas and .published wi th the approval of the Chief Medical Director.