A STUDY OF GLOSSEMATICS CRITICAL SURVEY OF ITS FUNDAMENTAL CONCEPTS A STUDY OF GLOSSEMA TICS CRITICAL SURVEY OF ITS FUNDAMENTAL CONCEPTS

BY

B. SIERTSEMA PH. D. (AMSTERDAM)

SECOND EDITION

•

THE HAGUE MARTIN US NI]HOFF 1965 ISBN 978-94-011-8161-7 ISBN 978-94-011-8796-1 (eBook) DOl 10.1007/978-94-011-8796-1

COPYright .1965 by Maytinus Nijhoff. The Hague. Holland. All rights yeseYVed. including the Yight to tyanslate OY to yepyodflce this book OY payts thereof in any foym_ PREFACE

This book owes its .existence to the encouragement and help of many others. In the first place I mention Prof. Dr. A.]. B. N. Reichling, who was my supervisor at Amsterdam University and who from the beginning helped me on, through his most stimulating teaching and above all through his encouragement, his friendly advice and his sincere interest. The readiness with which he was always prepared to spend hours and hours of his valuable time on the discussion of the many problems with which the study of Glossematics confronts one, has often inspired me with wonder and deep gratitude. It is hardly possible to do justice in a preface to a supervisor to whom one owes so much, and from whose keen insight one has learned so much. One can only feel profoundly thankful for having been brought up in the linguistic atmosphere which Prof. Reichling creates about him, an atmosphere characterized by a persistent desire for an empirical approach to the facts of language, which desire he knows how to instill into his pupils.

It is with some hesitation that I proceed to thanking the Danish scholars to whom I owe so much. The hesitation is due to an awareness that probably this work bears no proportion to all the trouble they took in my behalf. Above all I am extremely grateful to Prof. Dr. Louis Hje1mslev of Copenhagen, for the patience he showed in the long hours of discussion which he very kindly granted me, and for his willing• ness to answer my endless and often cumbersome questions. It certainly is not owing to a lack of patient explaining on his side that the present study of Glossematics still excels in its great number of question-marks: in advance I tender him my sincere apologies for the cases where I may have misunderstood him or may simply not have been able to follow him. If this thesis should do no more than induce Prof. Hjelmslev to writing an exposition of glossematic theory some day which could be VI PREFACE

understood in all its details also by those linguists who are no specialists in the field, I should consider it an ample reward for my own trouble, for I am convinced that glossematic th~ory has most valuable things to teach to present-day . I wish to express my sincere gratitude to Miss Eli Fischer• J~rgensen, Lektor in Copenhagen University, for helping me wherever and whenever she could. At the very beginning it was she who gave me a complete bibliography of glossematic writings up to that time. Later on I greatly benefited from the corre• spondence and the pleasant and enlightening discussions which I was privileged to have with her. Her kindness in giving me her stencilled lecture on Glossematics, held in Washington in 1951, and in lending me her Reports of the meetings of the glossematic committee in the Copenhagen Linguistic Circle, has done much to give me a better understanding of the theory. Her own attitude towards glossematics, which appears also in her lucidly written publications, has been a great help to me in defining my own standpoint. I gladly acknowledge the generosity of Prof. Dr. H. j. Uldall in lending me a proof of his Outline 01 Glossematics before its publication. Several letters resulted from the reading of it, which he always found time to answer, whether from Scotland or Nigeria; this stimulating correspondence has also clarified some intricate problems to me. I do hope I shall not have fallen too far behind the severe self-criticism and methodical way of proceeding of Prof. Dr. P. N. U. Harting of Amsterdam University, who directed my studies of the English language, and to whom I remain thankful for his ever ready helpfulness and advice. As regards the final preparation of the book I express my sincere thanks to Mrs. A. M. de Bruin-Cousins, M. A., for the trouble she took to correct my English and the wording of this study., Finally I wish to thank Miss C. M. Felderhof and Mrs. M. G. Siertsema-Egberts for their very kind help in correcting the proofs and compiling the bibliography.

Haarlem, 6 December 1954. PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION

To prepare this edition a:nd bring it up to date in the most economic way as regards time and space, the writer decided not to recast the whole work, but to make as few alterations as possible in the text and put comments and additions in a separate chapter at the end, leaving the body of the book as it is. The only major changes in the text itself are on pp. 140 (a, b, c), 144 (b), and 179-181. Slight alterations have been made in many places. Further, there has been a considerable rearrangement at two points, in an attempt to somewhat tighten up the rather loose set-up of the book. In Chapter VIII, sections 3 and 4 have changed places for the greater part. Chapters V, 3 and VI, 3 have been shifted in that VI, 3 has become V, 3; and V, 3 sections a-I inclusive have become VI, 1; VI, 1 has become VI, 2; VI, 2 has become VI, 3 up to the third paragraph of p. 118; the rest of VI, 2 has been combined with V, 3, g into a new section VI, 4: "Oppositions". This has resulted in a couple of new headings of chapters and sections. The new chapter XIII deals in the first place with Professor Hjelmslev's main publications since the first edition went to press, and with the rather extensive literature which deals with or touches upon some aspect or other of glossematic theory, directly or indirectly. Secondly the chapter presents the writer's own further thoughts on glossematic theory, as put forward already at the VIII International Congress of Linguists in Oslo, 1957 -(Pro• ceedings 1958 p. 142-143) and in her inaugural lecture (Lingua X, 1961, p. 128--147). Discussions with H. J. Uldall t during the time of her lectureship at the University College, Ibadan, Nigeria, where Uldall was head of the Department of , gave her a clearer insight on some points. But Uldall's views had by then diverged considerably from Hjelmslev's. In the third place the additional chapter has offered an opportunity to answer some of the questions and critical remarks VIII PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION

made in reviews of the first edition. On the whole the book has been well received, although the opinions expressed were of an interesting diversity and frequently each other's direct opposites. If an American critic holds that the book "fails to provide ... an introduction" to glossematic. theory (Language 31, 1955) (it does not mean to be an introduction, that is why it is called a study, BS) - a Copenhagen one states that it is "certainement l'introduction la plus complete a la theorie linguistique de qui a He donnee jusqu'a ce jour" (Studia Neophilologica XXVII, 1955). Half a dozen similar examples of directly opposite evaluations could be given. Apart from those there was some criticism of the more fundamental kind in several reviews, as well as some most valuable comments in personal letters from C. E. Bazell, Eli Fischer-J~rgensen and A. Martinet. These will be referred to repeatedly in the present edition. But what to do with those reviews which instead of discussing the book merely present the reviewers' own con• ceptions of Glossematics and finish off the book u~der review with a casual remark such as: "On aurait aime trouver cela chez Sierstema" (sic) (Revue belge de philologie et d'histoire 38, 1960, p. 181). or: "The present work is really an exposition of Hjelmslev's views on language by someone who is, only too obviously, a most devoted disciple" (sic!) (The Modern Language Review LI, No.4, 1956). Such remarks make one wonder whether the reviewers in question have really read the book - a doubt which turns into a suspicion that it has not even been looked at properly when one finds one's consistently misspelled amongst such statements as: that the book contains no intro• duction (it contains one of 30 pages, BS) and no conclusion (there are separate cOl).clusions at the end of most chapters, BS): "Cela se passe de commentaire" (Revue beIge ... etc. mentioned above). It does indeed! The above enumeration of the contents of Chapter XIII in three parts: Hjelmslev's and others' later pUblications, the writer's own further thoughts on the , and reviews of the present study, does not mean that these parts have been dealt with in that order. Wherever one of them gives rise to a remark somewhere in the text of the first 12 chapters, this has been indicated by an asterisk and the comment or addition PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION IX is to be found in chapter XIII with page- and paragraph reference to the text. The bibliography has been brought up to date, but since we now have the detailed list of all Hjelmslev's publications up to 1959 in his Essais Linguistiques, published on the occasion of his sixtieth birthday, the bibliography in the present study contains only those works which are essential contributions to glossematic theory. The new "publications consulted" for the 2nd edition have been added in a separate list. As in the first edition, those referred to in the text have been marked with an asterisk. The works of logicians have still been left out of the list, even Carnap's, though the present writer has been told more than once that a "study of Glossematics" ought to take at least the latter into account. The reason why they have still been omitted is that glossematics presents itself as a , and that to her mind it shoJlld therefore be possible for a linguist to evaluate its merits on linguistic grounds. Besides, the remarks of competent linguists who have taken the said works intd account do not exactly tempt one to do the same. E.g. "From a linguistk point of view, however, it seems peculiar that logicians think they can set up a theory about the relation between sentences and that which is indicated by them, without a thorough investigation of the linguistic structure of sentences, of the relation between the actual utterance and the system of language, of the relation between -meaning and sentence• meaning, between expression and content, between fornl and manifestation" (P. Diderichsen, Semantiske problemer i logik og lingvistik, p. 269, transl. BS). On the other hand: "J e weiter man sich ... in die glosse• matischen Schriften vertieft, desto eindeutiger erkennt man, dass die logistischen Thesen nicht rein in der Meinung d~s N eopositivismus assimiliert werden, sondern bei dem Aneig• nungsprozess sich mannigfaltig modifizieren, wobei sich der Modifikationsbereich tiber aIle Grade der Abschattierung bis zur volligen Sinnentstellung erstreckt. ... Gedankensplitter des Logizismus werden aufgegriffen und den eigenen Ideen ange• ftigt, ohne dass jedoch dafiir gesorgt wtirde, beides zu einer homogenen Einheit zusammenwachsen zu lassen. Das Ergebnis x PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION ist ein :Ronglomerat von ineinandergeflochtenen Konzeptionen, in denen das Gedankengut des logischen Positivismus teilweise so verfremdet wird, dass der urspriingliche Sinn der Begriffe kaum noch ersichtlich ist" (G. Ungeheuer, Logischer Positivismus und moderne Linguistik (Glossematik) , p. 9). Those interested in this field on the borderline of glossematic theory will find a good introduction in the works just quoted, as well as in H. Spang-Hanssen: The Nature 01 the Language (TCLC IX), especially p. 23 ff. Also in J. Jfi;Srgensen's fine paper Languages, Calculuses and Logic. (Logic and Language, Studies dedicated to Professor Rudolf Carnap on the Occasion of his Seventieth Birthday. Dordrecht - Holland, 1962, p. 27-38). It is perhaps partly for the same reason that the present writer finds Hjelmslev's work at its best when it is concerned with the practical description and analysis of a limited set of phenomena in an existing language. Then it is always full of interesting finds, stimulating ideas and thought-provoking solutions. Hjelmslev sees relationships and possibilities which, though one may doubt their "truth" the moment one reads them, are always worth ponderi~g over and always deepen one's insight. Although this second edition still reflects the same doubts and reserves with regard to glossematic theory as the first edition did, the writer is grateful for this opportunity to mention this very positive side of Hjelmslev's works expressly here.

Amstelveen Summer 1963. CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION • . . •

I. GLOSSEMATICS AND DE SAUSSURE ..•... "Negative entities" 1 - De Saussure's tenn "" 2 - The express train: manipulations with a time-table 4 - The game of chess: the notion of "valeur" 5 - Fonn and substance 7 - Requirement for the substance 8 - Sound the substance of expression for language 9 - The social side of language 11.

II. HISTORY OF GLOSSEMATICS. ITS NAME AND ITS 13 1. History 0/ glossematics ...... 13 2. Name and object 0/ glessematics ...... 15 Phonematics and glossematics 15 - Plerematics and cenematics 16 - Functions 18 - Text 18 - The linguistic algebra 20 - "Fonn" 20 - "Finding" 22- Omkring Sprogteoriens Grundlaeggelse 25 - The glossematic "school" 27 - Object of the present study 28.

CHAPTER I - THE AUTONOMY OF LANGUAGE. PROCESS AND SYSTEM. LINGUISTIC THEORY AND EMPIRICISM. • • •• 30 1. The autonomy o/language...... 30 In OSG 30 - In Principes 31 - In Sprog og Tanke 32 - Conclusion. 2. Process and system...... 32 A system behind every process 33 - System• finding or system-making? 34" - First requirement: a knowledge of the language to be analyzed 35 - Conclusion 36. 3. Linguistic theory and empiricism...... 37 The empirical principle 37 - Hjelmslev's con• ception of empiricism 38 - Conclusion 39.

CHAPTER II - INDUCTION AND DEDUCTION. • • . • 40 In OSG 40 - In Principles 41 - In Synopsis 42 - In Cas 43 - In Structure Morphologique 45 - In OSG CONTENTS

Ch. 9 46 - Latest usage 47 - Different analyses 48 - Conclusion 50 - The aim of linguistics and the aim of glossematics 51.

CHAPTER III - THE THEORY OF LANGUAGE: A CALCULATION ARBITRARY; APPROPRIATE AND AS SIMPLE AS POSSIBLE 53 l. Language...... 53 2. Theory...... 57 3. Calculus - Calculation ...... 58 4. Glossematic theory arbitrary, appropriate, and as simple as possible ...... 58 Appropriate 59 - Arbitrary 59 - Arbitrary and appropriate 60 - Questions 61 - Simplicity 63.

CHAPTER IV - THE PRINCIPLE OF ANALYSIS. 67 I. The system of definitions . 67 2. The principle: an a priori . 68 3. The premisses...... 69 4. Basis of division. . . . . 70 5. AU-importance of the dependences 72 6. The nature of the dependences ...... 72 Scheme of relations 73 - Other relations 75 - The problem of frequency 76 - Examples 78. 7. The uniformity of the dependences 79 8. Conjunction - disjunction...... 80 9. Inventories ...... 81 Rule of transference 81 - Decreasing size of the inventories 81. 10. Some terminology ...... 82 Relation 82 - Solidarity 82 - Determination 82 - Combination 83 - Exist 84 - Presence 84 - Realized-virtual 85.

CHAPTER. V - FUNCTION, FORM, AND THEIR FRAME OF REFERENCE. • 86 l. Function. . 86 2. Form . . . 90 3. The syllable...... 98 History of the terminology 98 - "Accent" 99 - "Pseudo-syllables" lOi - Central and marginal pre- 102 - Phonetic qualities of the syllable 103 - Decreasing inventories 104 - "Place" 105. CONTENTS XIII

CHAPTER VI - THE FUNCTIVES AND THEIR SUBSTANCE OF EXPRESSION • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •• 106 1. The /unctives and substance...... 106 Dependences = "linking lines" 106 - Manifesta- tion and 'recognition of linguistic form 108 - "Functional" teaching 109 - Diachronic linguis- tics 109 - Identification 110 - Commutation 11 O. 2. Sound on a level with W1'iting? ...... 111 3. Two objections supported ...... 113 The naturalness of the sound-substance 113 - A different substance means a different form 116 - Different expression-forms of one language 117 - "Ideophonic" language? 118 - Spelling 119. 4. Oppositions...... 120 "Suppression" 120 - Correlations 121 - Corre• lations in writing 122 - The substance affects the suppressions 123.

CHAPTER VII - THE LINGUISTIC SIGN: THE SIGN IN ITSELF 126 1. The sign . . . . .' ...... " 126 Its definition 126 - Substance presupposed 127 - The definition of "form" 128. 2. Meaning...... 129 Context 130 - Naming and symbolizing 131 - The word the unit of meaning 132 - The analysis into signs abandoned? 134 - Treatment of the word 135. 3. Figurae ...... 136 Language as a system of figurae 136 - Language as a sign system 137. 4. Schema and usage ...... 137 Terminology 138 - Usage = substance 138 - Language system and schema 142 - Untranslated passage 142.

CHAPTER VIII - THE LINGUISTIC SIGN: THE SIGN AND PURPORT. • • . . • • . . . • . • •• •..• 144 1. Purport: de Saussure's division 0/ the "masse amorphe"...... 144 Amorphous mass? 145 - Hjelmslev's examples 145 - The scheme amended 147. 2. Purpon: Hielmslev's division 0/ the "masse amorphe" 147 Hjelmslev's definition of "purport" 148 - The content purport 149 - Boundaries 149. XIV CONTENTS

3. The dilfermce betwetm "PfI~Porl", "Content", and " S'Ubstance" ...... ISO 4. EXFession and content: the straight lines...... 153 Content figurae? 154 - How to find "content figurae" 156 - Decreasing inventories 157 - Ob• jection: difference in structure between word content and word expression 158 - Content chain or content element? 159 - Inexhaustiveness of the partition 159 - Hjelmslev's examples 160 - Scheme 161. 5. The inversion 0/ the sign-~ientation ...... 161 Content = thoughts and things 162 - Symmetry between the two planes 162 - Starting the analysis from the content 163.

CHAPTER IX - THE COMMUTATION TEST. 164 I. The definition 0/ commfltation. . 164 2. The extension 0/ commutation . . 165 3. Second extension: the exchange 0/ units starling from the content ...... • ...... 166 4. Pa~adigms ...... • ...... 167 5. Identi/ication G/ phonemes - its place in the analysis 169 6. "Place" 0/ the commutation test . . 172 7. Permutation. Definition 0/ the UJ~d. . 174 8. Categ~ies ...... 175

CHAPTER X - SYNCRETISM AND CATALYSIS. 180 I. Synaetism ...... 180 Syncretism. and neutralization 180 - Syncretism in the expression 181 - The point of view of the substance-hierarchy 182 - Neutralization and opposition 182-Why neutralization? 184- Gram• matical prerequisites 185 - Syncretism in the con- tent 186 - Overlapping with zero 189 2. Ca'talysis...... 190 Catalysis and interpolation 191 - Reason for ca• talysis 193 - Catalysis a circle 193 - Examples 194 - Importance of "meaning" for formal analy- sis 196.

CHAPTER XI - ULTIMATE RESULTS OF THE DEDUCTION.. 199 1. The ~edtICtion 0/ the phoneme ...... 199 Taxemes and glossemes 199 - Content glossemes (Cas) 200 - Expression glossemes 202 - The CONTENTS XV

principles of economy, reduction and generaliza• tion 204 - Application to Danish 205 - Affinity of cenemes with the substance 206. 2. The completely analogous categorical structure 01 the two planes ...... 207 Scheme 208 - Explanation of the terms used 209.

CHAPTER XII - LANGUAGE AMIDST CONNOTATIVE SEMI• OTICS, META-, SEMIOTICS, SYMBOLIC SYSTEMS AND NON-LANGUAGE...... • ...... 212 1. Connotative semiotics and meta-semiotics . . . . . 212 Connotative semiotic 212 - Meta-semiotic 213 - Semiology 214 - Jump to the substance 214 - The key position of language 215. 2. Language and non-language...... 215 Two planes - two forms 216 - Semiotic and sym- bolic system 217 - Definitions of natural language 217 - Translatability 218 - The unlimited possibi- lity of forming signs 220 - Profusion of figurae 221 - Dispensable and indispensable profusion 222 - The very free rules for forming units of great extension 223 - The rules independent of any scale of values 223 - Language independent of any purpose? 223 - The definition of "natural language" 224 - Summary 225.

CHAPTER XIII - ADDITIONS AND ALTERATIONS 227

BIBLIOGRAPHY OF LOUIS HJELMSLEV 270

PUBLICATIONS CONSULTED 273

SUBJECT INDEX. . . . . 285 "Almost all recent contributions to linguistic ~alysis have one thing in common; they involve the exclusion of certain criteria once regarded as relevant. ... Agreement is unanimous on one point only; that we ought not to take everything into consideration at the same time". (C. E. BAZELL, Structural Notes, Dergi II, 1951, p. 23).