[lbo-talk] On the Limits of Rhetoric

Miles Jackson cqmv at pdx.edu
Tue Nov 30 08:44:12 PST 2004


On Mon, 29 Nov 2004, Dennis Redmond wrote:


> >>Yoshie Furuhashi wrote:
> >>
> > I'm talking about a more mundane fact here. Anybody who writes
> > anything doesn't invent the language she writes in
>
> Sure they do. Language is constantly being rewritten, reimagined and
> reinvented by individual subjects -- usually, though, in bad or repressive
> ways

No, if one person "reinvents" a language, it's gibberish (think of Wittgenstein's private language argument). Language is a social product through and through; it's part of a way of life, and it cannot change simply on the basis of individual preference or imagination. There must be complex social relations (media, government apparatus, subcultures, family) to create and sustain any language system.

Miles



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