Sabinet | The ontic uniqueness and irreducibility of language and communicative actions
Communicatio : South African Journal of Communication Theory and Research — Recommend this title to your library
Communicatio : South African Journal of Communication Theory and Research
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Communicatio : South African Journal of Communication Theory and Research,
Volume 31, Issue 2,
211 - 227
Abstract HTML Metrics Related Content Abstract Die hooffokus van die argument wat in hierdie aanvangsartikel ontvou word is om ondersoek in te stel na die uniekheid en onherleibaarheid van talige kommunikasie. Dit geskied teen die agtergrond van die onderskeiding tussen wat &lt;I&gt;onties-gegewe&lt;/I&gt; is en wat teoreties geartikuleer kan word in &apos;n <I>ontologie</I>. Die argument ontvou met verwysing na die inherente anatomiese beperkinge van diere rakende die artikulering van &apos;n egte menslike taal en deur daarop te wys dat die mens streng gesproke glad nie oor &lt;I&gt;spraakorgane&lt;/I&gt; beskik nie. Dit verreken ook wat Plessner bestempel as die bemiddelde &lt;I&gt;onmiddellikheid&lt;/I&gt; van taal en die onvermydelikheid van &lt;I&gt;ambiguïteit&lt;/I&gt; en &lt;I&gt;keuse&lt;/I&gt; ten opsigte van linguale betekenis (Cassirer, Nida en De Klerk). Deur oorsigtelik die oorgang van die rasionalistiese kennisideaal van die Verligting na die historisme van die negentiende eeu en die <I>&apos;linguistic turn&apos;&lt;/I&gt; aan die einde van die negentiende eeu en die begin van die twintigste eeu te skets word die weg geopen om te verstaan waarom taal gedurende die twintigste eeu as &apos;n <I>nuwe horison&lt;/I&gt; na vore getree het (Heidegger - Gadamer). Melding word daarvan gemaak dat Hegel &apos;n vertrekpunt bied vir kommunikasieteorie en ook dat die dialogiese beginsel in die denke van Buber subjek-subjek relasies beoog met uitsluiting van subjek-objek relasies. Voorbeelde van primitiewe (ondefinieerbare) terme uit die wiskunde, kinematika en linguistiek word vermeld alvorens meersinnigheid aan die hand van die voorbeeld van kousaliteit en die analogiese benutting daarvan in frases soos kommunikatiewe kousaliteit en historiese kousaliteit beoordeel word. Die vlugtige waardering van die stellingnames van Jaspers en Habermas asook die beswaar teen (ongegronde) reduksionisme moet gesien word as &apos;n oorgang en inleiding tot die vervolg-artikel in &apos;n latere uitgawe van <I>Communicatio</I>, waarin gefokus sal word op die <I>ontiese samehang&lt;/I&gt; en &lt;I&gt;interafhanklikheid&lt;/I&gt; van taal en kommunikatiewe handelinge. End
The main focus of the argument presented in this (the first of two) article(s) is directed towards an investigation into the uniqueness and irreducibility of language and communicative actions. It is done on the basis of the distinction between what is &lt;I&gt;ontically&lt;/I&gt; given and what can be articulated through the theoretical endeavours of an <I>ontology</I>. The argument unfolds with reference to the inherent anatomical limitations of animals in the articulation of truly human language, and by mentioning the fact that, strictly speaking, the human being does not possess a single &apos;speech organ.&apos; It also takes into consideration what Plessner has called the &apos;mediated immediacy&apos; of language, and the inherent &lt;I&gt;ambiguity&lt;/I&gt; and choice present in linguistic meaning (Cassirer, Nida and de Klerk). A brief explanation of the transition from the rationalistic epistemic ideal of Enligthenment to the historicism of the nineteenth century and to the eventual linguistic turn (end of the nineteenth and the beginning of the twentieth centuries) serves to elucidate why &lt;I&gt;language&lt;/I&gt; as such eventually became a <I>new horizon&lt;/I&gt; for reflection during the twentieth century (Heidegger and Gadamer). It is mentioned that Hegel provided a starting-point for communication theory and also that the dialogical principle in the thought of Buber aimed at subject-subject relations at the cost of subject- object relations. Against this background the discussion returns to the problem of uniqueness and multivocality. Examples of primitive (indefinable) terms in mathematics, the discipline of kinematics and the science of linguistics are mentioned. As a first example of the analogical employment of terms, the multivocality of &lt;I&gt;causality&lt;/I&gt; is assessed - with specific reference to &lt;I&gt;communicative&lt;/I&gt; and &lt;I&gt;historical&lt;/I&gt; causality. The brief assessment of the positions taken by Jaspers and Habermas, and the objection against (unfounded) reductionism should be seen as a transitional introduction to the follow-up article (in a later issue of <I>Communicatio</I>) in which the <I>ontic interconnectedness&lt;/I&gt; and &lt;I&gt;interdependence&lt;/I&gt; of language and communicative actions will be examined in more detail. End