LANGUAGE AS TECHNOLOGY

Modernists want to reject language and its associations

SAUSSURE, A LINGUIST, BREAKS DOWN THE STRUCTURE OF

LANGUAGE

Morphemes

Individual sounds

Letters

Em

En

Oh

Phonemes

Combinations of sounds

Cuh-aah (CA)

Aah-tuh (AT)

Words

Combos of sounds with meaning

Cat

Language is made of a system of morphemes and phonemes that create words

SAUSSURE ALSO SAYS WE LEARN LANGUAGE THROUGH

UNDERSTANDING COMPARISONS

We know CAT because it is not…

MAT

HAT

RAT

BAT

GNAT

VAT

CAT (the furry four-legged object “we” have arbitrarily assigned to the word CAT)

If we add another sound, we can change the meaning

CAT (S)=two or more cats

CAT (E)=my friend’s name

CAT (TY)=adjective to describe behavior of gossip

MEANING IS NOT INHERENT IN LANGUAGE BUT IT IS CREATED

THROUGH COMPARISON; SOUNDS CHANGE MEANING

THE STUDY OF LANGUAGE LEADS TO THE STUDY OF MEANING

Meaning, too, is a constructed system

MEANING IS, IN PART, CREATED IN THE RELATIONSHIP

BETWEEN SIGNS AND THEIR SIGNIFIED OBJECTS

Sign/Signifier

TREE

The word TREE is the sign made up of a collection of sounds

Signified

The image or object we see either in nature or in our mind’s eye

SIGNS, LIKE WORDS, ARE KNOWN THROUGH COMPARISONS. THE SYSTEM OF LANGUAGE CREATES BINARY OPPOSITES.

We know “Light” because we also know “Dark.” Without dark, light could not be known.

Good/ Evil Up/ Down Adult/ Child

Light (divine)man

Up (Heaven)

Tall

White

Dark (evil)woman

Down (Hell)

Short

Black

BINARY OPPOSITES HAVE ASSOCIATIONS THAT ARE CULTURALLY INFORMED.

As individuals we may not adopt these associations. But these associations are CULTURALLY adopted and understood by individuals within the culture at large.

Sign: HEART

Binary Opposite: MIND or BRAIN

Associations: Love, Valentine’s Day, young crush, but also Emotion, Irrationality, Femininity

TAKE THIS EXAMPLE.

MODERNISM AND LANGUAGE

Modernists want to free themselves of cultural associations (and they believe this is possible)

Arbitrary colors, arbitrary compositions (making picture planes more “candid”), and loose brushwork will allow the artist to move from an objective point of view (think the Academy) to a subjective point of view

As language is created, so will be an artist’s point of view or ‘truth”

So the artist is the Creator of the world observed

By using abstraction, Monet makes hazy the structure of the cathedral. If we cannot see clearly the cathedral, we cannot as easily jump to our cultural associations—God, Divine, Salvation

By painting the cathedral many times in different kinds of light and weather, Monet explores the subjectivity of his own role as Creator.

This is Modernism, and it involves language.