Free English Language Dissertations - Ellis Explains, saussure Had Argued That Meaning Is Not A Matter Of Sounds
Ellis explains,
"Saussure had argued that meaning is not a matter of sounds being linked to concepts existing outside a given language but instead arises from specific contrasts between terms that are differentiated in specific ways." According to Ellis, Derrida takes Saussure's idea of contrasts and swaps in the word "play." "Play is no longer a matter of specific contrasts," Ellis notes, "it is 'limitless,' 'infinite,' and 'indefinite'; and thus meaning has become limitless, infinite, and indefinite."
If Ellis’s argument is true, then Derrida is indeed guilty of an illogical switch of categories, since he has substituted these words for Saussure's idea of contrasts. Arguably, switching like this is an informal logical fallacy which serves to make Derrida's argument logically invalid. "The meaning of one word does indeed depend on the meaning of many others," Ellis argues; "but to choose one word from a system is to employ all of the systematic contrasts with other words at that very moment -- the process of contrasting does not stretch out into the future" as Derrida's concept of play attempts to do. Thus the immediate context of a word in a sentence or paragraph, or the immediate context of a scene in a film or play, is generally used to determine its meaning. This is a rule of interpretation that is ignored by the occasional obfuscations of Derrida and the post-modern literarists, who privilege the unlikely, unexpected and unexplained above and beyond the direct and sensical. By ignoring this rule, they clearly show the inherent fallacies of their whole theory. Hence language play in literature, taken to extremes, can often suffer from its own boisterous enthusiasm; although the irresistible quality of language play is essential in the education of children, it can be fatally addictive to adults, who turn to it in desperation, drawn by the promise of escape from the oppressive logic of grammar.
REFERENCES and useful sources
Arnold, J. (1999). Affect in Language Learning. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Bateson, G. (1972). Steps to an ecology of mind. London: Granada.
Butzkamm, W. (1980). Verbal play and pattern practice. In Felix, S. (Ed.) Second language development: Trends and issues, 233-48. Tubingen: Gunther Narr.
Coleman, J. (1967). Learning through games. In Bruner, J., Jolly, A. and Sylva, K. (Eds.), (1976). Play: It’s role in development and evolution (pp. 461-463). New York: Penguin Books.
Cook, G. (2000). Language play, language learning. New York: Oxford University Press.
Crookes, G. and Schmidt, R. (1991). Motivation: Reopening the research agenda, Language Learning, 41 (4), 469-512.
Damasio, A. (1994). Descartes’ error: Emotion, reason, and the human brain. New York: Putnam.
Deci, E. and Ryan, R. (1985). Intrinsic motivation and self-determination in human behavior. New York: Plenum Press.
Deci, E. (1995). Why we do what we do: The dynamics of personal autonomy. New York: Putnam.
