Language as semiosis: a neo-structuralist perspective in the light of pragmaticism

Abstract

Abstract Presented is an analysis an analysis of language structure in the round incorporating the elements of Charles Sanders Peirce’s pragmaticism and his apothegm “My language is the sum total of myself” together with a program for reorienting linguistics in the twenty-first century. Postulated as a fundamental principle is the idea that the locus of linguistic reality is the act, the creative moment of speech – a moment made possible by the existing structure of language with its general rules but which transforms that structure, so that linguistic structure is itself always in flux, always being modified by acts of speech. Adduced in illustrative support are data and analyses drawn from the author’s blog (www.languagelore.net) and from his recent book, The speaking self: Language lore and English usage (2nd edn., 2017). Included in Appendices form are fundamental concepts of Peirce’s semeiotic as summarized from Max Fisch’s classical description.