[lit-ideas] Lapsus Linguae: A Gricean Analysis
- From: Jlsperanza@xxxxxxx
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Thu, 1 Oct 2009 14:23:46 EDT
In a message dated 10/1/2009 12:13:03 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time,
wokshevs@xxxxxx writes:
that's why you cried when Nixon fell on his sword (toppled over on his
> penis).
=====
The problem with lapsus linguae (Grice distinguishes between lapsus linguae
and lapsus pennicilinae, lapsus of the penn) is Gricean.
"The naturalness of the lapsus linguae over the lapsus pennicilinae should
be obvious: not everybody carries a pen with her, but a tongue is a
proprium of a Man".
Grice's student, Donald Davidson wrote of lapsus as comparable to
malaprops. Malaprop utters,
"That's a nice derangement of epitaphs"
meaning (??) thereby, "That's a nice arrangement of epitaphs". But does she
really?
"The problem with Malaprop", Grice expresses, is that she "doesn't really
exist". So Sheridan MAY have said to MEAN whatever he choses to mean by the
stupidities he sets on his character's 'tongue'.
A malaprop is like a spoonerism, only different. Spoonerisms are
apocryphal, whereas there's usually a written source for a malaprop (usually a
play
be Sheridan).
Davidson goes on: "In the analysis of meaning alla Grice, utterer's
intentions matter, so can we say that Malaprop's intention is to MEAN that that
is a nice arrangement of epithet?" For one, she could lack the relevant
concepts, arrangement and epithet. Note that she says derangement and epitaph.
Geary, "Something similar to me happens with friends I know haven't read
Heidegger. I keep translating in my mind what they mean, for surely they lack
the proper Heideggerian concepts."
Freud borrowed (but never returned) the concept of a slip of tongue ('actus
failed') from the neo-Kantians. He noted that his clients (he used
'patients' -- 'failed act') when in a hysteric mode, would utter a 'failed
actus'.
He made notes of this, and later, breaching all codes of Hippocratic
medical ethics, made a fortune (by Jewish standards) out of this.
The Freudian law of the lapsus linguae is that:
For any x, there is an y such that y can be interpreted as a lapsus
linguae of x.
Consider,
"Do you have a light?" (uttered in a pub). >>> "I want to make love to you
without condom."
"Sure" >>> "And I to you".
Cheers,
J. L. Speranza, The Swimming Pool Library, Bordighera
Other related posts:
- » [lit-ideas] Lapsus Linguae: A Gricean Analysis - Jlsperanza
