LANGUAGE AND ITS DISCONTENTS. ESSAYS ON SPEECH, WRITING, GRAMMAR & MEANING

This book intertwines theoretical, linguistc and philosophical reflection on language and speech, writing and meaning. It investigates the relationship between individuals and their own language: the birth of words and the disappearance of languages. It explores the importance of speech and writing, the structural limits and interdictions inherent in language and meaning, as well as the corporeal aspect of language (accents, dialects, tones and rhythms ), power and language manipulation, and the question of the countability of languages: their directness or factual givenness. The book touches on several other issues relevant to the current debates on Grammar (mainly English Grammar) and its mysterious rules, language form and character. These issues include also the tacit or explicit censorship that excludes many (indigeneous) languages from serious critical consideration, the “investment in an ideal of linguistic purity”.