The Evolution of the Linguistic Sign

A fascinating journey through time, exploring the intersection of linguistics, psychoanalysis, and literature. Let's start in the early 20th century when Swiss linguist Ferdinand Saussure was deeply engrossed in studying anagrams in ancient poems. Around the same time, his colleague, Theodore Flournoy, introduced him to the peculiar phenomenon of Hélène Smith, a medium known for her strange "tongues" while in a trance. Saussure was asked to analyze her glossolalia, a term for these speech-like sounds. Skip ahead to the middle of the 20th century. French psychoanalyst Jacques Lacan, influenced by structuralism, gave the Saussurean linguistic sign a new twist from a Freudian perspective. He offered a fresh look at how the unconscious mind impacts language. Fast-forward to the late 20th century. Argentine writer Hector Libertella playfully reinvented the avant-garde movement by blending Lacanian theory with literature. His novel, "El árbol de Saussure, " cleverly depicted the linguistic sign as a sort of "drunken sign. " This clever metaphor emphasized the influence of the unconscious on language.