Semantics, or the study of meaning, remained undeveloped, while phonetics made rapid progress and even came to occupy the central place in the scientific study of language.
Roman JakobsonRead
The task is to investigate speech sounds in relation to the meanings with which they are invested, i.e., sounds viewed as signifiers, and above all to throw light on the structure of the relation between sounds and meaning.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote emphasizes the relationship between speech sounds and their meanings, highlighting how sounds serve as symbols to convey deeper concepts.
Roman Jakobson's quote reflects the fundamental role of phonetics in understanding human communication. He suggests that the essence of language lies not just in the sounds themselves but in the significance we attribute to those sounds, urging us to explore the intricate relationship between auditory signals and the meanings they convey.
Themes
SpeechSoundsMeaningLanguageCommunication
In practice
Example use cases
A linguistics professor might use this quote to illustrate the importance of phonology in meaning-making.
More from Roman Jakobson
All quotes →The search for the symbolic value of phonemes, each taken as a whole, runs the risk of giving rise to ambiguous and trivial interpretations because phonemes are complex entities, bundles of different distinctive features.
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Bilingualism is for me the fundamental problem of linguistics.
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