General language

General language

Use this category for general terms related to languages.

Contributors in General language

General language

Ferdinand de Saussure, the founder of modern linguistics, was a pioneer of structuralist thinking - his was the linguistic model which inspired the European structuralists. Other key structuralists ...

subject

Language; General language

In theories of subjectivity a distinction is made between 'the subject' and 'the individual'. Whilst the individual is an actual person, the subject is a set of roles constructed by dominant cultural ...

symbolic

Language; General language

# A mode in which the signifier does not resemble the signified but which is arbitrary or purely conventional - so that the relationship must be learnt (e.g. the word 'stop', a red traffic light, ...

symbolic order

Language; General language

The Symbolic Order is Lacan's term for the phase when the child gains mastery within the public realm of verbal language - when a degree of individuality and autonomy is surrendered to the ...

synchronic analysis

Language; General language

Synchronic analysis studies a phenomenon (such as a code) as if it were frozen at one moment in time. Structuralist semiotics focuses on synchronic rather than diachronic analysis and is criticized ...

synchronous communication

Language; General language

Synchronous communication is communication in which participants can communicate 'in real time' - without significant delays. This feature ties together the presence or absence of the producer(s) of ...