- Psychoanalytic Conceptions of Language
Psychoanalytic Conceptions of Language refers to the intersection of
psychoanalytic theory withlinguistics andpsycholinguistics .Language has been an integral component of the psychoanalytic framework since its inception, as evidenced by the fact thatAnna O. (pseud. forBertha Pappenheim ), whose treatment via thecathartic method influenced the later development of psychoanalytic therapy, referred to her method of treatment as the "talking cure " (Freud & Breuer, 1895; de Mijolla, 2005).Language is relevant to psychoanalysis in two key respects. First, it is important with respect to the therapeutic process, serving as the principal means by which unconscious mental processes are given expression through the verbal exchange between analyst and patient (e.g.,
free association ,dream analysis ,transference -countertransference dynamics). Secondly, psychoanalytic theory is linked in many ways to linguistic phenomena, such asparapraxes and the telling ofjokes . According toFreud (1915, 1923), the essential difference between modes of thought characterized by "primary" (irrational, governed by the id) as opposed to "secondary" (logical, governed by the ego and external reality) thought processes is one of preverbal vs. verbal ways of conceptualizing the world.Freud's Ideas on Language
According to Freud (1940), "...the function of speech…brings material in the
ego into a firm connection with the mnemic residues of visual, but more particularly of auditory, perceptions" (p. 35). In other words, the mind is able to assimilate perceptual information through language - we are able to make sense of our perceptions by thinking about them in the form of words."Aphasia, Thing- and Word-Presentations"
One of Freud's earliest papers, "On Aphasia" (1891), was concerned with the speech disorder the neurological mechanisms of which had been investigated earlier in the century by
Paul Broca andCarl Wernicke . Freud was skeptical of Wernicke's findings, citing a paucity of clinical observation as his reason. Although he conceded the fact that language is linked toneurological processes, Freud repudiated a model oflocalization of brain function , according to which specific regions of the brain are responsible for certain cognitive functions. In contrast to most of his contemporaries, Freud rejected the notion that in most cases pathological phenomena are manifestations of physiological dysfunctions (Lanteri-Laura, 2005a).In the same paper, Freud (1891) distinguishes between "word-presentations", the mental images of words, and "thing-presentations", the representations of actual objects. Word-presentations involve the linking of a conscious idea to a verbal stimulus, are associated with the secondary processes, and are oriented towards reality. Thing-presentations are essentially pre- or nonverbal images of objects, are associated with the primary processes, and are not necessarily connected with reality (Rycroft, 1995; Gibeault, 2005a, 2005b; Lanteri-Laura, 2005b). The influence of the external world on the ego is apparent here in that mental processes and word-presentations become connected only gradually as the ego differentiates from the
id as a result of contact with the environment (Rycroft, 1995; Freud, 1923). The idea of thing vs. word-presentations is also evident in Freud's hypotheses concerningschizophrenia (Rycroft, 1995; Freud, 1894, 1896). It is suggested that, as a defense againstintrapsychic conflict, schizophrenics divest thing-presentations of significance and come to treat word-presentations as actual things (cf. mental functioning inPiaget 'spreoperational stage of cognitive development)."Parapraxes, Jokes"
The parapraxes (e.g., slips of the tongue and pen) and
humor were two other areas related to language that Freud investigated. He conceptualized speech errors as discrepancies between what a speaker intended to say and what he or she actually said, indicating that the intention wasunconscious and prevented from being expressed accurately due to intrapsychic conflict (Freud, 1901). In terms of humor, Freud (1905) believed that jokes were an innocuous way of expressing sexual and/or aggressive impulses and easing psychic tension, thereby producing a degree of pleasure. Like dreams andneurotic symptoms, jokes serve as compromise-formations and are indicative of many of the same fundamental processes characteristic of the unconscious, e.g., condensation anddisplacement . However, unlike dreams and symptoms, jokes occur in an inter- rather than intrapersonal context and are dependent on the listener's ability to discern the ways in which the sense of the joke has been distorted through the condensation of words, multiple use of the same words or phrases, and the double meaning of words (cf.Paul Grice 'scooperative principle ). The humorous quality of the following joke by Viennese journalist Daniel Spitzer is the result of simple phrase rearrangement:'Mr. and Mrs. X live in fairly grand style. Some people think that the husband has earned a lot and so has been able to lay by a bit; others again think that the wife has lain back a bit and so has been able to earn a lot' (Freud, 1905, p. 35).
In this joke, we see multiple use of the same phrase with words in a different order, as well as the double meaning of the words "lay" and "lain." Ostensibly about a couple's financial status, this joke is effective because it allows for the overcoming of inhibition and the indirect expression of sexual impulses through the double meaning of words.Psychoanalysis and Psycholinguistics
Over the past half century, there have been efforts by psychoanalysts and
cognitive psychologist s to bridge the gap between their two respective disciplines. Rizzuto (2002) has discussed the nature of the verbal exchange between analyst and patient in the context ofRoman Jakobson 's (1976, 1990) typology of the six functions of "the speech event": (1) referential, involving contextual information; (2) poetic, referring to the construction of the form of the message; (3) emotive, or the speaker's emotional influence vis-a-vis the receiver; (4) conative, or the speaker's orientation toward the receiver; (5) phatic, or the attempt to establish and maintain contact between speaker and receiver (e.g., "Can you hear me?"); and (6) metalingual, or the application of language to itself (e.g.,"What do you mean with that word?"). Rizzuto (2002) suggests that by paying an equal amount of attention to each of the six functions of the speech act, the analyst can obtain a more comprehensive picture of the patient's affective life. Conversely, by focusing on one function at a time, the analyst can ascertain the patient's different ways of mitigatinganxiety or coping with stress.In a symposium paper on psychoanalysis and linguistics, Harris (1995) offers a variety of reasons why the mutual exchange of ideas between the two disciplines is an important enterprise. The theoretical shift in psychoanalysis from
libidinal development and drive states toobject relations andattachment , first initiated around the middle of the twentieth century, is now incorporating more and more elements ofcognitive science and psycholinguistics. The framework ofintersubjectivity and model of thetherapeutic alliance as a reciprocal exchange constructed by both analyst and patient call for a modification to both theory and practice, the ultimate aim of which is to think of the analytic process more in terms ofinterpersonal relations and "complex language worlds" (p. 616). Furthermore, over the past twenty years infancy research has greatly informed psychoanalytic theory, and the concepts ofsymbolism andmental representation have influenced both frameworks. According to Harris (1995), the processes involved in the transition from nonverbal to verbal ways of thinking about and experiencing the world, first investigated in infancy research, have pointed to the relevance of language with respect to psychoanalytic thinking. A closerinterdisciplinary relationship between psychoanalysis and linguistics could potentially bolster the former's status as a research paradigm at the intersection ofhermeneutics andnatural science , a reformulation that some analysts have suggested (Strenger, 1991).References
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Jakobson, R. (1990). The speech event and the function of language. In L. R. Waugh & M. Monville-Burston (Eds.), "On language". Cambridge, MA and London: Harvard University Press.
Lanteri-Laura, G. (2005a). Aphasia. In A. de Mijolla (Ed.), "International dictionary of psychoanalysis, vol. 1" (pp. 106-107). Farmington Hills, MI: Thomson Gale. [http://www.answers.com/topic/aphasia?cat=health]
Lanteri-Laura, G. (2005b). Language and disturbances of language. In A. de Mijolla (Ed.), "International dictionary of psychoanalysis, vol. 2" (pp. 942-943). Farmington Hills, MI: Thomson Gale. [http://www.answers.com/topic/language-and-disturbances-of-language?cat=health]
Rizzuto, A. (2002). Speech events, language development and the clinical situation. "International Journal of Psycho-Analysis, 83", 1325-1343.
Rycroft, C. (1995). "A critical dictionary of psychoanalysis". London: Penguin Books.
Strenger, C. (1991). "Between hermeneutics and science". New York: International Universities Press.
Categories :Psychoanalysis ,Psycholinguistics ,Linguistics ,Sigmund Freud ,Parapraxes ,Jokes
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