Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
earity, an inescapable and fundamental aspect of language inherent in the
production of syntagmatic sequences. Saussure's idea that the linearity of
the sounds of speech is most clearly evident when speech is transcribed to
writing is highly revealing, exposing the hidden premise “of Saussurean
linguistics . . . that the spoken word is 'invisibly' organized on exactly the
same lines as the 'visible' organization of the written word” (Harris 1987,
77-78). Implicit influences from written language about the understand-
ing of linearity can be discovered in metaphors of spatial extension—“a
line, a continuous ribbon of sound” (Saussure 1916/1983, 102)—for the
temporal linearity of the spoken signal. The auditory signal is conceived
implicitly as abstracted from its producer and its visible supports and
partly objectified.
The medium of discourse in which the syntagma is realized has fur-
ther, more materially grounded, and empirically detectable effects.
Biomechanics limit the combination of distinguishable sounds in the con-
tinuous or analog medium of oral speech. Saussure noted, “freedom to
link sound types in succession is limited by the possibility of combining
the right articulatory movements,” and suggested, “[t]o account for what
happens in these combinations, we need a science which treats combina-
tions rather like algebraic equations” (Saussure 1916/1983, 51).
1
By con-
trast in written language, with its more discrete alphabet of symbols and
potentially digital rather than analog nature, restrictions upon transitions
between symbols are not inherent in the medium. However, restrictions
can be imposed for certain communicative purposes, such as providing an
analog to oral speech or incorporating redundancy to enable the recon-
struction of messages disturbed by noise (Warner 2003).
Other analogies and contrasts can be made between the realization of
the syntagma in oral and written discourse. The syntagma is extended in
time in oral speech and in space in written language, although this con-
trast can be qualified. Perception—including reading—of written lan-
guage may take place over time. Written utterances, such as private and
published correspondence and issues of a journal, may take place succes-
sively and be related syntagmatically to each other. A further transforma-
tion of the relation between space and time occurs with the written text of
a computer program: the program spreads out in text space and the com-
puting process occurs over time (MacKenzie 2001, 38; Dijkstra 1968).
