RHETOR 103B Lecture 5: R103B Lecture 5 02.02.2017
Document Summary
No natural connection between s1 and s2 (unmotivated) An individual cannot choose what to call something even if he willed it . Language rooted in tradition, the past, is modified gradually. Language = best proof that law accepted by a community is a thing tolerated, and not a rule to which all freely consent. At every moment solidarily with the past checks freedom of choice . Marx also understood the burden of history. What protects language from change is that the sign is arbitrary > since it is unmotivated, there is no motivation to change. Modification from action of time with social force . Collective inertia toward innovation (because we share language. In specific ways (74) principle of change is based on the principle of continuity . There are adjustments as time goes on. Vs. marx: all that is solid melts into air > everything changes. Language is product of social force plus time.
