Week 3 - Kristeva and the language of Silence

Julia Kristeva was born in 1941 in Bulgaria, a communist state at the time. I believe the infuence of Russian communism on her country may have had some influence linguistic studies, which informed her views on the structure of language. After studying under Bahktin, Bart and Golding, she then moved to Paris to further her studies, producing a multi-lingual theory of linguistics.

Kristeva's work on the 'vitality' of language is interesting, and yet somewhat troubling. In the same way as we have seen Kant talking about our interactions with the outside world being limited by our sensory apparatus, I found Kristeva's view of language as a finite, flawed form of communication thought-provoking. This was heightened further after finding out that the second half of Kristeva's book has not been translated due to its emphasis on and usage of the structure of the French language.

From my reading, I considered Kristeva to be making the point that language and reason are not interlinked, and that language is appropriated for our own ends that may deviate from the message to be conveyed. This reminded me slightly of Harold Pinter's use of pauses in his plays. Sir Peter Hall famously said of them that 'a pause in Pinter is as important as a line. They are all there for a reason. Three dots is a hesitation, a pause is a fairly mundane crisis and a silence is some sort of crisis'. 


Perhaps what Pinter was attempting in his pauses was communication sans language. Silence, sensory deprivation and lack of audible stimulation is recognisable no matter what language has been appropriated along the way. I wonder whether Pinter had indeed imported Kristeva's notions of 'appropriated language' and symbolism into a 'semiotic' experience, devoid of grammar or syntax, communicated without language per se.


[1] Kristeva, Julia, Revolution in Poetic Language, trans. Margret Waller, New York, Columbia Press