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Linguistic Intertextuality

Intertextuality refers to how texts relate to and influence each other to create meaning. The concept originated in 20th century linguistics, particularly the work of Ferdinand de Saussure, who introduced the idea that linguistic signs derive meaning from their relationships within a system rather than having intrinsic meanings. Professor Graham Allen further distinguished between texts that explicitly reference other texts, like parodies, and those whose intertextual relationships are less direct. Saussure's work revolutionized linguistics and laid the foundation for structuralism and post-structuralism by establishing language as a system of differences without positive terms.

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303 views2 pages

Linguistic Intertextuality

Intertextuality refers to how texts relate to and influence each other to create meaning. The concept originated in 20th century linguistics, particularly the work of Ferdinand de Saussure, who introduced the idea that linguistic signs derive meaning from their relationships within a system rather than having intrinsic meanings. Professor Graham Allen further distinguished between texts that explicitly reference other texts, like parodies, and those whose intertextual relationships are less direct. Saussure's work revolutionized linguistics and laid the foundation for structuralism and post-structuralism by establishing language as a system of differences without positive terms.

Uploaded by

Kingshuk Mondal
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Linguistic Intertextuality

Intertextuality refers to the interdependent ways in which texts stand in


relation to one another (as well as to the culture at large) to produce meaning.

A central idea of contemporary literary and cultural theory, intertextuality has


its origins in 20th-century linguistics, particularly in the work of Swiss linguist
Ferdinand de Saussure (1857-1913). The term itself was coined by the
Bulgarian-French philosopher and psychoanalyst Julia Kristeva in the 1960s.

Professor Graham Allen credits French theorist Laurent Jenny (in 'The
Strategy of Forms') for drawing a distinction between "works which are
explicitly intertextualsuch as imitations, parodies, citations, montages and
plagiarismsand those works in which the intertextual relation is not
foregrounded" (Intertextuality, 2000).

It was Ferdinand de Saussure (1857-1913), the Swiss linguist, who

in his epoch-making Cours de Linguistique Generale (1916) or Course in

General Linguistics, a collection of his lectures compiled by his students,


provided a new dimension of treating language as a system of linguistic
signs. Any linguistic sign is made up of two basic elements: (a) signifier
(sound-image) and (b) signified (concept). For example, a linguistic sign
like cat comprises the sound-image I k~t I (here the signifier) and the
concept of the animal cat( i.e., the signified ). We could have called the
same animal by any other name than 'cat'. In other languages obviously
we use other signifiers to denote the same animal (signified). In other
words, linguistic signs are arbitrary and become meaningful only in terms
of a particular linguistic system at a particular point of time. Saussure
introduces the concept of synchronic and diachronic study of language.
While synchronic study of language refers to the study of language at a
particular point of time, diachronic study involves the study of language
in terms of its historical development throughout a period of time. It is
out of the available synchronic system of language (Ia langue) that the
specific acts of linguistic performance (parole) takes place. If a linguistic
sign is arbitrary, it is also differential. As Saussure puts it:
[ ... ] in language there are only differences. Even more
important: a difference generally implies positive terms
between which the difference is set up; but in language there
are only differences without positive terms. Whether we take
the signified or the signifier, language has neither the ideas
nor sounds that existed before the linguistic system, but only
conceptual and phonic differences that have issued from the
system.1
Signs cannot have an independent meaning outside any linguistic system.
That is to say, it is only through the relation of a sign with other signs
within a linguistic system that a sign derives its meaning.

The Saussurean linguistics laid the foundation of Structuralist and


Post-Structuralist theories and revolutionized language in a new
direction. The Saussurean concept of the relational nature of
meaning anticipates the theories of Jacques Derrida, Roland
Barthes and Julia Kristeva, and has led to the theories concerning
textuality.

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