How to Get the Body Back into Language

Abstract

The paper addresses the relation of natural language to the socialized human body by asking two questions. One addresses the difficulties faced by natural language semantics; the second concerns the relation between body and language. Six major flaws in existing approaches are identified as obstacles to a ‘thick’ description of language; in particular, the failure to deal with Vorstellung. What is needed, the paper argues, is no less than a redefinition of the linguistic sign, especially the signified, the linguistic concept and meaning. The paper then turns to two notorious hurdles in any corporeal theory of language, abstract terms and the public nature of linguistic expressions, before concluding with a summary answer to the questions posed in the Introduction.