Toward an Integrated Theory of Language

대통합 언어이론을 향하여

This article does not deal with a theory or theories in the usual sense of the term but rather harks back to its etymological source, theorein ' to look at.' The phrase 'theory of language' thus purports a 'view of language' and does not carry the force of scientific explication of language. In fact, the word ' scientific' or 'science' per se originates from scire 'to know' and is here to be considered not so much in regard to some kind of positivistic methodology as a form of knowledge. If this exposition sounds unduly ingenious, that is because one is caught up in all kinds of presuppositions about the words under consideration. Sometimes, when we come to grips with an issue that strikes our mind as truly important, our language, by the light of which we hope to proceed safely, plays the will-o'-the-wisp instead and leaves us in the middle of a murky maze, twisting what was at first blush a mere cinch into a Gordian knot. On such occasions, etymology comes along the way and sends us back to itself as its own principle: Resort to etymos logos 'original, true word'! The main thrust of the present study is that alongside the quantitative, positivistic thought there is another equally valuable mode of qualitative and humanistic thinking that makes a whole gamut of new and concrete investigations possible, that an integrated theory of language is Possible by way of a happy amalgamation of diversified, humanistic views of language. With this idea as the leitmotif we explore two models of theory which typically set themselves up for a 'scientific' approach to language: analytic philosophy that delves into what it calls logical simples, and contemporary linguistics that stubbornly teeters around some formal rigor or other. It is argued that they are both characterized by a looking away from the fluid, ill-definable aspects of language, giving a preference to segments and isolated facts as a means to avoid those larger wholes and totalities which if they had to be seen would in the long run lead to an uncomfortable state of mind. Language, in the final analysis, is a Protean entity: so capricious and multifarious, and yet so noetic and prophetic, that we should catch sight of its picturesque images in their entirety to give form to an integrated theory of language.