About prospects of not-saussurian linguistics, or a new function
of saussure’s language. Lecture held at the conference devoted to the century
anniversary of «Course of the general linguistics» by F. de Saussure (Moscow,
Institute of Linguistics, Russi

In the lecture author’s subjective view on the relations and intrinsic
distinctions between two global directions of modern linguistic science is represented.
Prospects of not-saussurian (communicative) linguistics, and also
saussurian, language-orientated, are designated in connection with the cardinal
distinction of their approaches to the verbal fact. For language paradigm the
main thing is the grammaticalized form of the verbal data which enters him into
the language system (the communication mechanism) providing a possibility
of speaking and understanding for users. The saussurian paradigm is characterized
by special attention to verbal signs, their uniformity and systemacity, relations
among themselves and with users, fixed in the concept of «language».
At the same time within a language paradigm the integral characteristics of natural
verbal process are obviously ignored: actionality, situativeness , communicativeness,
individual cognitivity, interpretiveness. On this background the
communicative paradigm shows more realistic disposition of theoretical objects.
Verbal action admits a special case of communicative action which, in turn, is
a special case of individual’s conscious action. Interpretation of verbal process
(as well as in the case of any activity) is considered as understanding of a semiotic
act. Allocation of units of verbal process appears a utilitarian procedure. For
communicative paradigm the corn questions are those of sense-production. without a concrete procedure of a semiotic interaction. Sense-production (which
is causa finalis of any natural verbal fact) can be explained only by the concept
of communicative action which speaker (writer) performs to obtain changes
in imaginable communicative space. The consequences of subjectivity of any
verbal fact are: elements of verbal process are not identical in themselves; the
impersonal and senseless language described by grammar is not effective as
a metaphor for explaining communicative sense-generation; speaker (writer)
produces and understands actual communicative actions, but not verbal formulas
(elements of structure of “language”). While language and grammar are absorbed
by communication, it is necessary to recognize indisputable advantage
of the language paradigm in creating the mnemotekhnic scheme (that is, grammar)
applicable in linguodidactics. At the same time the questions of senseproduction,
the most remarkable for linguistics, receive adequate interpretation
only within the communicative theory which postulates that in natural verbal
process multiple-factor communicative action is made and understood, but not
a verbal language form. A new function of the saussurian language is formulated,
that is, the function of hindering the evolution of the linguistic theory.