Re: Word culture
James Robert Martin (jmartin who-is-at extro.ucc.su.OZ.AU)
Fri, 20 Oct 1995 09:13:39 +1000 (EST)
Re Gordon's comment on what music is about. Isn't the problem that for
language we tend to see the ideational as basic, with the interpersonal
laid over the top as window dressing and the textual as punctuation. But
it's possible to shift around this way of thinking about language. Take
for example the liner notes for Michael Jackson's recent CD compilation
- which includes panegyrics by Taylor, Spielberg and company. There,
it's the interpersonal telos of praise that drives the text forward -
ideational meaning is there simply as a set of hooks to hang the positive
judgement on. If the ideational can be conceived in these terms as in
the service of the interpersonal, then its easier to see how it could be
elided in music or say backgrounded in impressionist art or elided in
abstract art. This elision doesn't make the text/process/performance any
less meaningful. It just changes the kind of meaning we attend to when
we try and reflect about it.
Jim Martin
Department of Liinguistics, University of Sydney