Nouns in public discourse govern sentences authoritatively, blocking negation.
Evidence
The noun governs the sentence in an authoritarian and totalitarian fashion, and the sentence becomes a declaration to be accepted—it repels demonstration, qualification, negation of its codified and declared meaning. — Herbert Marcuse, One-Dimensional Man, 383
Categorization
- XREF: Relates to Saussurean/structuralist accounts of naming and to contemporary critique of marketing language. — connects to: A discourse both enables and constrains how a topic can be constructed; Discourse is a way of representing knowledge that constructs a topic while limiting alternatives — Stuart Hall, Essential Essays, Volume 2: Identity…, 567; Language’s defining power enforces social structures by silencing alternatives — Zygmunt Bauman, Modernity and the Holocaust, 609 (+2 more)
Broader Connections
- A discourse both enables and constrains how a topic can be constructed
#expands(0.82) - Negation structures many everyday realities, not just judgments
#expands(0.80) — Jean-Paul Sartre, Being and Nothingness, 219 - Language’s defining power enforces social structures by silencing alternatives
#expands(0.78) — Zygmunt Bauman, Modernity and the Holocaust, 609 - Discourse is a way of representing knowledge that constructs a topic while limiting alternatives
#expands(0.75) — Stuart Hall, Essential Essays, Volume 2, 567 - Repeated declarative assertions accumulate authority for the speaker.
#expands(0.72)