Words emerge from whole speech, not from combination of words
Evidence
In reality, speech is not put together from preceding words, but quite the reverse: words emerge from the whole of speech (aus dem Ganzen der Rede). — Herbert Marcuse, One-Dimensional Man, 749
Categorization
- DEFINE: Defines the Humboldtian holism of language — words originate from the whole of speech, not piecemeal.
- XREF: The whole-before-parts structure of language parallels the universal-before-particular structure of experience just argued, and connects to the reader’s attention-economy interest in how wholes condition parts. — connects to: Even ready-made sentences do not pre-exist their use in speech; Speech is built from whole sentences, not pre-existing words — Jean-Paul Sartre, Being and Nothingness: An Essay on…, 1215; Speech is a continuous signal flow, not discrete concatenated units (+2 more)
- SHARE: A linguistically minded friend would appreciate this Humboldt quote — words are born from the whole of speech.
Broader Connections
- Speech is a continuous signal flow, not discrete concatenated units
#corroborates(0.95) - Syllabic speech produces far stronger audio-visual correlation than sentences do
#complicates(0.72) — Dijk, Pim van, Physiology, Psychoacoustics and…, 5178 - Speech perception resolves word candidate competition before a decision is made
#qualifies(0.72)