The dynamics between the sensorial and symbolic aspects in language

An articulation through Karl Bühler, Lev Jakubinskij, and Lev Vygotsky

Abstract

In The Crisis of Psychology (1927), Bühler aims at clarifying the notion of psychology. The three indispensable aspects for that clarification encompass the life context of at least two partners. Therewith, Bühler opens a space of pragmatic questioning which he further pursues in his Theory of Language (1934) where he confers language a pivotal role in his investigation of these aspects. An essential element here is the two-field theory with its deictic and symbolic field. Whereas the deictic field is anchored in the sensorial, the symbolic field leads into abstract, invisible spheres; a qualitative shift from one field to the other. It is remarkable that Bühler distinguishes sharply the two fields, but is not tearing them apart so that a dynamic at play between the sensorial and the symbolic becomes visible. The contribution follows the idea of the sensorial-symbolic moment in the work of two contemporaries of Bühler: the linguist Jakubinskij and the psychologist Vygotsky. The encompassing connections between language, body, and other is shown as basis for the functioning of language symbols. The power of language symbols is realized without attributing them to bodyless, individual thinking and without separating them from societal activity.