When I Speak It Is

A Linguist Deaf To The Poetic Functions Of Language And A Literary Scholar Indifferent To Linguistics Are Equally Flagrant Anachronisms.

The Search For The Symbolic Value Of Phonemes, Each Taken As A Whole, Runs The Risk Of Giving Rise To Ambiguous And Trivial Interpretations Because Phonemes Are Complex Entities, Bundles Of Different Distinctive Features.

In Poetic Language, In Which The Sign As Such Takes On An Autonomous Value, This Sound Symbolism Becomes An Actual Factor And Creates A Sort Of Accompaniment To The Signified.

Languages Differ Essentially In What They Must Convey And Not In What They May Convey.

Acoustic Phonetics, Which Is Developing And Increasing In Richness Very Rapidly, Already Enables Us To Solve Many Of The Mysteries Of Sound, Mysteries Which Motor Phonetics Could Not Even Begin To Solve.