The “absolute priority of language”. On the first thesis of Eugenio Coseriu in the Strasbourg Colloquium

Abstract

In his decalogue for the Strasbourg Colloquium in 1999, Eugene Coseriu summarized his conception of language and meaning by emphasizing that language would be an agent of the human condition as such and of thought as concept determined. This founding character would lie in how language operates on the individual at the social and cognitive levels and in its non-reducibility to other onto- and phylogenetic capacities. It is important here to reconsider this central thesis from the point of view of research in psycholinguistics and developmental psychology, disciplines that allow us to approach the nexus between thought and language with different tools. This article aims to re-examine Coseriu’s central thesis from the perspective of the most current research in psycholinguistics and developmental psychology, disciplines that allow us to approach the nexus between thought and language with different tools. Materials from the Coseriu archive at the University of Tübingen have been reviewed in order to contextualize his published texts. The conclusion is that the approach of the great linguist, of undoubted internal consistency, must be confronted with empirical studies that force a review of certain statements on the philosophical and psychological aspects of language.