Language and Replication

This article aims to show that grammatical pairs such as this / that have deep systemic roots in language (Douay & Roulland, 2014). As a system, language self-replicates through a dynamic distinction process between two positions and the unity of their relation. Oppositions are expressions of that distinction process which determines the two basic interlocutive roles of addresser and addressee, with the sign in-between as the concrete and dynamic relational third. This general process is illustrated at the end of the article with the micro-system of still, yet and already. But beforehand it is necessary to reassess the Saussurian distinction between substance and form, the theory of autopoiesis and languaging, and the enaction theoretical model. This shows that the difficult problem of linguistic interaction rests on the dividing line between the internal structure of the observed unity and its external behavior. If the system itself, instead of some external entity, is defined as its own observer, then systemic oppositional pairs may be defined as a self-distinction of the system. In that case the relational third is the system itself, that is the linguistic sign and language as a whole. This type of solution addresses the question of interaction, which raises a number of issues in the autopoietic framework.