The theory of discourse in the linguistic scenario: a new route for the clash interior x exterior in the studies of the language

Abstract

The language has always aroused human interest. Since ancient times, it was discussed by wise men like Aristotle and Plato. Philosophers discoursed, for example, on the relationship between the names and the things which they named, if the relationship was natural or conventional, in an attempt to explain the functioning of the language. Such discussions fomented a question: the studies of the language should focus on what aspect? What is going on inside the subject, in his ability to speak? Or what goes on outside, the manifestation of the interior considering the social? This impasse was extending over the linguistic studies. Faced with the reality described, this article aimed to discuss the impasse between an approach to the language focused on interiority and another focused on the exteriority, tracing a route through language studies from the classics, through the materialist theory of Michel Pêcheux to reach concepts proposed by the philosopher Michel Foucault, which will be used for analysis from a discursive perspective. The Discourse Analysis tries to think Linguistic out of this issue of logicism and sociology: it proposes to look at the discourse, offering another field of study for the language.