Lalangue and the shadow of sound: Evidence or negligence?

Résumé 0

Obviously for those of us who use vocal languages in our exchanges, lalangue is inscribed in sound. However one cannot ignore what operates in lalangue of those who, being unable to perceive the acoustic frequencies of vocal languages, are driven to speak in “sign” languages. Psychoanalysis has to reinvent itself when the materiel of the language is not vocal and involves the analyst’s familiarization with these modalities of the said, in order to follow the subject in the act of saying. The effects of structural subjective division, revealing the signifying mark, are also to be heard in this form of language. The existence of lalangue in visual, gestured and tactile forms, so often neglected, can thus emerge. Furthermore, the analytic clinic thus echoes certain words of J. Lacan, pertinently evoking this “discourse by visual signs” (or “finger language”). Taking into account the heuristic aspect of these diverse paths and several other analytic studies, we will also question a certain negligence that unduly idealizes the sensorial sonority in approaching lalangue. The repercussions of such considerations are considerable for the “language afflicted” human being…