The Nature of Language and the Language of Nature: The Concept of Evolution in Russian Formalism and Structuralism
The article contrasts Roman Jakobson’s and Boris Yarkho’s approaches to evolutionary theories used to explain linguistic and literary development. Jakobson’s work, grounded in nomogenetic principles, linked language and organic life through metaphor, emphasizing the universal patterns of evolution i...
Tallennettuna:
| Julkaisussa: | URI:https://journals.openedition.org/hel, |
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| Päätekijä: | |
| Aineistotyyppi: | Article ou chapitre numérique |
| Kieli: | Anglais |
| Julkaistu: |
Histoire Épistémologie Langage
2026
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| Aiheet: | |
| Linkit: | Accès Université d'Orléans et IFPM Accès Université d'Orléans et IFPM |
| Yhteenveto: | The article contrasts Roman Jakobson’s and Boris Yarkho’s approaches to evolutionary theories used to explain linguistic and literary development. Jakobson’s work, grounded in nomogenetic principles, linked language and organic life through metaphor, emphasizing the universal patterns of evolution in both domains. By contrast, Yarkho, a follower of Darwin and Mendel, treated literature metonymically—as a homological extension of life. Yarkho’s approach sought order on the large scale, as in population biology, relying on a comparative-statistical method, in which he anticipated Digital Humanities. Meanwhile, Jakobson’s approach, despite being based on scientifically outdated Nomogenesis, aligned with Schrödinger’s work in What Is Life?, which explored the regularities of living systems. Schrödinger’s predictions about the molecular basis of life, including the aperiodic crystal structure, foreshadowed the discovery of DNA’s double-helix structure, a breakthrough that Jakobson celebrated as a confirmation of his biological metaphors for language. |
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