0436 Okay, I am still on page 419.

Allow me to reflect on the virtual nested form in the category of secondness, highlighted in the following figure.

0437 The text_2b is the form of interest to the expert on literature.

From this form_2bf, I proceed both forwards and backwards.

0438 Going forwards, the form of the literary text_2bf offers textual phenomena that can be observed_1c in the normal context of exact methods_3c.  The disciplinary language of exact methods_3c contributes to the construction of semiological structural models_2c.  Plus, the semiological structuralist model_2c is capable of replacing the literary text_2bf itself, in the same way that a model can substitute for its noumenon.

0439 Going backwards, the form of the literary text_3bf  is substantiated by language as matter_2bm.  Language as matter_2bm virtually emerges from and situates Saussure’s definition of language, with parole_2af as form and langue_2amas matter.  The content-level hylomorphe_2a is one way to express a definition of spoken language as two arbitrarily related systems of differences. 

This process applies to whatever form can substitute for a literary text_2bf, including the visual arts, songs and many other expressions of language_2bm.

0440 So, what does the label, “exact methods_3c“, imply?

The label implies that contradictions among and within these three actualities, each on its own level, have been minimized by scholarly rigor.

0441 What have I learned?

The literary text_2bf is of interest to the scholar of um… aesthetics.  Aesthetics covers more than literary texts, so the slot may be occupied by other artistic endeavors.

Contradictions within the virtual nested form in the category of secondness are minimized with exact methods.

0442 Now, I hone in on the situation-level actuality_2b.

0443 Language_2bm corresponds to the esse_ce of the dyad.  Esse_ce is an anglicized version of the Latin word, “esse”, corresponding to “matter substantiating”.  The matter of language_2bm virtually arises from Saussure’s definition of spoken language as two arbitrarily related systems of differences.

0444 Saussure’s definition of language applies to speech-alone talk in our current Lebenswelt.

0445 Dare I mention that language evolves in the Lebenswelt that we evolved in?

In the Lebenswelt that we evolved in, parole (a hand-talk manual-brachial word-gesture) pictures or points to a pre-existing langue (a referent).  The relation is not arbitrary.  The relation works because of the naturalness of iconic and indexal sign-relations.  Manual-brachial word-gestures become more and more linguistic as gestures themselves become both habitual and easily distinguishable.  In short, they become more packaged.

0446 Saussure’s definition of language treats all spoken words as packages of thoughts and utterances.  These packages are conventional sign-relations.  The key word is “convention”.  In Peirce’s terminology, a symbol is a sign-relation whose sign-object is based on habit, convention, tradition, rules and so forth.

So, back in the Lebenswelt that we evolved in, habitual use makes iconic and indexal gestures more symbolic.  So does a natural preference for easy registration (rather than haphazard guessing).  This is why language (as defined by Saussure) evolves in the cultural milieu of hand talk.

0447 A terminological trick is necessary to distinguish between hand-talk in periods two and three of hominin evolution, as noted in Comments on Michael Tomasello’s Arc of Inquiry (1999-2019), by Razie Mah, available at smashwords and other e-book venues. (Also see Razie Mah’s series of blogs from January through March, 2024).

Protolinguistic hand-talk pertains only to sensible construction (and occurs in teams (15)).

Fully linguistic hand-talk permits both sensible and social construction (and occurs in community (150)).

0448 Language_2bm as matter, the esse_ce of the situation-level actuality_2bm, contains an old, evolved expectation that each gestural word [pictures and points to] its referent.  The visual gestural word as form [entangles] its visual referent as matter.

Over time, this entanglement resolves, leaving the paradigm that stands on the content-level of the fundament interscope.  Langue_2am [substantiates] parole_2af.  Note how the hylomorphic actuality presents a referent as matter and a manual-brachial word-gesture as form.  

0449 These relational expectations_2a are implicit, not explicit, abstractions.

They_2a are adaptations to the Lebenswelt that we evolved in.  They_2a are adaptations to hand-talk.

Yes, there is a twist.

We practice speech-alone talk in our current Lebenswelt.  Our langue_2am is not ‘something’ that can be pictured or pointed to.  Sometimes, ‘something’ will be an artifact that one can picture and point to.  Often, ‘something’ cannot be pictured or pointed to.  Rather, it has been explicitly defined.

Consequently, while a spoken parole_3af is readily identified, its langue_2am as matter may be… um… difficult to ascertain.

0450 The literary text_2bf is the essence of the situation-level actuality_2b.  “Essence” means “substantiated form”.  This essence cannot be reduced to psychological processes or sociological conditions, as Freudians and Marxists are eager do to.  Nor can it be reduced to a transmitter in a communication system.

0451 Just as language_2bm is structured_3b by its mother tongue or by an association of specialists, a literary text_2bf is structured according all sorts of typologies_3b, just like forms, in general.  A poem does not read like a scientific report.  Indeed, a semiological_3a structuralist_3b model_2c of a enchanting poem_2bf may have all the allure of a scientific report.

Such is the genius of applying the term, “exact methods_3c“, to describe the perspective-level normal context.