On discourse∗

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Abstract
This article attempts to contribute to the theorisation of the relations between subjectivity and language through an investigation of the use of the term ‘discourse’ in the work of two linguists: Emile Benveniste and Zellig Harris. The positive aspects of Benveniste's emphasis on intersubjectivity are considered as well as the problems raised by the failure to grasp the necessary division of the subject in language. Harris's work provides formal procedures which analyse discourse independently of subjective interpretation but without a theory of institutions or ideology the constitution of the corpus to be analysed finds no justification outside a banal empiricism. The possibilities and problems of Michel Pecheux's attempt to elaborate Harris's work in relation to Althusser's theory of ideology occupies the final section of the article.