Kieli ja valta: näkökohtia kulttuurirelativismista totalitarismin kielitieteeseen

Authors

• Ilmari Susiluoto

Abstract

The article has as its point of depature the notion that language can be understood as an index of culture. The comparison of these indexes gives us in addition to purely linguistic information also data concerning such processes as acculturation, diffusion and evolution. These processes, if meaningfully related to other social phenomena, may give us on insight into politics and power relations. — Seen from this perspective, translatability of concepts may also be of political relevance. The Russian revolutionary movement is taken as an example of intimate interconnections between language and power. The translation process of Hegelian Marxist terms into Russian, although initially a brilliant intellectual exercise, came to an end during Sta)lin’s reign. This »impoverishment» of language may have been related to the creation of nationwide political symbols, the national background of Soviet leaders, and fermented social mobilization. As a result Marxism, instead of being an analytical device, was transformed into »everyday speech». This situation was also the motivational background for Stalin’s »linguistic notes» in which he established »the third category», language, which was independent of both base and superstructure. That these linguistic notes had direct political implications was evident. — The article ends by referring to the importance of cultural relativism as a research program, the best representative of which in Finland has been the Westermarckian school of social anthropology. 1