Lacan and cognitive linguistics:

new dialogues surrounding intersubjectivity

Abstract

Despite historical interest in the relationship between linguistics and psychoanalysis, the current state of this interdisciplinary exchange is problematic and marked by distances. In order to revitalize the dialogue between both disciplines, we highlight the chance for cooperation between cognitive linguistics and Lacanian psychoanalysis around intersubjectivity. At least since 2001, there have been studies bringing cognitive linguistics and psychoanalysis closer together. However, there is virtually no contact between these studies and the work of Lacan, despite his insistence on the proximity between psychoanalysis and linguistics. Furthermore, few studies address the epistemological dimension of dialogue, comparing the conceptions of language in the fields. In this paper, we advocate for the potential of this challenging interdisciplinary encounter, by carrying out exercises of approximation based on three problems: the place of language between nature and humanities, the clinical handling of meaning, and the role of interaction in the mutual constitution between subject and language. We suggest, respectively, that both fields require the construction of a complex framework to account for the multiple aspects of human language; that cognitive linguistics, with its emphasis on the dynamic construction of meanings, can contribute to the theorization of clinical listening; and that Lacanian psychoanalysis can contribute to a theory of interaction in linguistics, emphasizing the contradictions at play in the constitution of a speaking subject.