Charles Bally e il sujet entendant. Per una semiologia linguistica dell’altro

This essay aims to reconstruct on a historical-theoretical level how the centrality of the receiver was defined and consolidated in 20th century linguistics. An important milestone is Ferdinand de Saussure, who – inspired in particular by Wundt, Paul, Bréal and Ribot – formulated the role of the speaking subject as an indispensable component of his linguistic system. In Saussure’s framework, the speaking subject alternates between the roles of Monsieur A (the speaker) and Monsieur B (the receiver), as can be observed in the so-called circuit de la parole. The latter not only takes on decoding tasks but also has an active and creative role. With Charles Bally, however, Monsieur B receives a specific designation (that of the sujet entendant in its double function as perceiver and interpreter/hermeneut) and becomes the cornerstone of a more general theoretical construction. Without the sujet entendant there is neither a perceptive-sensory activity nor a semiotic-cognitive activity. Thus, the sujet entendant becomes the site of the existence and legitimization of language and its continuous interpragmatic confirmation at the level of understanding.