Some Aspects of Freud's Theory of Schizophrenic Language Disturbance: A Re-examination in the Light of Linguistic Theories of Meaning

One of the most fascinating of Freud's metapsychological propositions is his theory of the language disturbances that usually accompany schizophrenic psychoses. The present discussion is a limited re-examination of some of these concepts in terms of certain linguistic theories of meaning.

There is general agreement that Freud's neurological orientation had a lasting effect upon his later clinical interests and theories. His interest in language became manifest while he was a neurologist. His monograph On Aphasia (1891) met with little interest in the German-speaking medical world. Hughlings Jackson (1958), however, the great English innovator in neurophysiology, quickly appreciated it.1 It is likely that part of Jackson's response was the recognition of the stimulating effect that his own ideas had had on the evolution of Freud's theories of aphasia. In his monograph On Aphasia there are the precursors of some of Freud's ideas on psychogenic language disturbances and on psychic structure itself.