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Content and Form - From Linguistics to Abstract Art

J. Jacob Tawney

It is rationality that separates man from the rest of the material universe. Whilerationality can be analyzed using a variety of presentations, one of the more interestingis the ability to formulate and communicate complex thoughts, i.e.,

language

. (Otherpresentations of rationality might include the forming truth-judgements or acting withdeliberation.) In using the term

language,

we do not intend to restrict ourselves merelyto the spoken or written word. The formulation and communication of complex thoughtsis the purpose not only of intelligible speech but also of the artistic process. Bothspeech and art attempt to communicate the truths of the cosmos, and both areauthentic insofar as (1) they truly present what it is they set out to present, and (2) theobject of presentation is true in itself. The goal of this paper is to present aphenomenology of rational speech based on the thought of Robert Sokolowski and toextend his ideas to the artistic process.In his text

Christian Faith and Human Understanding

, Sokolowski discusses in depth theprocess of rational speech.“Our articulation of speech is on two levels. First, each word is internally made up ofphonemes or parts of sound; each word is made up of vowels and consonants.Second, each statement is made up of lexicon and grammar, of content andsyntax” (Sokolowksi, 168).Speech is the building up of complex sequences of sounds. Basic sounds are used toform words, words are used to name things and actions, and words are put together intoother sequences (sentences or thoughts) that are used to connect one thing to anotherin a myriad of ways. There are, however, limitations to these constructions. Wordscannot be put into random sequences and be expected to form a coherent thought. Themanner in which words and phrases are pieced together, both through concatenationand through embedding, is the work of

syntax

. We might say that syntax takes the rawmaterial of words and gives them a proper form. In this way, we can apply the classicalcategories of matter and form to the

words

and

syntax

of a sentence or thought.“The most conspicuous feature of our verbal articulation is the way in which phrases areembedded into one another. This is the work of syntax; it makes it possible for us tosegment our speech ... into parts that are not just concatenated sequentially one afterthe other, but are stacked within one another .... Speeches of unlimited complexitybecome possible. It is this embedding ... that differentiates human speech from animalcries and sounds” (Sokolowski, 169).However, prior to the logic of syntax (the reasonable manner in which words andphrases are used to build up a complex of thoughts), we ﬁnd the logic of sounds (themanner in which the phonemes are used to build up an intelligible word). Much likesyntax governed an otherwise random sequence of words, there must be a logic thatgoverns the otherwise random utterances that would cease to be words. That is, within

the formation of the words themselves, there must be a matter/form relationshipanalogous to the word/syntax relationship.“Syntax has to be related to the phonemic structure within each word, and it isspeciﬁcally the consonants that function on this level in a manner analogous to syntax.Consonants are like the syntax within words. Consonants clip and trim the words wespeak.... Consonants order the more elementary vowel sounds, the wails and howlsand whimpers and glee that do not need to be taught to us. Vowels alone would be anunlettered human voice; it is the consonants that make the voice rational” (Sokolowski,169).In this way, the vowels in the words are analogous to the category of matter, and theconsonants give form to the vowels. In a

grace-perfects-nature

manner, theconsonants, far from destroying the sounds of the vowels, instead perfect them bygiving them form. As syntax gives rationality to words, so too consonants providerationality for the more primal vowel sounds. Sokolowski says it this way: “theconsonantal shaping of sound occurs in the context and under the

teleology

ofsyntactic patterning” (170, emphasis mine). The vowel dimensions of words areassociated with the emotive aspect of the human person, while the consonants areassociated with rationality. “Vowels are especially involved with feeling, with ourbiological and sensory appreciation of what is going on and what is happening to us....[C]onsonants introduce rigor and determination of reason” (Sokolowski, 170). Laughteritself, a sign of human rationality, exhibits this pattern of vowel sounds demarcated byconsonants. A pure long vowel sound is “more like a wail” or other unintelligent animalsound; in contrast, laughter is a series of short bursts of vowels separated by aconsonant: “Ha, ha, ha” (Sokolowski, 170).Sokolowski has already used the word “teleology.” Understanding this classical term isessential for completing our investigation on the formation of language.

Teleology

is thestudy of the

telos

of a being, or a being

s ﬁnal cause. In other words, the

telos

is theend or perfection towards which it strives. The “teleology” of which Sokolowski speaksis twofold. First, vowel sounds are perfected by the form provided by the consonants;by means of the form bestowed on them, they are made into what they are intended tobe: intelligible words. In this way, the vowels find their final cause as rational wordsthrough the form given to them by the consonants. In a similar manner, the wordsthemselves are given a rational form through means of syntax, and thus the wordsthemselves find their final cause in an intelligible thought. Another way of saying this isthat vowels as vowels have a

potentiality

(for becoming a word) that is

actuated

by theconsonants, and words have a

potentiality

(for becoming a thought) that is

actuated

bysyntax. (As a matter/form relationship, this is to say that the form actuates the matter.)However, our discussion would not be complete should we fail to mention the ﬁnalcause, or

telos

, of rational sentences themselves. We quote Sokolowski:“We have spent some time looking at the intricacies of speech on the phonemic and thesentential levels, and we have emphasized the active, formal role of consonants andsyntax. None of these structures, however, neither the word nor the sentence, are endsin themselves. All of them are achieved in the context and under the teleology of

manifesting the way things are. All of them are achieved in the service of truth, thedisclosure of things through human judgements and inferences. Phonemic andgrammatical structures, with their parts and wholes, are accomplished under thedownward pressure of the disclosure and communication of truth” (170).The purpose of words is to accurately describe the universe, or in phenomenologicallanguage, to accurately “disclose truth.” We use this observation about the

telos

ofsounds, words, and sentences to transition into the ﬁeld of artistic methods. After all,the purpose of art is the same as the purpose of language, to present reality in thesplendor of truth:

veritatis splendor

. To be sure, the mediums are the different, but thepurpose is the same. The art form closest to language is that of singing. The marriagebetween text and tone allows the song to disclose truth not only as rationality, but asrationality imbued with emotion. (Again we see here the grace-perfects-naturerelationship. Emotion and rationality, properly disclosed, are not placed in opposition,but the rationality, or form, perfects the emotion.) The greater presence of emotion insinging than is mere speech is evidenced by long sustained vowels. “The emotivedimension of vowels is especially afﬁliated with singing and with music generally, buthuman singing requires also the clipping and cutting of consonants if it is to become athoughtful melody, if it is to become a song that exhibits intelligence” (Sokolowski, 170).The form of presentation we would like to focus on, however, is the visual arts. There isan obvious analogy between the vowel/consonant relationship and the use of color andlines in a painting.“In painting, the role of vowels is played by colors and the role of consonants is playedby lines. Colors are the more elemental component and lines the more rational....Furthermore, something like grammatical syntax occurs in the spatial placements ofobjects and areas within the painting: things are embedded within other things.... Theyare like subordinate clauses in the overall statement of the painting or perhaps likesteps in an argument. In paintings, however, the embedded parts and wholes arespatial and simultaneous, not temporal and sequential as in speech, and yet thearticulation in the painting is also geared toward the truth of a disclosure” (Sokolowski,171).The challenge of the artist lies precisely in the

simultaneity

of the medium. DavidClayton, in his piece

Make the Form Conform

(written for the

New Liturgical Movement

)says something similar: “The artist who paints (or sculpts) is forced to create asnapshot, frozen in time. Nevertheless he must somehow reveal the spiritual throughthe material. To this end, the good Christian artist will introduce controlled deviationsfrom a strict photographic representation. This partial abstraction when done wellreveals more, not less, of the reality of what is portrayed.” In other words, because thepainting does not have the luxury of disclosing an object throughout time, the artist mustdepart from a mere photographic representation, which would at best present atemporal cross section of the object, in order to disclose the object precisely as atemporal object. For this, a certain amount of abstraction is necessary.Phenomenologically speaking, the painting must point beyond itself to the reality it isattempting to disclose to the viewer.

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Content and Form: From Linguistics to Abstract Art

It is rationality that separates man from the rest of the material universe. While rationality can be analyzed using a variety of presentations, one of the more interesting is t... (More)

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