ABSTRACT

This article discusses the influence of Saussure’s theorization on the construction of the so-called Interactionist approach to the language acquisition process as proposed by De Lemos. This paper also addressed its impact on the building up of the Language Clinic framework. The two fields mentioned above depart from critical reviews on both their proper investigation objects and the declared objectives assumed in their fields of study. Indeed, the Interactionist approach establishes itself within a tense dialogue with the area of Language Acquisition and the Language Clinic theoretical approach develops from sustaining a critical dialogue with the Speech Therapy and Pathology fields. Either one or the other includes Saussure’s scientific perspective on the object of Linguistics, named la langue by the author, a gesture which is responsible for the impact of his thought on the two domains focused here. It is worth emphasizing that whether Saussure’s influence is noticeable in the broad realm of the human sciences, surprisingly enough the effects of la langue (the object of Linguistics) are not deeply incorporated in Linguistics, its own disciplinary birthplace. Despite that theoretical convergence, it seems crucial to clarify the difference between the Interactionist and the Language Clinic programs. Such a distinction involves the effort of characterizing the empirical and conceptual distance holding between typical errors that occur in children’s speech and symptomatic errors crystallized in children’s or adults’ speeches.

Keywords:
language acquisition; language clinic; la langue; the object of linguistics; Saussure