Co se chce říct mluvením - Ekonomie jazykové směny – Bourdieu Pierre (2014)

This Czech-language book by the prominent French sociologist Pierre Bourdieu examines, both in general and through specific examples, how language functions as a sphere of symbolic exchange. In this collection, first published in 1982, Bourdieu responds primarily to Saussure and his influential reception among structuralists, as well as to J. L. Austin, N. Chomsky and other key authors. The seemingly impersonal and neutral system of language is revealed as a highly effective form of power through which a means of expression actually belonging only to certain privileged groups becomes the standard for the thinking and speech of everyone, including individuals, social groups and ethnicities placed at a serious disadvantage by the existing order. Vocabulary, syntax and style thus appear as aspects of the distribution of cultural power and expressive privilege. While structuralists sought to create a sociology modelled on linguistics, Bourdieu exposes the linguistic perspective as a strategy operating within society. His detailed analyses are subtle and stimulating, particularly for linguists and scholars of literature.