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I argue that the philosophy of Merleau-Ponty can help resolve a long-lasting problem, with continued relevance for philosophy, semiotics and linguistics: the dialectical relationship between pre-verbal consciousness and language. I proceed by reconstructing the development of his thought on the topic from the Phenomenology of Perception to his final writings. From an initial standpoint where language was not differentiated from gesture, Merleau-Ponty moved under the influence of Saussure’s structuralism to distinguish the “diacritical”, opposition-based, structure of the language system from the Gestalt-based nature of perception and bodily expression. At the same time, this system needs to be conceived as already “spoken language” (langage parlé), sedimented from living and expressive “speaking language” (langage parlant), the latter resembling modern conceptions of “languaging”. The dialectical relationship between the two, as well as the ultimately motivating role of non-verbal experience is then analysed by means of the three levels of the Motivation & Sedimentation Model, leading to a clarification of the key notions of expression and sublimation. I propose that by understanding the two as “intertwined” the paradox of their respective primacy can be resolved, alongside with conceiving of language as fundamentally motivated rather than arbitrary, and thus with no fundamental rupture from bodily experience.

DOI: 10.4000/hel.3373

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