language of particularity

1. I looked in the Index under "particularity" to see other contexts where he used the word to try to understand his meaning behind the term.

a. The first usage (found on page 14) was very insightful: "Two things became clear to me about epistemes: they are fully realized only in their particularity . . ." This specific usage reminded me about a definition of philology we discussed I think last week: reading slowly to take in every word (in Becker's words: in every word's particularity). The language of particularity might be taking each word as it is, individually. Linguistics of particularity is the devices, the methods, to do so.
b. On page 86 Becker continues discussing particularity. “All discourse—unlike the study of syntax—is of necessity the study of particularity.” “The actual a priori of any language event—the real deep structure—is an accumulation of remembered prior texts just like the one studied here: particular prior texts, acquired from particular sources. From the perspective of particularity, generality is a kind of epiphenomenon produced by reshaping of a particular prior text to a new context. And our real language competence is access, via memory, to this accumulation of prior text.”
To be honest, I have sat thinking about this for some time now and I cannot quite figure out what he is saying. Yeah, I just thought some more and I have a few thoughts, but they don’t make sense, so I would love to discuss this quote in class.

c. Here, on page 229, Becker states the importance of particularity. We would be wise in truly understanding the language/language of particularity because “particularity, finally, is the source of a philologist’s rigor.” The context of this usage is Becker discussing classifiers. He says the interactions of these constraints (classifiers) only happen at “the level of the particular.” To understand classifiers and gain the knowledge over language that classifiers allow, we MUST be looking at the particularity of language. Our linguistics must be at the level of the particular.

2. Modern or new philology has branched off from linguistics and studies more than just the syntax etc. To love words we must understand each word in its particularity, or individualism, and how it relates to other words in their own particularity. I think “old” philology focused on studying language in a more general, all-encompassing, sense. This new/modern philology based on particularity goes deeper to a new level, revealing a more specific—intimate if you will—awareness of what the author of the text is trying to communicate with language.

3. A philology based on a linguistics of particularity has helped me to see the deeper meanings behind Emily Dickinson poems. I feel I have been raised up in a philological environment, but it was a more linguist-type. With this class, I’m looking deeper, on a more particular level, and seeing meanings, understanding intentions, asking questions I have never thought of before.