Port-Royal

— J. Chr. de Vries

«Il n’y a que le verbe être… qui soit demeuré dans cette simplicité.» L’essence entière du langage se recueille en ce mot singulier. Sans lui, tout serait demeuré silencieux, et les hommes, comme certains animaux, auraient bien pu faire usage de leur voix, aucun de ces cris lancés dans la forêt n’aurait jamais noué la grande chaîne du langage. 

— Foucault, Les mots et les choses.

In Chapter IV — “Speaking” — Foucault refers to the Grammaire Générale of Port-Royal. He points out that this theory posits that there exists essentially only one verb: the concept of the verb ‘to be’. ‘I sing’ then stands for ‘I am singing’. “There exists only the verb ‘to be’ […] that still remains in this simple state.” The entire essence of language gathers in this singular word. Without this word, everything would have remained silent, and humans, like certain animals, might have been able to use their voices, but none of those cries echoing through the forest would ever have forged the great chain of language.

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Chapter IV — “Speaking” — is about the Grammaire Générale of Port-Royal. Foucault is of the view that this theory is such, that there is only one verb: the concept of ’to be’. ‘I sing’ is then the equivalent of ‘I am singing’. “There is only the verb ‘to be’ […] that still is in this simplicity.” The entire essence of language is in this singular word. Without this word, everything is silent, and humans, like certain animals, are maybe able to be using their voices, but none of those cries that are echoing from the forest are ever the mother of the great chain of language.

— J. Chr. de Vries, Bonnemort, January 18, 2025