ABSTRACT
Louis Hjelmslev purports to offer neither a general survey of language and its types nor a general theory of linguistics, but a preparatory 'prologue' to the formulation of any 'theory of language'. Again like other theorists, Hjelmslev is stringently critical of 'conventional linguistics'. He asserts that 'the history of linguistic theory cannot be written', being rendered 'too discontinuous' by 'superficial trends of fashion'. The essential strategy would be to 'search for the specific structure of language through an exclusively formal system of premises'. And this search is just what Hjelmslev pursues. In such a project, the notion of 'empiricism' is given a peculiar interpretation, one whereby Hjelmslev's 'theory is at once clearly distinguishable from all previous undertakings of linguistic philosophy'. Hjelmslev thereby resolves to make 'linguistic theory' 'as unmetaphysical as possible'; it should shun 'implicit premises' and should not try to 'reflect the "nature" of the object' or rely on the 'concept' of ' "substance" in an ontological sense'.
