Borders and Language: Hermeneutic-Philosophical Issues

This contribution explores the concept of “border” in relation to language and linguisticality from a hermeneutic-philosophical perspective. Starting from the reflections expressed by Hans-Georg Gadamer in an emblematic essay of 1985, Grenzen der Sprache, and in other later writings, the theme will be analysed through a threefold articulation, focusing respectively on: 1) the borders of language (the relationship between language and understanding, communication between human beings and animals, the pre-linguistic, paralinguistic and supra-linguistic dimensions, children and language learning, language and poetry); 2) the borders in language (the split between said and unsaid, the quest for the “right word”, the relationship between logos endiathetos and logos prophorikos); 3) the borders between languages (the problem of translation).