Careful observation of English usage, however, leads to the conviction that this self-evident necessity of expression is more of an illusion than a reality. To most of us who speak English the tangible expression of the plural idea in the noun seems to be a self-evident necessity. For example, we read that “both the phonetic and conceptual structures show the instinctive feeling of language for form” (1921: 56) or that every language has a definite feeling for its inner phonetic system and “also a definite feeling for patterning on the level of grammatical formation” (ibid.: 61).Ī later text (“The unconscious patterning of behavior in society”, 1951: 550) provides a good illustration of the notion and of the themes intertwined with it:

The notion of form-feeling, as far as I know, first occurs in Language (1921), where it is applied to linguistic patterning. I beg to be forgiven. Many thanks to James McElvenny and Nick Riemer, who reviewed this post and checked the English.

My pathological lack of a feeling for concise form has resulted in a lengthy post. Lastly, I will say a few words about Sapir’s striving for form and, again, its possible aesthetic origin. Next I come to the possible source of the notion, which I argue is to be found in German-speaking aesthetics and the concept of Formgefühl (sections 3, 4 and 5). First, I present the notion of form-feeling and the form-function duality in Sapir’s thought (sections 1 and 2). The following post is about the possible source of the notion of form-feeling. This grasp is what directs the subject of a given culture and speaker of a given language to act and speak in accordance with the patterns set down in his social and linguistic environment. relational feeling, form intuition, feeling for form / relations / patterning / classification into forms, to feel a pattern / form etc.), to refer to the grasp of an unconscious linguistic or cultural and behavioral pattern. In several texts, Sapir uses the term form-feeling, or closely related expressions (e.g. (Sapir, letter to Lowie, 29 September 1916, cited in Silverstein 1986: 79) A perfect style, a well-balanced system of philosophy, a perfect bit of music, the beauty of mathematical relations - these are some of the things that, in the sphere of the immaterial, have most deeply stirred me. I find that what I most care for is beauty of form, whether in substance or, perhaps even more keenly, in spirit. Laboratoire d’histoire des théories linguistiques, Université Paris-Diderot

Edward sapir definition of language