The Subject Behind Language

This dissertation attempts to demonstrate Julia Kristeva’s Semanalysis by means of reading and studying her original works on this topic. The Semanalysis plays an essential role in Kristeva’s academic thoughts. It is regarded as both the objective methodology and the subjective ontology in two periods of Kristeva’s academic thoughts. In the former period, Kristeva was dedicated to the establishment of the Semanalysis; in the latter period, Kristeva applied the Semanalysis to her feminist political practice. In this dissertation, we would focus on the formation of the Semannalysis and its components. That is to say, we would discuss the Semanalysis as the objective methodology in Kristeva’s former period. In the introduction part of this dissertation, we would trace the formation process of Semananlysis as the project for the sake of the subject hidden behind language, according to the chronological textual analysis. In the following chapters and paragraphs, on the basis of clarification of the semiotic context as well as the problematic awareness and its solution, we would develop the analysis of signifying process theory, intertextuality theory and subject-in-process theory in detail, which are considered as three components constituting the Semanalysis. Here we would not only emphasize the core conceptions’ connotations and mutual relations in each theory, but also underscore the unified relationship among three theories, in order to demonstrate the overall appearance of Kristeva’s fundamental Semanalysis. In the part of the conclusion, we would further evaluate Kristeva’s Semanalysis, especially from the perspective of its philosophical problematic awareness and its solution, so as to provide Kristeva’s Semannalysis with a clarified definition.