Ineffability as a linguistic problem

Abstract

The paper deals with the problem of ineffability – intuitively felt unsayability of certain mental contents that are mainly concerned with our sensual domain – and tries to transfer this notion from philosophy into the domain of cognitive linguistics. It demonstrates that in both day-to-day communication and, especially, in the language of literature, ineffability is relativized through various strategies – trivialization, deixis, verbal ellipsis, and figurativity – of which the latter is of utmost importance. The recognition of the role of figurative language in the communication of the ineffable opens up new cognitive horizons both for the notion itself and for the verbal art, which is its principal realm.