A critique of Jakobson’s deduction of the “poetic function”

Abstract

Roman Jakobson’s influential conference paper “Linguistics and Poetics” purports to prove the existence of a poetic function of language from the existence of five other functions of language. The term “poetic function” has since been widely accepted. Close scrutiny of his argumentation, however, reveals flaws which are fundamental enough to invalidate his conclusions and reduce the status of his claims to that of mere subjective appreciations. This paper reexamines Jakobson’s arguments and what, on the surface, seem to be logical deductions but are found to contain fallacies.