Theoretical work undertaken by W.D. Terry in 1950, well before the ‘theory wave’ of the 70s and 80s reached South Africa, sets out to scrutinize the semantic presuppositions of Alfred Korzybski’s General Semantics, comparing them with those of I.A. Richards. Terry’s conclusion is that neither of these attempts to remodel linguistic communication to meet the scientific revolution of the early twentieth century could conceivably meet with success. Terry’s work shows how these efforts become nugatory attempts to escape the thrall of ‘within-the-skin’ human experience, whereas the unique struggles of poets preserve and share that experience in language, a medium they are continuously refreshing and renovating. Terry’s study is robustly grounded in mid-twentieth century thought, while nonetheless demonstrating that Korzybski and Richards were participating in a conversation going back to Socrates, Clement and Origen. The article recuperates a fleeting episode, sparked by JYT Greig at Wits, when the General Semantics of Alfred Korzybski had some traction in South African English Departments through a textbook, Language in Thought and Action, by S.I. Hayakawa, one of Korzybski’s students; a moment which quickly vanished, leaving little trace other than Terry’s study.

中文翻译：

---

“理论”之前的理论：WD Terry 和 Alfred Korzybski 的语义

WD Terry 于 1950 年进行的理论工作，早在 70 年代和 80 年代的“理论浪潮”到达南非之前，就着手仔细审查阿尔弗雷德·科尔兹布斯基 (Alfred Korzybski) 的一般语义学的语义预设，并将其与 IA 理查兹的语义预设进行比较。特里的结论是，这些重塑语言交流以适应 20 世纪早期科学革命的尝试都不可能取得成功。特里的作品展示了这些努力如何成为摆脱“皮肤内”人类体验束缚的无效尝试，而诗人的独特斗争以语言保存和分享这种体验，而语言是一种他们不断更新和更新的媒介。特里的研究扎根于二十世纪中叶的思想，尽管如此，Korzybski 和理查兹正在参与一次回到苏格拉底、克莱门特和奥利金的对话。这篇文章回顾了一个转瞬即逝的插曲，由 Wits 的 JYT Greig 引发，当时 Alfred Korzybski 的通用语义学通过 Korzybski 的学生之一 SI Hayakawa 编写的教科书《思想和行动中的语言》在南非英语系获得了一些吸引力；一个瞬间消失了，除了特里的书房外几乎没有留下任何痕迹。