「ウィルス」と「言語」

sumita-m.hatenadiary.com

id:nessko

その特性から、ウィルスは言語にたとえられたりしますね。感染拡大するうちに変異していくあたりも含めて、たしかに似ていると思います。

「ウィルス」と「言語」ということだと、ローリー・アンダーソン*1に”Language Is a Virus”という曲がありますね*2。
www.youtube.com

Home Of The Brave: A Film By Laurie Anderson (1986 Film)

Laurie Anderson [VHS]

この”Language Is a Virus”というのは元々ウィリアム・バロウズ*3のコンセプト。ヴィデオでもバロウズからの引用だということが明示されています。バロウズ自身の言葉としては、検索してすぐに引っかかってくるのが、

Electronic Revolution*41からの抜粋
https://realitystudio.org/texts/electronic-revolution/

See also

Brent Wood “William S. Burroughs and the Language of Cyberpunk” Science Fiction Studies #68, 1996 https://www.depauw.edu/sfs/backissues/68/wood68.html
Andrzej Dorobek “William S. Burroughs’s Concept of Language as a Virus in the Context of American Beat and Postmodern Literature” SEJ 8, pp.67-74, 2018 http://cejsh.icm.edu.pl/cejsh/element/bwmeta1.element.ojs-issn-e-ISSN-2449-7983-volume-8-article-582/c/582-568.pdf
Mr. Hand “PKD on language virus theory of William S. Burroughs” http://pkdreligion.blogspot.com/2011/09/pkd-on-language-virus-theory-of-william.html

また、Bernardo Attias*5の言葉：

“A virus operates autonomously, without human intervention. It attaches itself to a host and feeds off of it, growing and spreading from host to host. Language infects us: its power derives not from its straightforward ability to communicate or persuade but rather from this infectious nature, this power of bits of language to graft itself onto other bits of language, spreading and reproducing, using human beings as hosts. Georges Bataille similarly argued that communication was best understood from the perspective of contagion. In Bataille any human being is no more than a conduit for communicative process, a channel for ideas which pass through him/her.” Bernardo Attias
(Cited in https://www.andreabozic.com/spectra-salon-language-virus-outer-space )

*1:See also https://sumita-m.hatenadiary.com/entry/20060817/1155781034 https://sumita-m.hatenadiary.com/entry/20070201/1170333898 https://sumita-m.hatenadiary.com/entry/20080228/1204212786 https://sumita-m.hatenadiary.com/entry/20081128/1227833837 https://sumita-m.hatenadiary.com/entry/20090221/1235199344 https://sumita-m.hatenadiary.com/entry/20090629/1246248975 https://sumita-m.hatenadiary.com/entry/20090824/1251084176 https://sumita-m.hatenadiary.com/entry/20091230/1262140525 https://sumita-m.hatenadiary.com/entry/20100319/1268965377 https://sumita-m.hatenadiary.com/entry/20100705/1278354592 https://sumita-m.hatenadiary.com/entry/20101021/1287629417 https://sumita-m.hatenadiary.com/entry/20131028/1382925103 https://sumita-m.hatenadiary.com/entry/20180622/1529637933

*2:歌詞は例えばhttps://genius.com/Laurie-anderson-language-is-a-virus-lyrics

*3:See also https://sumita-m.hatenadiary.com/entry/20060208/1139400636 https://sumita-m.hatenadiary.com/entry/20060321/1142942332 https://sumita-m.hatenadiary.com/entry/20070219/1171905464 https://sumita-m.hatenadiary.com/entry/2019/05/20/084743

*4:See eg. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Electronic_Revolution

*5:See eg. https://csun.academia.edu/BernardoAttias/CurriculumVitae