“Empty Signs” and “The One Who Is Absent”: Émile Benveniste and the Non-Person Problem

This study aims to examine the formation and development of the “non-person” concept presented in Émile Benveniste’s linguistic theory, as well as the theoretical deepening of that concept. In his 1946 paper “Structure des relations de personne dans le verbe (PLG 1, chap.18),” Benveniste recognizes the asymmetry of the verbal person observed across various languages and, within the framework of linguistic subjectivity, proposes that the “third person” be understood as a “non-person.” Subsequently, related papers published by Benveniste until 1970 maintain the theoretical position that, whereas the first and second persons represent a subjective reality internal to the discourse, the non-person reflects an objective reality external to the discourse. This study aims to show that such a dichotomous epistemology of personhood is overturned in his 1970 paper “L'appareil formel de l'enonciation (PLG 2, chap. 5),” where the non-person is understood as constitutingﾠthe speaker's act of enunciation and as an element within the resulting discourse. At this juncture, the issues of person and non-person are integrated into a single, unified approach.