Jakobson Roman

Roman Jakobson was a prominent linguist and literary theorist who contributed significantly to the formalist movement in literature and linguistics. He emphasized the structure of language and its functions, arguing that the meaning of a text derives from its form and the relationships between its elements, rather than solely from its content. Jakobson identified six functions of language—such as referential, expressive, and poetic—that highlight how language shapes communication. His work helped to shift focus from traditional interpretation to analyzing language and its mechanisms in various forms of expression, influencing literary criticism and linguistic theory.