On Linguistic “Unconsciousness”. Some Introductory Remarks

In this article – which may look like a collage of quotations – I aim at mentioning the opinions of some famous linguists with regard to the so called “unconsciousness” of common speakers manifested within the linguistic activity as such (that is during the process of communication). Consequently, I will present the ideas of some American linguists (E. Sapir, L. Bloomfield and Ch. Hockett), taking into account both the opinions of certain European forerunners (H. Paul and F. de Saussure), and the subsequent criticism formulated by E. Coseriu concerning the respective linguistic “unconsciousness”