Mother tongue and the language of tenderness: lost and found.
This paper explores the impact of early aesthetic experiences on the developing psyche. The sound bath in the environment experienced by the fetus and then newborn is registered as implicit memory in the non-repressed unconscious and imparts a sense of belonging or alienation, depending on the natur...
| Published in: | American Journal of Psychoanalysis Vol. 86; no. 2; pp. 227 - 245 |
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| Format: | Article |
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Palgrave Macmillan Ltd.
Jun2026
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| Online Access: | View this record in EBSCOhost |
| fields | @attributes: recordID: 1 pdfLink: plink: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ssf&AN=194969408&site=ehost-live header: @attributes: shortDbName: ssf uiTerm: 194969408 longDbName: Social Sciences Full Text (H.W. Wilson) uiTag: AN controlInfo: bkinfo: jinfo: jid: 00029548 ACO jtl: American Journal of Psychoanalysis issn: 00029548 maglogo: N pubinfo: dt: Jun2026 vid: 86 iid: 2 pid: 13817 pub: Palgrave Macmillan Ltd. artinfo: ui: 194969408 10.1057/s11231-026-09563-8 ppf: 227 ppct: 18 formats: tig: atl: Mother tongue and the language of tenderness: lost and found. aug: au: Koritar, Endre affil: Western Canada Psychoanalytic Society Institute, Vancouver, BC, Canada https://ror.org/03rmrcq20 Department of Psychiatry, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada International Sándor Ferenczi Network, Florence, Italy su: Native language Language & languages Psychoanalysis Cultural erosion Acculturation Aesthetic experience Implicit memory sug: subj: Native language Language & languages Psychoanalysis Cultural erosion Acculturation Aesthetic experience Implicit memory keyword: implicit and explicit memory language of tenderness non-repressed unconscious sound envelope of the self implicit and explicit memory language of tenderness non-repressed unconscious sound envelope of the self ab: This paper explores the impact of early aesthetic experiences on the developing psyche. The sound bath in the environment experienced by the fetus and then newborn is registered as implicit memory in the non-repressed unconscious and imparts a sense of belonging or alienation, depending on the nature of the early maternal object relations. In the case of the child, displaced from the early mothering culture by flight and emigration, an added stress is acculturation and loss of the familiar sights, sounds, smells of the homely culture, but also the loss of musicality of the language. The clinical material will illustrate how an alienated youth was able to belatedly mourn the loss of his mother tongue and culture after he was drawn back to visit his birthplace. The aesthetic experiencing of his hometown's native culture and learning of his early life experiences from his caretakers opened crypts of past traumas long buried and led him to explore the nether regions of his mind in analysis. The paper also argues that it was the patient's self-preservative instinct that led him to search for his past. The work of construction and reconstruction in the analysis provided him with a narrative that animated his weakened life instinct providing him with renewed meaning and purpose in his life. pubtype: Academic Journal doctype: Article src: R language: English refInfo: copyright: @attributes: flag: N holdings: @attributes: islocal: N |
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