The Vitality of Biosemiotics: What Aspen Trees Teach Us About Rhetoric

Abstract

Given how linguists, philosophers of language, and rhetoricians continue to debate the role of intention in altering rhetorical force, this analysis works to uncover how these debates may shift with consideration of the bio-communicative phenomena of aspen trees. This study uses speech-act theory as a focused category of rhetoric and method to analyze the science of aspen tree communication, while drawing from new materialism to define rhetoric as energy exchanged to circulate vitality. In doing so, this analysis reveals how the boundaries between nonhuman and human communication—chemicals and language, nature and culture—are dissolved through the exchange of signs to expand the potential for continued life. More specifically, by analyzing the biosemiotic exchanges of aspen trees, this study suggests that a speech-act theory approach to plant rhetorics uncovers how ownership is a uniquely human construct, while revealing idealistic ways for humans to further re-envision the dignities of life, connection, and community.