Beneath Interpretation… What is Articulated?

SHUSTERMAN, R. (1991) Beneath Interpretation. In: D.R. HILEY, J.F. BOHMAN, and R. SHUSTERMAN (Eds.) The Interpretive Turn. Cornell University Press. pp102-128

“A criterion for having an interpretation of some utterance or event would be an ability to express in some explicit, articulated form what that interpretation is. To interpret a text is thus to produce a text. Understanding, on the other hand, does not require linguistic articulation. A proper reaction, a shudder or tingle, may be enough to indicate one has understood. Some of the things we experience and understand are never captured by language, not only because their particular feel defies adequate linguistic expression but because we are not even aware of them as ‘things’ to describe. They are the felt background we presuppose when we start to articulate or to interpret.” (p127)

Annotation
Understanding is not always articulated through language but can be embodied in feeling within our senses. Therefore it does not require expression. In comparison the act of interpretation is active and produces an outcome that can be articulated and expressed.