[...] if linguistic theory [...] is set in relation to the concept of reality, the answer to our question, whether the object determines and affects the theory or ‘vice versa’, is “both... and”: by virtue of its arbitrary nature the theory is ‘arealistic’; by virtue of its appropriateness it is ‘realistic’ (with the word ‘realism’ taken here in the modern [...] sense).
- Hjelmslev (1961), a pag.15