Meaning, thought and reality

Meaning, thought and reality

1. it talks about theories on how we can use language to describe the world

2. According to it we can find

   • Denoting and referring
     • Being
       • To denote
         • Used to relate the linguistic expression and the world as it is
       • To refer
         • Is what the speaker does while picking out or talking about entities from the world (action of referring)
           • In here there are certain approaches or theories
             • Representational
               • In here
                 • Meaning derives from language as a representation of our mental structure
             • Referential
               • It says
                 • that meaning is a reflection of language and reality of the world
   • Reference as a concept
     • It conveys
       • Referring expressions
         • related with
           • Any noun phrase or phrase whose function is to identify any individual object
       • Non-referring expressions
         • it refers to
           • Categories but not particular instances
       • Types of references
         • Which are
           • Constant
             • Have the same reference across the utterances
           • Variable
             • Varies depending on the context
   • More concepts related
     • such as
       • Referents
         • Which are
           • Expressions for the object picked out from the world by uttering it into a particular context
           • The set of things which could be the referent of an expression
       • Extensions
   • Reference as a theory of meaning
     • It deals with certain problems, such as
       • words with no-meaning
         • In here
           • There are several words which have no physical referent in the world
       • Meaningless expressions
         • Some expressions have no meaning if we try to relate them to real world objects
       • Different ways for referring the same entity
         • We can refer to a sinlge entity by using different words or names
   • Mental representations
     • Sense
       • In here
         • A noun is said to denote because it is related with something in the speakers mind structure
     • Concepts
       • Says that
         • Some concepts can be lexicalized thanks to their constant usage. (Overextension and Underextension)
   • Necessary and sufficient conditions
     • According to it there should be conditions to identify a noun for what it represents
   • Prototypes
     • There are
       • According to a model, viewed as structured and central members of a category
   • Words, concepts and thinking
     • In here are accepted
       • Two ways or theories in terms of the process of thinking about the language
         • Which are
           • The language of Thought Hypothesis
             • The level of representation may vary according to thinking and speaking as they are different
           • Linguistic Relativity
             • It says that language imposes restrictions and modifications in our visión of the world
   • Names
     • They are divided into two theories
       • Casual
         • it
           • Emphasizes the role of knowledge identification
       • Description
         • Says that
           • Social knowledge influences and have an important role regarding names