MEANING, THOUGHT, & REALITY
BY : GROUP 1
Referring & Denoting
Reference
Reference as a Theory of Meaning
Mental Representation
Words, concept, & thinking
REFERRING OR DENOTING
The Action of picking out or identifying with words
We’ve just flown back from Paris
JOHN LYONS (1977)
REFER
≠ DENOTE
Example : A sparrow flew into the room
REFERENTIAL & REPRESENTATIONAL
REFERENTIAL Nouns denote entities, sentences denote situations
Example:
There is a casino in Grafton Street
There isn’t a casino in Grafton Street*
A speaker can choose to view the same situation in
REPRESENTATIONAL
different ways
Example:
You have a cold (English)
Joan is sleeping X Joan is asleep
A cold has you (Somali)
A cold is on you (Irish)
REFERENCE:
TYPES OF REFERENCE
Referring and non-referring expressions
Constant versus variable reference
Referents and extensions
REFERRING AND NON-REFERRING EXPRESSIONS
A referring expression : A noun like cat in “that cat looks vicious”
Non-referring expressions can never be used to refer : so, very,
maybe, if, not, all.
Referring expressions like nouns can be used to refer or not
For example : They performed a cholecystectomy this morning
A cholecystectomy is a serious procedure
CONSTANT VS. VARIABLE REFERENCE
Constant referent : context-independent the Pacific Ocean, the Eiffel Tower
✓ I wrote to you
Variable reference : context-dependent
✓ She put it in my office
REFERENTS & EXTENSIONS
The actual thing referred to at the moment of uttering.
Referents
Example: I’ve stepped on a toad
Set of things which could possibly be the referent of the
Extension expression.
Example : All toads
NAMES
NAMES
Description Casual
Theory Theory
DESCRIPTION THEORY
A name is the label or shorthand for knowledge about
the referent
Christopher Marlowe.The Writer of the Play Dr Faustus
CASUAL THEORY
Names are socially inherited
Name is given to a person
NOUNS AND NOUN PHRASES
Definite & indefinite NPs can operate like names to pick out an individual.
e.g. I spoke to a man about the noise
I spoke to the man about the noise
Definite NPs can form definite descriptions where the referent is whoever/whatever
fits the description.
e.g. She has a crush on the captain of the hockey team
NPs with no referent/ the referent isn’t real
e.g. The King of France is bald
NPs can also be used to refer to a group of individuals, either distributively
or collectively.
e.g. People in the lift avoid each other’s eyes
People in the lift proved too heavy for the lift motor
Nominals can denote substances, actions, and abstract ideas.
e.g. Who can afford coffee?
Sleeping is his hobby
Some nominals are trickier in their denotational behavior.
e.g. No student enjoyed the lecture
Quantifiers allow the speakers the flexibility to predicate something of a
whole class of entities.
e.g. Every Frenchman would recognize his face
A few Frenchmen voted for him
REFERENCE AS A THEORY OF MEANING
In its simplest form ➡ Reference picks out elements in the real world.
Proper names denote individuals
Common names denote sets of individuals
Verbs denote actions
Adjectives denote properties of individuals
Adverbs denote properties of actions
PROBLEMS WITH REFERENCE
Many words have no meaning. Ex: so, very, but, etc.
Many nominal expressions used by speakers don’t have a referent that
exists or has ever existed.
Ex: She paints a unicorn
World War 3 might be about to start
There is not always a one to one correspondence between a linguistic
expression and an item to be identified.
Ex: Then in 1981 Anwar El Sadat was assassinated.
Then in 1981 the President of Egypt was assassinated.
MENTAL REPRESENTATIONS
What are Mental Representations?
IMAGE CONCEPT
THEORY THEORY
IMAGE THEORY
The relationship between the image and the real world entity
▪Works for expressions like Paris, Batman, my mother
▪ Serious problems with common nouns like car, house, triangle,
animal, food, love, democracy
CONCEPT THEORY
Mental is not visual but a more abstract element
Advantages:
Concepts can contain the non-visual features which make a dog a dog,
democracy democracy, etc.
Some concepts simple and related to perceptual stimuli
Ex : Sun, Water
CONCEPT
A hypothesis: A noun is a combination of its denotation and a conceptual element.
This will entitle two questions:
1) What form can we assign to concepts?
2) How do children acquire them, along with linguistic labels?
Concepts that are lexicalized,
Example: “On the shop, I saw a tool for compacting dead leaves into an estuary”
Utility-based lexicalization of concepts: microwave-oven ➡ microwave.
Concepts children acquire may differ from the concepts of adults.
- Underextending concepts: dog (referring to their pets only).
- Overextending concepts: daddy (referring to every male adult).
NECESSARY AND SUFFICIENT CONDITIONS
Concepts can be described by using sets of necessary and sufficient conditions:
woman (a list of attributes)
- x is a woman if and only if L
Where L is a list of attributes, like:
x is human;
x is adult;
x is a female, etc.
PROTOTYPES
Central or typical members of a category but then a shading off into less typical or
peripheral members
Sparrow a more typical member of the category bird than penguin
RELATIONS BETWEEN CONCEPTS
Relational nature of conceptual knowledge
Peccary (a kind of wild pig)
Pecorino (a kind of Italian cheese)
CONCEPTUAL HIERARCHIES
WORDS, CONCEPTS, AND THINKING:
LINGUISTIC RELATIVITY
Linguistic relativity (Sapir and Whorf) refers to that lexicalized
concepts impose restrictions on possible ways of thinking.
It provides an explanation for a common experience when dealing with
different languages.
French pourpe and English purple
THE LANGUAGE OF THOUGHT HYPOTHESIS
Thinking and speaking related but involve distinct levels of representation
Two main arguments against linguistic relativity:
1. There is evidence of thinking without language
2. Language underspecifies meaning
THOUGHT AND REALITY
Theories:
Idealism: we believe that reality exist because of the working of human mind and is
immaterial.
Objectivism: Reality is attainable and comes from conceptualizing and categorizing the
world.
We can never perceive the world as it really is: reality is only graspable through the conceptual
filters derived from biological and cultural evolution: mental constructivism.
