NAME : ISMY AZQIAH AZIS

CLASS : 6C

DUTY OF SEMANTICS

Prototypes

A prototype is a cognitive reference point, i.e the proto-image of all representatives of the
meaning of a word or of a category. Thus, a robin or a sparrow can be regarded as a prototype or
a "good example" of the category bird, whereas a penguin or an ostrich is a rather "bad example"
of this category.

Accordingly, the members of a category can be graded according to their typicality. A "good"
example is only rated as such by virtue of its features. Defining a prototype as the bundle of
typical features of a category, we can thus imagine birds as 'creatures that are covered with
feathers, have two wings and two legs, and the majority of which can fly'. Therefore, a penguin
is a less "good" bird, as it lacks some of the typical features, such as the ability to fly. Features
themselves can also be more or less typical, for example 'twittering' is less typical and specific to
birds than 'flying'.

Prototype theory is a mode of graded categorization in cognitive science, where some members
of a category are more central than others. For example, when asked to give an example of the
concept furniture, chair is more frequently cited than, say, stool. Prototype theory has also been
applied in linguistics, as part of the mapping from phonological structure to semantics.

If an item shares at least some central features with the category prototype, we consider it as an
example of this category. As a consequence, word meanings contain all the properties of
cognitive categories: We can distinguish between central and more peripheral meanings of a
lexeme, and word meanings are not rigid, but there are often gradual transitions and fuzzy
boundaries between them. Thus, prototype semantics is a 'more-or-less semantics', as opposed to
the 'all-or-nothing' approach of structure-oriented feature semantics. However, this does not
weaken the usefulness of a feature-based classification:
The features belonging to a prototype of a category are the ones
that are relevant for categorization.

The notion of prototypes is related to Wittgenstein's (later) discomfort with the traditional notion
of category. This influential theory has resulted in a view of semantic components more as
possible rather than necessary contributors to the meaning of texts. His discussion on the
category game is particularly incisive (Philosophical Investigations 66, 1953):
Causal theory

A causal theory of reference is a theory of how terms acquire specific referents based on
evidence. Such theories have been used to describe many referring terms, particularly logical
terms, proper names, and natural kind terms. In the case of names, for example, a causal theory
of reference typically involves the following claims:

 a name's referent is fixed by an original act of naming (also called a "dubbing" or, by
Saul Kripke, an "initial baptism"), whereupon the name becomes a rigid designator of
that object.
 later uses of the name succeed in referring to the referent by being linked to that original
act via a causal chain.

Weaker versions of the position (perhaps not properly called "causal theories"), claim merely
that, in many cases, events in the causal history of a speaker's use of the term, including when the
term was first acquired, must be considered to correctly assign references to the speaker's words.

Causal theories aim to explain meaning in terms of the relations between expressions and the
objects and properties they represent. A very different sort of foundational theory of meaning
which maintains this emphasis on the relations between expressions and the world gives a central
role to a principle of charity which holds that (modulo some qualifications) the right assignment
of meanings to the expression of a subject’s language is that assignment of meanings which
maximizes the truth of the subject’s utterances.

SOURCE :
Causal theory of reference - Wikipedia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Causal_theory

The Causal Theory of Reference on JSTOR

https://www.jstor.org/stable/4319571

Prototype theory - Wikipedia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prototype_theory