Chapter 2: LANGUAGE

The Uses of Language

George Berkeley remarked in his Treatise Concerning the Principles of

Human Knowledge (1710) that “…communicating of ideas … is not the chief and
only end of language, as is commonly supposed. There are other ends, as the
raising of some passion, the exciting to or deterring from an action, the putting the
mind in some particular disposition….”

In his Philosophical Investigations (1953), Ludwig Wittgenstein insisted

rightly that there are “countless different kinds of use of what we call ‘symbols,’
‘words,’ sentences.’” Among the examples suggested by Wittgenstein are giving
orders, describing the appearance of an object or giving its measurements,
reporting an event, speculating about an event, forming and testing hypothesis,
presenting the results of an experiment in tables and diagrams, making up a story,
play-acting, singing catches, guessing riddles, making a joke and telling it, solving a
problem in practical arithmetic, translating from one language into another, asking,
thinking, cursing, greeting, and praying.

Three general categories of the Functions of language:

1. Informative function – This is accomplished by formulating and affirming
(or denying) propositions. Informative discourse is used describe the world,
and to reason about it.
Example:
Two scientists at the University of Florida have created a 1,600-carat
synthetic diamond –the world’s largest (and) about 10 times as big as previous
synthetic ones. The biggest natural diamond ever found was 3,106 carats. It
rendered 106 cut diamonds, the largest of which was 530.2 carats.

2. Expressive function -- This is intended to express emotions, feelings, or

attitudes. Expressive discourse is used either to manifest the speaker’s
feelings or to attempt to evoke certain feelings on the part of the listeners.
Moreover, it is neither true nor false.

3. Directive function – This is intended to cause (or prevent) overt action.

The clearest examples are commands and requests.

Discourse serving Multiple Functions:

1. Ceremonial – this category includes many different kinds of phrases,
ranging from trivial words of greeting to the portentous language of state
documents and the verbal rituals performed on holy days in houses of
worship.
2. Performative – is one that, when uttered in appropriate circumstances,
actually performs the act it appears to report or describe. There appears to
be a class of what we called “performative verbs” – verbs that denote an
 action that typically is accomplished, in the appropriate circumstances: “I
congratulate you…”; “I apologize for my…”; “I suggest that …”; “I christen this
ship…”; “I accept your offer…”; and so on.

We may be tempted to identify form of discourse with function of language, that

is, to think that declarative sentences and informative function coincide, and that
exclamatory sentences are suitable only for expressive discourse. Or we may think
that directive discourse consists exclusively of sentences in the imperative or
interrogative mood.

Consider the following examples. Tell what function each sentence below has.
1. “I had a very nice time at your party.”
2. “Thank you for wearing appropriate dress for the celebration of the mass.”
(at the entrance of the Carmelite monastery.
3. “Shoplifters shall be persecuted.” (at shopping malls and grocery stores)
4. “I would like some coffee.”
5. “Do you realize that we’re almost late?”
6. “I’m hungry!”

Form often gives an indication of function – but there is no sure connection

between the grammatical form and the use or uses intended. Language serving
any one of the three principal functions may take any one of the four grammatical
forms.

Exercises:
Which of the various functions of language is exemplified by each of the following
passages?

1. American life is a powerful solvent. It seems to neutralize every intellectual

element, however tough and alien it may be, and to fuse it in the native good
will, complacency, thoughtlessness, and optimism.
-- George Santayana, Character and Opinion in
the United States, 1934

2. The easternmost point of land in the United States –as well as the
northernmost point and westernmost point and the westernmost point –is in
Alaska.

3. I herewith notify you that at this date and through this document I resign the
office of President of the Republic to which I was elected.
-- Pres. Fernando Collor de Mello, in a letter to
the Senate of Brazil, 29 Dec. 1992

4. The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do
nothing.
 -- Edmund Burke, letter to William Smith, 1795

5. They have no lawyers among them, for they consider them as a sort of
people whose profession it is to disguise matters.
-- Sir Thomas More, Utopia, 1516

EMOTIVE WORDS

A word or phrase can have both a literal meaning and an emotional impact.
The latter is commonly called the word’s “emotive meaning.” For example, the
terms “bureaucrat,” “government official,” and “public servant” have almost identical
literal meanings –but their emotive meanings are very different. “Bureaucrat” tends
to express resentment and disapproval, while the honorific “public servant” tends to
express respect and approval. “Government official” is more nearly neutral than
either of the others.

This has a marked influence toward one’s attitudes. This influencing of

attitude explains the proliferation of euphemisms, gentle words for harsh realities.
Nowadays we are constantly inventing new phrases to replace old ones with
which we are no longer comfortable. Undertakers become morticians and
morticians funeral directors, janitors become maintenance men and maintenance
men to custodians, old people become senior citizens.

EMOTIVELY NEUTRAL LANGUAGE

There is nothing wrong with emotive language. But emotively neutral

language is to be prized when factual truth is our objective. When we are trying to
learn what really is the case, or trying to follow an argument, distractions will be
frustrating –and emotion is a powerful distraction. The passions tend to cloud the
reason; this truth is reflected in the usage of “dispassionate” and “objective” as near
synonyms. Therefore when we are trying to reason about the facts in a cool and
objective fashion, referring to them in strongly emotive language is a hindrance
rather than a help. If our aim is to communicate information, and if we wish to avoid
being misunderstood, we should use language with the least possible emotive
impact. Playing on emotion, rather than appealing to reason, is a common device
of those who profit from the distortion of the truth.
KINDS OF AGREEMENT AND DISAGREEMENT

1. Disagreement in belief occurs when two people may disagree about

whether something has in fact taken place or an event has actually has
occurred.
2. Disagreement in attitude occurs when two people express different feelings
about the matter.

Four kinds of relations of persons in agreement and disagreement:

1. Two persons or parties may agree in their beliefs regarding the occurrence of
the event and in their attitude toward it.
2. Two persons or parties may agree in their beliefs about the event, but
disagree in their attitudes toward it.
3. May disagree in their beliefs, but agree in attitudes.
4. May disagree about the facts as well as in their attitudes.

Exercises:
Identify the kinds of agreement or disagreement exhibited by the following
pairs.

1. a. Answer a fool according to his folly,

Lest he be wise in his own conceit. (Proverbs 26:5)

b. Answer not a fool according to his folly,

Lest thou also be like unto him. (Proverbs 26:4

2. a. Absence makes the heart grow fonder.

b. Out of sight, out of mind.

3. a. Farming is a senseless pursuit, a mere laboring in a circle. You sow that

you may reap, and then you reap that you may sow. Nothing ever comes of
it. (Stobaeus, Joannes)
b. No occupation is so delightful to me as the culture of the earth. (Thomas
Jefferson)

KINDS OF DISPUTES

1. Obviously genuine dispute -- the parties explicitly and unambiguously

disagree, either in belief or in attitude.
2. Merely verbal dispute – there is no genuine disagreement between the
parties at all, and yet there appears to be disagreement.
3. Apparently verbal but really genuine – there is ambiguity present and the
disputers disagree, either in attitude or in belief.
 To aid one in recognizing and understanding these different kinds of
disputes, a “flowchart” is of use. Once we determine that there is a dispute of some
kind, we ask, “Is ambiguity present?” If the answer to this question is “NO”, we
have a category-one (obviously genuine) dispute. If the answer is “YES,” we ask a
second question: “Does clearing up the ambiguity eliminate the disagreement?” If
the answer to this question is “YES,” then we have a category-two (merely verbal)
dispute. If the answer to the question is “NO,” then we have a category-three
(apparently verbal but really genuine) dispute.

KINDS OF DEFINITIONS

Definitions help eliminate ambiguity of the meaning of words in the dispute. So we

need to learn the different kinds of definition.

1. Stipulative definition – arises from the deliberate assignment of a meaning.

2. Lexical definition – reports a meaning the definiendum already has and which
therefore can be correct or incorrect
3. Précising Definitions, which go beyond ordinary usage in such a way as to
eliminate troublesome uncertainty regarding borderline cases. Its
definiendum has an existing meaning, but that meaning is vague; what is
added to achieve precision is partly a matter of stipulation.
4. Theoretical definitions, which seek to formulate a theoretically adequate or
scientifically useful description of the objects to which the term applies.
5. Persuasive definitions, which seek to influence attitudes or stir the emotions,
using language expressively rather than informatively.