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.