Language Turned on Itself: The Semantics and Pragmatics of Metalinguistic DiscourseOUP Oxford, 4. okt 2007 - 169 pages Language Turned on Itself examines what happens when language becomes self-reflexive; when language is used to talk about language. Those who think, talk, and write about language are habitual users of various metalinguistic devices, but reliance on these devices begins early: kids are told, 'That's called a "rabbit"'. It's not implausible that a primitive capacity for the meta-linguistic kicks in at the beginning stages of language acquisition. But no matter when or how frequently these devices are invoked, one thing is clear: they present theorists of language with a complex data pattern. Herman Cappelen and Ernest Lepore show that the study of these devices and patterns not only represents an interesting and neglected project in the philosophy of language, but also carries important consequences for other parts of philosophy. Part I is devoted to presenting data about various aspects of our metalinguistic practices. In Part II, the authors examine and reject the four leading metalinguistic theories, and offer a new account of our use of quotation in a variety of different contexts. But the primary goal of this book is not to promote one theory over another. Rather, it is to present a deeply puzzling set of problems and explain their significance |
Other editions - View all
Language Turned on Itself: The Semantics and Pragmatics of Metalinguistic ... Herman Cappelen,Ernest Lepore No preview available - 2007 |
Language Turned on Itself: The Semantics and Pragmatics of Metalinguistic ... Herman Cappelen,Ernest Lepore No preview available - 2009 |
Common terms and phrases
according anomalous feature argue arguments articulate assume calls Cappelen and Lepore chapter claim consider containing context context-sensitive course criticism Davidson defend definite Demonstrative Theory Description determined direct quotation discussion disquotational distinct eight letters English example explain extension fact fails follows function further grammatical indexicals indicate indirect intends interesting interpretation intuition issues kind language least linguistic matter meaning mentioned mixed quotation nature Note noun object obvious particular philosophical phrase position pragmatic present problem Proper Name Theory proposition question Quine quotable item quotation expression quotation marks quotation sentences quoted reason Recanati refer regard relevant requires respect result Saka semantic content semantic value sense sensitivity sign system speaker Suppose syntactic term theorists theory of quotation there’s thing token true truth turn understand utterance variability words writes