D. Cole September 1999

Main theories of Language:

I. Language is

1. an expressive representation system:

a) communicates ideas / concepts / beliefs / thoughts

b) communicates speaker intention

2. a tool for behavior control; social coordination device

3. an autonomous meaning system - meaning created by the structure of language itself, not its relations to other things

4. a world representation system: represents states of affairs in the (largely) mind-independent world

[are same possibilities possible with Visual Art? seems so…]

II. Main Aspects of Language:

1. syntax : relation of symbols to symbols; grammar (descriptive vs. normative)

1a. phonology - sound patterns of spoken language

2. semantics: meaning; relation of symbols to meanings

3. pragmatics: language use; relation of symbols to symbol users

3a. speech act theory

3b. language understanding and comprehension

III. Theories of Meaning:

Mentalist I: natural language sentences stand for ideas (Locke)

Mentalist II: meaning is speaker intent (Grice)

Realist Externalism: natural language stands for states of affairs in the world (minds are parts of the world); some form of Correspondence theory of Truth

Frege: in addition to referring to states of affairs, sentences have a “sense” (sinn)

Internalism: Meaning comes from relations between linguistic elements language is autonomous meaning system (Saussere)

Meaning is use: Wittgenstein

Meaning is disposition to respond: Functional Role Semantics (FRS)

Another way of categorizing: Producer Side (first 3); Autonomous (4^th); Communicative role (language game, 5^th); Consumer side (last)

IV. Theories of Truth:

1. Correspondence theory

2. Coherence theory

3. Eliminativist theory (redundancy or pleonastic theory)

V.Theories of Language Learning

1. Empiricist / Behaviorist: languages are learned based on stimulus and response; open-ended what form they might take; use general learning capacity (shared with animals) (Skinner)

2. Nativist -innate knowledge: there is innate knowledge of possible grammars (Chomsky)

3. Nativist - dispositional: there are innate constraints on possible grammars, but the innate aptitude does not amount to knowledge of grammar (M. Devitt)

VI. Theories of Language understanding

1. Classical Empiricist, mentalistic, imagistic:

understanding = having ideas corresponding to speaker (Locke)

2. Behaviorist - consists in learned responses (Wittgenstein; Skinner)

understanding = appropriate response

3. intentional understanding = recognizing speaker’s intent (Grice)

4. Nativist - Mentalese understanding = correct translation into Mentalese (Fodor, Pinker)

5. Biological uniqueness - Searle

understanding = knowing truth conditions; not functional/behaioral

6. Language itself as medium of thought: Whorf, Carruthers , Cole (imagistic)

Understanding = truth conditions = knowing when it is appropriate to token