Meaning as expression
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.4396/20260603Keywords:
aspect, culture, language, meaning-blindness, natureAbstract
This paper provides an expressive account of linguistic meaning, based on Wittgenstein’s later work. Its central plank is a non-relational conception of expression, according to which expressed content and expressive vehicle are not two different ontological items; instead, the former is an intrinsic aspect of the latter. Applied to the linguistic case, the claim is that meaning is an intrinsic aspect of utterances, inclusively construed as comprising words, intonation and bodily gestures in context. An expressive account of meaning, thus understood, is then argued to help clarify the natural, yet cultural, character of language.
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