Theories of Meaning

It would take a whole semantic theory to answer the questions raised below, but in the history of semantics a few “leading ideas” have emerged concerning the nature of meaning, and a brief look at some of these proposal is instructive.

As a preliminary we should note that in everyday English, the word mean has a number of different uses many of which are not relevant to the study of languages:

• That was no mean (insignificant) accomplishment.
• This will mean (result in) the end of our regime.
• I mean to help if I can.
• Keep off the grass! This means (refers to) you.
• His losing his jobs means (implies) that he will have to look again.
• Lucky strikes means (indicates) fine tobacco.
• Those clouds mean (are a sign of) rain.
• She doesn’t mean (believe) what she said.

These uses of word mean can all paraphrased by other expressions (indicated in parenthesis above). None of the, is appropriate for our discussion of word meaning. Rather, we will use the terms mean and meaning as they are used in the following examples:

• Procrastinate, means “to put things off.”
• In saying “it’s getting late,” she meant that we should leave.

These two uses of the word mean exemplify two important types meaning: linguistics meaning and speaker meaning.
Theories of Meaning