The Meaning

The Meaning
Perhaps the favorite notion in folk linguistics is meaning. It is almost possible to resist the temptation to start the explanation of language.

The ‘meaning’ used as a blanket term to cover the special properties of linguistics symbols that enable them to play their striking roles in people’s lives.

A word of warning about the term ‘meaning;. Its popularity in linguistics is, in one respect, unfortunate, In its ordinary use term is vague, perhaps even ambiguous.

Certainly it has many applications that have nothing to do with language.

We start out theory of meaning, our semantics, with an hypothesis: that the core of a linguistics symbol’s meaning lies in the fact that the symbol represents something; for example, the core of the meaning of ‘Regan’ lies in the fact that it represent a well-known former president of the United States.

This representational hypothesis may seen too obvious to mention; even the word ‘symbol; suggest it. Indeed, it is probably the oldest idea of all about meaning.

What does a sentence represent? Think of an indicative sentence, the sort that is typically used in making an assertion ( as opposed to asking a question, issuing a command, etc.). The sentence represents the situation that would make it sure; it represents its truth condition.

The sentence is true of a certain situation in the world obtains and not true if the situation does not. So, hypothesis is that this property of a sentence is the core of its meaning.

Thus it is central to the meaning of ‘Bulldog are ugly’ that it is true if and only if bulldog really are ugly. The hypothesis is in the spirit of the popular philosophical slogan, “The meaning of a sentence is its truth condition”.
The Meaning