The Social Foundations of Meaning [Paperback]

An empirical case study is used here to analyze linguistic meaning as it is embedded in complex social behavior. The whole of a natural signalling system - its nonlinguistic conventions, pragmatics and semantics - is considered. Three sections analyze: the relevant conventional facts; conventional utterance meaning in terms of conventional facts; and, finally, sentence meaning in terms of conventional utterance meaning. Linguistic meaning is seen to be derived from meaningful social behavior rather than from goal-directed behavior of individuals. A number of new results on pragmatic and semantic meaning are reached.An empirical case study is used here to analyze linguistic meaning as it is embedded in complex social behavior. The whole of a natural signalling system - its nonlinguistic conventions, pragmatics and semantics - is considered. Three sections analyze: the relevant conventional facts; conventional utterance meaning in terms of conventional facts; and, finally, sentence meaning in terms of conventional utterance meaning. Linguistic meaning is seen to be derived from meaningful social behavior rather than from goal-directed behavior of individuals. A number of new results on pragmatic and semantic meaning are reached.Introductory summary.- I Conventional meaning: The pretheoretical intuition.- ? 1 Conventional meaning vs. natural meaning.- ? 2 Conventional meaning vs. speakers meaning.- ? 3 Conventional meaning and correct understanding.- ? 4 Correct understanding: The conventional result principle.- ? 5 Conventional systems evolving into languages.- ? 6 Communication: Redistributing situational roles.- ? 7 The strategy of language description.- II Compliance with rules.- ? 8 The weak Hart analysis of rule  guided behavior.- ? 9 Why dismiss the internal aspect?.- ? 10 Hart attacks repelled.- ? 11 An attractive alternative: Lewis conventions.- ? 12 No rigid problem  solving.- ? 13 Choice rules.- ? 14 Knowledge of conventions.- ? 15 Can meaning sneak in l39