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The meaning of names The meaning of names
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Extending the referential model Extending the referential model
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Problems with the referential model of word meaning Problems with the referential model of word meaning
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Cite
Abstract
To make progress on understanding meaning we need to resolve a fundamental theoretical question: ‘What makes any linguistic sign meaningful?’ (or, in more general terms, not restricted to words and utterances, ‘Where does meaning come from?’). This chapter introduces a first answer to that fundamental question: the referential approach to meaning. The referential approach holds that the meaning of a sign is given by the thing(s) in the world which it picks out. The chapter explores how this idea might be applied to the meaning of certain categories of words, or to signs in general. The benefits of the approach are discussed (e.g. a referential account shows how the complex notion of meaning can be analysed in terms of more basic notions), but the chapter closes by outlining some of the serious problems faced by a referential approach.
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