27. The names I give to bodies,
shapes, colours, lengths have different grammars in each case. The meaning of a
name is not the thing we point to when we give an ostensive definition of the
name.
grammar as a way or method of
describing the place and function
of words in a particular linguistic construction –
and from this the development of
general principles
grammar is a means of
understanding language as a construction
an ostensive definition does not
point to meaning –
ostensive definition – makes a
logical focus for meaning –
meaning as recognition –
and here I use one of any number
of possible characterizations
we cannot be definitive regarding
meaning
as with any definition –
we operate with proposals – propositions –
open to question – open to doubt
– uncertain
language flows –
logically and empirically –
our understanding of language –
and the concepts it generates
i.e. meaning
cannot be fixed
© greg t. charlton. 2014.