Words and Meaning

Words and Meaning

How do words bear meaning? The notion that a word means what it stands for – its denotation - will be examined and found wanting because logical analysis is only able to illuminate limited areas of language. It will be then suggested that metaphysical speculations about the sort of entities named by words are at best unhelpful. The idea that words get their meaning from the way they are used in public discourse will then be introduced as potentially more useful, although some problems with this approach will also be noted. Finally it will be suggested, very briefly, that an answer to this question may best be found in the common human condition – how we operate in the world using language.

It is attractive to assume that the meaning of a word is the entity it denotes. There are many cases where this definition will do. For example in the sentence,

John sat at the table.

‘John’ denotes a person and ‘table’ denotes an object. This seems straightforward. There are sentences, however, where the meaning is apparently clear but where the entities are not so clear cut.

The sentence below has a clear meaning:

The singing was divine but the acting was wooden.

The proposition carried by this sentence is easily understood. However, the entities ‘singing’ and ‘acting’ are not so clear. They are ongoing actions not so clearly defined as tables and chairs. Furthermore, the metaphorical qualifiers ‘divine’ and ‘wooden’ do not help do not sharpen the meaning. Is ‘divine’, for example, merely a fanciful replacement for ‘enjoyable’? A whole conversation about the nature of singing and acting might follow such an utterance.

Denotation and questions of logical form do not seem to be helpful in explaining the meanings of words in ordinary talk although human beings do seem to be impelled towards rational discussion. We habitually give reasons for things. For example, a discussion about ‘the greatest footballer ’ often finishes with extensive debate about what the defining criteria might be (a verbal dispute about connotation). Subsequently the argument often then turns to which player best meets these criteria (arguments to establish denotation). Whatever the case the denotation for ‘the greatest footballer’ is problematical. Much of this kind of discourse is based upon opinions. These opinions may or may not be true. This in no way affects the meanings intended by the speakers.