Publication details
A Model of Language in a Synchronic and Diachronic Sense
| Authors | |
|---|---|
| Year of publication | 2014 |
| Type | Article in Proceedings |
| Conference | Lodź Studies in English and General Linguistic 2: Issues in Philosophy of Language and Linguistic |
| MU Faculty or unit | |
| Citation | |
| Field | Philosophy and religion |
| Keywords | synchronic; diachronic; language; code; David Lewis; Pavel Tichý |
| Description | Language can be modelled in various ways, highlighting either its social or systemic character. I assume that language is a normative phenomenon enabling speakers to communicate. At any particular time language is used, however, we are capable of determining a function which maps the expressions produced using this language to their meanings. In this contribution I propose a functional model of language in a synchronic sense. This model also solves various complications with ambivalence, etc. Then, I also propose a model of language in a diachronic sense as a function from possible worlds and time instants to languages in a synchronic sense. In this way, the intuitive idea that language changes is captured. Both models are constructed to be convenient tools mainly for the investigation of semantic properties of expressions of that language. |
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