Meaning and Language

Abstract

In this chapter, we present and discuss two opposing views of linguistic meaning. The first view, which we call the view of meaning as something, maintains that there is such a thing as meaning. The second, which we call the view of meaning as nothing, maintains that there is no such a thing as meaning; meaning is the epiphenomenon of something more concrete and fundamental. As a prototypical incarnation of the view of meaning as something, we present the theory of meaning as reference, which draws a distinction between the linguistic expressions a language is made of and the object these expressions refer to. As an example of the view of meaning as nothing, we discuss the structuralist approach to meaning, whereby meaning is an emergent property of the system of grammatical relations that constitute a language. We conclude with a discussion of the strength and shortcomings of the two views and a curious parallel with cinematography.