Knowledge and Language: Volume I From Orwell’s Problem to Plato’s Problem

✍ Scribed by Eric Reuland, Werner Abraham (auth.), Eric Reuland, Werner Abraham (eds.)

• Publisher: Springer Netherlands
• Year: 1993
• Tongue: English
• Leaves: 271
• Edition: 1
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

1. BACKGROUND This volume is one of three which emerged from the Conference on Knowledge and Language, held from May 21-May 25, 1989, at the occasion of the 37 5th anniversary of the University of Groningen. Studying the relation between knowledge and language, one may distin­ guish two different lines of inquiry, one focussing on language as a body of knowledge, the other on language as a vehicle of knowledge. Approaching language as a body of knowledge one faces questions concerning its structure, and the relation with other types of knowledge. One will ask, then, how language is acquired and to what extent the acquisition of language and the structure of the language faculty model relevant aspects of other cognitive capacities. If language is approached as a vehicle for knowledge, the question comes up what enables linguistic entities to represent facts about the world. To what extent does this rely on conventional aspects of meaning? Is it possible for language, when used non-conventionally as in metaphors, to convey intersubjective knowledge? If so (and it does seem to be the case), one may wonder what makes this possible. The aim of this conference was to investigate the role of conceptual structure in cognitive processes, exploring it from the perspectives of philosophy of language, linguistics, political philosophy, psychology, liter­ ary theory, aesthetics, and the philosophy of science. The themes of these three volumes reflect the themes of the conference.

✦ Table of Contents

Front Matter....Pages i-vii
Introduction....Pages 1-10
Reflections on Knowledge and Language....Pages 11-27
Mental Constructions and Social Reality....Pages 29-58
Some Reflections on Our Sceptical Crisis....Pages 59-70
The “Least Effort” Principle in Child Grammar: Choosing a Marked Parameter....Pages 71-104
The Emergence of Bound Variable Structures....Pages 105-139
Categories in the Parameters Perspective: Null Subjects and V-to-I....Pages 141-155
Linguistic Theory and Language Acquisition Facts: Reformulation, Maturation or Invariance of Binding Principles....Pages 157-184
Universal Grammar and Learnability Theory: The Case of Binding Domains and the ‘Subset Principle’....Pages 185-216
The Subset Principle is an Intensional Principle....Pages 217-239
Lexical Access in Speech Production....Pages 241-251
Back Matter....Pages 253-272

✦ Subjects

Semantics; Philosophy; Interdisciplinary Studies