What do we know when we learn the meanings of words?

  • Antonio Scarafone
Keywords: Wittgenstein, Tomasello, linguistic competency, practical abilities, knowledge

Abstract

In this paper I will argue that, contrary to what most scholars are inclined to believe, there are important tensions between the later Wittgenstein’s views on language and Michael Tomasello’s usage-based theory of language acquisition. On one hand, Wittgenstein characterises the first steps into the acquisition of a first language as a matter of acquiring practical abilities, which, in an anti-intellectualistic vein, do not require any kind of knowledge. On the other hand, Tomasello employs a Gricean model of communication to describe pre-linguistic children’s communicative interactions, thus taking an intellectualist stance. According to this model, children are supposed to acquire the meanings of words because they are able to infer communicators’ intentions on the basis of the common ground (mutual knowledge) they establish with them. Eliciting this tension is of uttermost importance because: (i) it bears crucial implications for the explanatory relationships between language and thought; (ii) it is central to the heart of Tomasello’s project of explaining linguistic competency as based on communicative abilities. In the conclusion, I will argue that there are ways to ease the main tension if, following Richard Moore, basic communicative acts are conceived of as Minimally Gricean.

References

Avramides, A. (1997), Meaning and Intention, in Hale, B. & Wright, C. (eds.), A Companion to the Philosophy of Language, Blackwell, Oxford.

Apperly, I. & Butterfill, S. (2013), «How to Construct a Minimal Theory of Mind», in Mind & Language, 28, 5, pp. 606-637.

Bakhurst, D. (2015), Training and Transformation, in Coliva, A., Moyal-Sharrock, D., Munz, V. (2015), Mind, Language and Action: Proceedings of the 36th International Wittgenstein Symposium, de Gruyter, Berlin.

Bar-On, D. (2013), «Origins of Meaning: Must We Go Gricean?», in Mind & Language, 28, 3, pp. 342-375.

Barsalou, L. W. (2010), «Grounded Cognition: Past, Present and Future», in Topics in Cognitive Science, 2, 4, pp. 716-724.

Butterfill, S. (2012), «Joint Action and Development», in The Philosophical Quarterly, 62, 246, pp. 23-47.

Bratman, M. (1999), Faces of Intention: Selected Essays on Intention and Agency, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.

Chomsky, N. (1959), «A Review of Skinner’s Verbal Behaviour», in Language, 35, 1, pp. 26-58.

Davidson, D. (2001), Subjective, Intersubjective, Objective, Oxford University Press, Oxford.

Dummett, M. (1993), The Seas of Language, Oxford University Press, Oxford.

Gomez, J. C. (2004), Apes, Monkeys, Children, and the Growth of Mind, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA.

Grice, P. (1989), Studies in the Way of Words, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA.

Ground, I. (2015), “The play of Expression”: Understanding Ontogenetic Ritualisation, in A. Coliva, D. Moyal-Sharrock, V. Munz, Mind, Language and Action: Proceedings of the 36th International Wittgenstein Symposium, the Gruyter, Berlin.

Huemer, W. (2006), «The Transition from Causes to Norms: The Role of Training», in Grazer Philosophische Studien, 71, 1, pp. 205-225.

Kern, A., & Moll, H. (2017), «On the Transformative Character of Collective Intentionality and the Uniqueness of the Human», in Philosophical Psychology, 30, 3, pp. 319-337.

Moyal-Sharrock, D. (2017), Universal Grammar: Wittgenstein versus Chomsky, in Peters, M. A. & Stickney, J. (2017), A Companion to Wittgenstein and Philosophy of Education: Pedagogical Investigations, Springer, Singapore.

Moyal-Sharrock, D. (2016), «Wittgenstein Today», in Wittgenstein-Studien, 7, 1, pp. 1-14.

Moore, R. (2014) Ontogenetic Constraints on Grice’s Theory of Communication, in Matthews, D. (2014), Pragmatic Development and First Language Acquisition, John Benjamins, Amsterdam.

Moore, R. (2017), «Gricean Communication and Cognitive Development», in Philosophical Quarterly, 67, 267, pp. 303-326.

Moore, R. (2018), «Joint Action, Gricean Communication, and the Evolution of Cooperation», in Topoi, 37, 2, pp. 329-341.

Nelson, K. (2009), «Wittgenstein and contemporary theories of world learning», in New Ideas in Psychology, 27, 2, pp. 275-287.

Reddy, V. (2008), How Infants Know Minds, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA.

Ryle, G. (1946), «Knowing How and Knowing That. The Presidential Address», in Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society, 46, 1, pp. 1-16.

Rödl, S. (2016), «Education and Autonomy», in Journal of Philosophy of Education, 50, 1, pp. 84-97.

Schmid, H. B. (2013), Shared Intentionality and the Origins of Human Communication, in Salice, A. (2013), Intentionality, Philosophia-Verlag, München.

Sperber, D. & Wilson, D. (1986), Relevance. Communication and Cognition, Blackwell, Oxford.

Tomasello, M. (2003) Constructing a Language: A Usage-Based Theory of Language Acquisition, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA.

Tomasello, M. (2008), Origins of Human Communication, Harvard University Press, Harvard.

Tomasello, M. (2009), The Usage-Based Theory of Language Acquisition, in Bavin, E. L. (2009), The Cambridge Handbook of Child Language, Cambridge University Press., Cambridge.

Tomasello, M. (2014), A Natural History of Human Thinking, Harvard University Press, Harvard.

Williams, M. (2010), Blind Obedience: The Structure and Content of Wittgenstein’s Later Philosophy, Routledge, London.

Wittgenstein, L. (1969), On Certainty / Über Gewiβheit, transl. by D. Paul and G. E. M. Anscombe, Blackwell, Oxford. [OC]

Wittgenstein, L. (1953), Philosophical Investigations / Philosophische Untersuchungen, transl. by G. E. M. Anscombe, P. M. S. Hacker, J. Schulte, Wiley-Blackwell, Oxford, 2009. [PI]

Wittgenstein, L. (2005) The Big Typescript: TS 213. German-English Scholars’ Edition, transl. by C. G. Luckhardt, and M. E. Aue, Blackwell, Oxford. [BT]

How to Cite
Scarafone, A. (1) “What do we know when we learn the meanings of words?”, Rivista Italiana di Filosofia del Linguaggio, 12(2). Available at: http://www.rifl.unical.it/index.php/rifl/article/view/507 (Accessed: 29March2024).