M.A. (African Languages) / Philosophical opinions on the status of proper names are widely divergent. They range from one extreme, expressed by Mills (1986:19), that proper names are mere labels which denote but do not connote, to the view that proper names are abbreviated or disguised definite descriptions. It is only comparatively recently that philosophers acknowledged the contribution that the discipline of linguistics could make toward the solution of this problem. Especially the realization that languages can be analysed as a rule-governed structure made a strong impact as we see in Searle (Annegarn, 1975:32) and later authors. Philosophers of an earlier period, the "ordinary language" philosophers, avoided any systematic theoretical concern. Searle (Annegarn, 1975: i), in particular, studied certain general features of language such as reference, truth, meaning and necessity by focusing attention on speech acts. But for the enigma of proper names he could do no better than taking up an intermediate position: proper names are logically connected with the object to which they refer "in a loose sort of way".
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:uj/uj:12261 |
| Date | 11 September 2014 |
| Creators | Maphiri, Albina Morakane Bathsheba |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Rights | University of Johannesburg |
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