[Corpora-List] ad-hoc generalization and meaning

[Rob Freeman]

On 9/13/07, John F. Sowa <sowa at bestweb.net> wrote:
>
> I don't believe anyone working on cognitive linguistics equates grammar
> with meaning.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cognitive_approaches_to_*grammar*

"The basic claim here is that *grammar is conceptualization*."

> Perhaps I have misunderstood your article. Were you not
> > presenting Wittgenstein's games as an ad-hoc form of logic?
>
> In that article, I merely mentioned Wittgenstein's work as
> a important way of characterizing pragmatic issues...


Why argue about it.  Let's hear it from you:

"...Their implications for semantics, however, are just as important. As an
example, consider the verb *support* in the following sentences:

Tom supported the tomato plant with a stick.
Tom supported his daughter with $10,000 per year.
Tom supported his father with a decisive argument.
Tom supported his partner with a bid of 3 spades.

These sentences all use the verb *support* in the same syntactic pattern:

A person supported NP1 with NP2.

Yet each use of the verb can only be understood with respect to a particular
subject matter or domain of discourse..."

Well, I'm saying their syntax can only be understood with respect to context
too. Each context will select a different "grammar".

If you don't want to claim a Wittgenstein inspired model for context based
meaning, that's OK by me. Let me claim it. The parallel with the way I see
syntax working is just too strong, so I'll also claim it will turn out to be
equivalent to, and coded by, ad-hoc syntax. And if Montague could find
grounds to believe syntax had the power to express the necessary functions
of logic, I'd be surprised if we can't squeeze logic out of it somehow, as
well.

I haven't proved any of this. It is just an agenda for research. Still, I'm
glad I got in and said it before you did ;-)

-Rob
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