essay "The Problem of Meaning in Linguistics"
E382732
"The Problem of Meaning in Linguistics" is a philosophical essay by Willard Van Orman Quine that critically examines how meaning is treated in linguistic theory and challenges traditional notions of semantic analysis.
All labels observed (1)
| Label | Occurrences |
|---|---|
| essay "The Problem of Meaning in Linguistics" canonical | 1 |
How this entity was disambiguated
This entity first appeared as the object of triple T3716105 — resolving that mention is where its identity was fixed. The disambiguator weighed these candidate entities and picked the highlighted one (or “None”, minting a new entity). This is how homonymy is resolved: the same surface form can point to different entities.
NED1
Entity disambiguation (via context triple)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: essay "The Problem of Meaning in Linguistics" Context triple: [From a Logical Point of View, hasPart, essay "The Problem of Meaning in Linguistics"]
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A.
The Status of Linguistics as a Science
The Status of Linguistics as a Science is a seminal 1929 essay by Edward Sapir that argues for linguistics as a rigorous, autonomous scientific discipline and explores its methods and scope.
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B.
The Meaning of Meaning
The Meaning of Meaning is a seminal 1923 work in semantics and the philosophy of language by C. K. Ogden and I. A. Richards that explores how language, symbols, and thought are related.
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C.
Papers in Structural and Transformational Linguistics
Papers in Structural and Transformational Linguistics is a collected volume of influential articles by linguist Zellig Harris that helped shape the development of structural and early transformational approaches to language analysis.
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D.
Methods in Structural Linguistics
Methods in Structural Linguistics is a foundational 1951 work in linguistics that systematically develops the principles and procedures of structural (distributional) analysis of language.
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E.
Syntactic Structures
Syntactic Structures is a landmark 1957 book by linguist Noam Chomsky that revolutionized the study of language by introducing generative grammar and challenging behaviorist views of linguistics.
- F. None of above. chosen
- G. Unsure - the case is ambiguous/there is not enough information to decide.
NED2
Entity disambiguation (via description)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: essay "The Problem of Meaning in Linguistics" Target entity description: "The Problem of Meaning in Linguistics" is a philosophical essay by Willard Van Orman Quine that critically examines how meaning is treated in linguistic theory and challenges traditional notions of semantic analysis.
-
A.
The Status of Linguistics as a Science
The Status of Linguistics as a Science is a seminal 1929 essay by Edward Sapir that argues for linguistics as a rigorous, autonomous scientific discipline and explores its methods and scope.
-
B.
The Meaning of Meaning
The Meaning of Meaning is a seminal 1923 work in semantics and the philosophy of language by C. K. Ogden and I. A. Richards that explores how language, symbols, and thought are related.
-
C.
Papers in Structural and Transformational Linguistics
Papers in Structural and Transformational Linguistics is a collected volume of influential articles by linguist Zellig Harris that helped shape the development of structural and early transformational approaches to language analysis.
-
D.
Methods in Structural Linguistics
Methods in Structural Linguistics is a foundational 1951 work in linguistics that systematically develops the principles and procedures of structural (distributional) analysis of language.
-
E.
Syntactic Structures
Syntactic Structures is a landmark 1957 book by linguist Noam Chomsky that revolutionized the study of language by introducing generative grammar and challenging behaviorist views of linguistics.
- F. None of above. chosen
Statements (39)
| Predicate | Object |
|---|---|
| instanceOf |
academic article
ⓘ
philosophical essay ⓘ |
| addresses |
problems of defining meaning
ⓘ
relationship between semantics and syntax ⓘ status of meaning in linguistic explanation ⓘ |
| aimsTo |
challenge traditional semantic assumptions
ⓘ
clarify the role of meaning in linguistic science ⓘ |
| associatedWith |
20th-century philosophy of language
ⓘ
American analytic philosophy ⓘ
linked to:
analytic philosophy
|
| author |
W. V. O. Quine
ⓘ
linked to:
Willard Van Orman Quine
Willard Van Orman Quine ⓘ |
| concerns |
how linguists use the concept of meaning
ⓘ
methodology of semantic analysis ⓘ theoretical commitments of semantic theories ⓘ |
| critiques |
notion of meaning as an abstract entity
ⓘ
reification of meanings in linguistic theory ⓘ traditional notions of synonymy ⓘ traditional semantic analysis ⓘ |
| discipline | philosophy of linguistics ⓘ |
| discusses |
criteria for sameness of meaning
ⓘ
problems with defining meaning via translation ⓘ semantic notions such as synonymy and analyticity ⓘ |
| field |
analytic philosophy
ⓘ
linguistics ⓘ |
| genre | philosophical essay ⓘ |
| hasPerspective |
anti-metaphysical approach to meaning
ⓘ
naturalistic approach to language ⓘ |
| influencedBy |
behaviorism in philosophy of language
ⓘ
logical empiricism ⓘ |
| language | English ⓘ |
| mainTopic |
linguistic theory
ⓘ
meaning in linguistics ⓘ philosophy of language ⓘ semantics ⓘ |
| philosophicalPosition |
critique of intensional notions of meaning
ⓘ
emphasis on observable linguistic behavior ⓘ skepticism about meanings as entities ⓘ |
| relatedWork |
Two Dogmas of Empiricism
ⓘ
linked to:
“Two Dogmas of Empiricism”
Word and Object ⓘ |
How these facts were elicited
The pipeline generated the facts above by prompting gpt-5.1 with this entity's name + description and the instruction below.
Instruction
You are a knowledge base construction expert. Given a subject entity and a description of it, return factual statements that you know for the subject as a JSON list of dictionaries(triples), where keys must be "subject", "predicate" and "object". The number of facts may be very high, between 25 to 50 or more, for very popular subjects. For less popular subjects, the number of facts can be very low, like 5 or 10. # Requirements - If you don't know the subject at all, return an empty list. - If the subject is not a named entity, return an empty list. - Include at least one triple where predicate is "instanceOf". - Do not get too wordy. - Separate several objects into multiple triples with one object.
Input
Subject: essay "The Problem of Meaning in Linguistics" Description of subject: "The Problem of Meaning in Linguistics" is a philosophical essay by Willard Van Orman Quine that critically examines how meaning is treated in linguistic theory and challenges traditional notions of semantic analysis.
Referenced by (1)
Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.