Semantic Theory: Naturalists vs. Conventionalists
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The Naturalists' View on Meaning
Ancient Greek philosophers who advocated this position viewed naming as a natural relationship between the signs and what these signs signified. They thought that the form of words was thus related to their meaning. This relationship was said to emanate from rigidly fixed inviolable principles on which man had no control.
The existence of a number of onomatopoeic words in natural languages, that is, words whose phonetic form is an imitation of the original sound they refer to such as cuckoo, splash, crush, and hoot in English, backed up the view held by the naturalist school.
The Conventionalists' View on Meaning
Greek philosophers who argued for the conventionalist explanation viewed the relationship of naming... Continue reading "Semantic Theory: Naturalists vs. Conventionalists" »