On Donnellan’s Theory of Definite Descriptions
1. School of Foreign Languages for Business, Southwestern University of Finance and Economics, Chengdu 611130, China
2. School of Foreign Languages, Chengdu Normal University, Chengdu 611130, China
| Abstract: | By Donnellan’s account of definite descriptions, two uses are recognized: the denoting use and the referential use. When clarifying the relationship between the two uses, the current paper attempts to argue that to achieve the referential use does not amount to the effect that the language-related properties of definite descriptions determined by the constituent words and syntactic rules should be abandoned, and instead of being a denial of the basic meaning of a linguistic expression, the deviation caused by the referential use from the denoting one merely suggests that the effects of language use are produced by multiple factors. In addition, the semantic content revealed by the denoting use of a definite description is already complete and conveys a weak reference which is related to the world external to the language. |
| Keywords: | Definite Description; Denoting Use; Referential Use; Semantic Content |
| DOI: | 10.57237/j.cll.2024.02.002 |
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Received: 18 December 2023
Accepted: 5 February 2024
Published Online: 13 April 2024
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