Open AccessSemantic Ambiguity Explained in the Framework of Cognitive Economy
Author(s) -
Lixing Mida Chu
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
stance
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 1943-1899
pISSN - 1943-1880
DOI - 10.33043/s.10.1.82-93
Subject(s) - attributive , ambiguity , pragmatics , context (archaeology) , semantics (computer science) , occam , cognition , linguistics , computer science , epistemology , sociology , psychology , philosophy , history , archaeology , neuroscience , programming language
In “Context and Communication” Stephen Neale argues that the referential use of descriptions differs from the attributive use only in the pragmatics, making referential descriptions applicable to Russellian analysis. Marga Reimer disagrees with Neale’s view and argues that the difference is in the semantics, making referential descriptions semantically ambiguous. In this paper, I argue that Neale’s Modified Occam’s Razor overlooks the behavioral data of how we actually use language. I attempt to accommodate the strength of both Neale’s and Reimer’s explanations, putting them in a framework governed by the principle of cognitive economy