Language in the Philosophy of Aristotle (Janua Linguarum. Series Minor, 87)

This book examines Aristotle's theory of philosophical language in the light of his theory of signification. Although meaning, for Aristotle, is the property of a word whereby it arrests the attention and communicates understanding, Aristotle is not primarily interested in meaning in this general sense but rather in the meaning of nouns and verbs as they are the subjects and predicates of enunciations. Aristotle then in treating language is not interested in constructing a grammar of language. An examination of the De Interpretatione, the Poetics, and the Rhetoric substantiates my view that Aristotle is not interested in grammar.

Hdi is a hitherto undescribed language spoken in northern Cameroon. The language belongs to the Central Branch of Chadic. The aim of the book is to provide a fairly complete description of the grammar of this language. Consequently, the grammar describes the phonology, morphology and syntax of Hdi and the semantic and discourse functions coded in this language. Most clauses in Hdi are verb-initial, with the subject directly following the verb. The object is often marked by a preposition. What makes Hdi unusual is that the object-marking preposition is unique and does not function elsewhere as a locative preposition. Another interesting feature of Hdi is that there are two types of clauses, pragmatically independent and pragmatically dependent, and that the difference between these is coded by different tense and aspectual systems. In addition, there are two clausal orders for complex sentences: The order embedded clause-matrix clause codes one type of modality, while the order matrix clause-embedded clause codes another. The language also has a rich system of verbal extensions coding the semantic roles of arguments and adjuncts and the direction of movement.

The grammar is of interest not only to linguists working in African, Chadic and Afroasiatic linguistics, but also to general linguists, since it describes phenomena rarely seen in other languages of the world. The grammar is described in terms accessible to linguists working within various theoretical frameworks.

Preface......Page 7 1. Introduction......Page 11 2.1 Introduction......Page 15 2.2 Plato And Language......Page 16 2.3 What Is Language?......Page 20 2.4 The Use Of Language......Page 21 2.5 Meaning Or Signification......Page 23 2.6 Reference......Page 36 2.7 Language: Grammar Or Logic?......Page 37 2.8 Signification Of General Terms......Page 42 2.9 Conclusion......Page 45 3.1 Introduction......Page 47 3.2 The Language Of Proof......Page 51 3.3 Conclusion......Page 78 4.1 Introduction......Page 79 4.2 Aristotle’S Purpose In Metaphysics......Page 82 4.3 The Meanings Of “Being”......Page 84 4.4 The Referent Of “Being”......Page 90 4.5 Conclusion......Page 92 Appendix: The Subject Of Metaphysics......Page 93 5.1 Theory Of Signification......Page 97 5.2 Philosophical Language......Page 100 5.3 A Use Of Language: The Meaning Of “Being”......Page 104 Bibliography......Page 107 Index......Page 111