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Distinctions in Linguistic Expressions
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Indexicals
Words that gain their meaning through the context of use, typically indicating time, place, or person. Examples include 'I', 'here', and 'now'.
Predicates
Functions in linguistics that describe properties or actions of subjects. Examples include 'runs' in 'John runs' or 'is blue' in 'The sky is blue'.
Propositions
The content or meaning carried by statements, which can be true or false. Examples include 'Snow is white' which carries the proposition that the color of snow is white.
Quantifiers
Expressions that specify the quantity of subjects to which the predicate applies. Examples include 'all', 'some', 'many', 'few'.
Truth-Functional Operators
Logical connectives that create compound sentences whose truth value depends on the truth of its components. Examples include 'and', 'or', and 'not'.
Performative Utterances
Sentences that do not just describe actions, but actually perform the action by the act of saying them. Examples include 'I apologize' or 'I promise'.
Speech Acts
The actions performed via utterances which include acts such as asserting, questioning, commanding, promising. Examples include making a statement, asking a question, giving a command, or making a promise.
Sense and Reference
The distinction between the meaning of a word (sense) and what it points to (reference). An example is the terms 'Morning Star' and 'Evening Star' which have different senses but the same reference, the planet Venus.
Deictic Expressions
Words or phrases that require contextual information to convey meaning, similar to indexicals. Examples include 'this', 'that', 'these', 'those', 'here', and 'there'.
Categorical Statements
Statements that assert something unconditionally about a subject. Examples include 'All dogs are mammals' and 'No cats are dogs'.
Counterfactuals
Statements that consider hypothetical scenarios contrary to known facts. Examples include 'If I were you' or 'If pigs had wings'.
Tautologies
Statements that are true by virtue of their logical form, not because of any facts of the world. An example is 'It is raining or it is not raining'.
Contradictions
Statements that are false due to their logical structure, regardless of the facts of the world. An example is 'It is raining and it is not raining'.
Synthetic Statements
Statements whose truth value depends on facts about the world, requiring empirical verification. Examples include 'The cat is on the mat' or 'Water boils at 100°C'.
Analytic Statements
Statements that are true by virtue of meanings of the words alone, rather than facts about the world. Examples include 'All bachelors are unmarried' or 'Triangles have three sides'.
Conversational Implicatures
Meanings inferred from statements that go beyond their literal meaning, relying on the context and shared knowledge. Examples include 'Can you pass the salt?' implying a request rather than a question about ability.
Presuppositions
Assumptions implied by a statement that must be accepted as true for the statement itself to be meaningful. An example is 'John's brother is tall' presupposes that John has a brother.
Phatic Expressions
Communication aimed to share feelings or perform a social function rather than to convey information. Examples include 'Hi, how are you?' as a greeting rather than a real inquiry about well-being.
Entailment
A relationship between statements where the truth of one requires the truth of another. For instance, 'He is a bachelor' entails 'He is unmarried'.
Euphemisms
Mild or indirect words or expressions used in place of ones considered harsh or blunt. Examples include 'passed away' for 'died' or 'downsizing' for 'cuts'.
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