Wittgenstein, Translation, and Semiotics

Target ◽  
1989 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 69-94 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dinda L. Gorlée

Abstract Wittgenstein discusses interlingual and intersemiotic translation, both in its own right and, more often, as an object of comparison. In his Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus (1922), he puts forth a pictorial view which can be construed in Saussurian terms. This rule-governed notion of translation is, in Wittgenstein's later work, dynamized and based upon the use of signs. Translation is one of the language-games in Philosophical Investigations (1953). Wittgenstein's language-game of translation approaches Peirce's semiosis. Language-games are thirds which, in their nonverbal aspects, also partake of secondness and firstness. The language-game of translation occurs, at least theoretically, in three stages corresponding to the three logical interpretants.

2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 37-71
Author(s):  
Werner Stegmaier

AbstractIn his treatises A Defence of Common Sense (1925), Proof of an External World (1939), and Certainty (1941), G.E. Moore wanted to put an end to the modern doubts about the certainty of reality and the ‘external world’ by pointing to the undeniable plausibilities of ‘empirical propositions,’ such as ‘I know that this is my hand’ or ‘I know that the earth had existed before my body was born.’ Wittgenstein, who was intensely grappling with Moore’s proofs during the last one and a half years before his expected death, still questioned these proofs and countered them with his concept of language games – including a different logic of the ‘connection with reality.’ Philosophically, he thereby left many loose ends in all places and admittedly a ‘gap’ between them, which he was no longer able to close. But he prepared for closing the gap by means of his concept of orientation, which he had initiated in his Philosophical Investigations without defining it in this term. In a new interpretation of On Certainty from the perspective of the Philosophy of Orientation, this paper tries to show how the attention to the phenomenon of orientation and the language game in which it is expressed can close this gap and thus carry on Wittgenstein's late philosophy to a certain point.


Author(s):  
V. V. Tselishchev

The article is devoted to the applicability of Wittgenstein’s following the rule in the context of his philosophy of mathematics to real mathematical practice. It is noted that in «Philosophical Investigations» and «Remarks on the Foundations of Mathematics» Wittgenstein resorted to the analysis of rather elementary mathematical concepts, accompanied also by the inherent ambiguity and ambiguity of his presentation. In particular, against this background, his radical conventionalism, the substitution of logical necessity with the «form of life» of the community, as well as the inadequacy of the representation of arithmetic rules by a language game are criticized. It is shown that the reconstruction of the Wittgenstein concept of understanding based on the Fregian division of meaning and referent goes beyond the conceptual framework of Wittgenstein language games.


Author(s):  
Adi Idham Jailani ◽  
Nazarul Azali Razali ◽  
Ahmad Harith Syah Md Yusuf ◽  
Ariff Imran Anuar Yatim ◽  
Nor Atifah Mohamad

Mastery of the English grammar is an intricate subject. Conventional teaching and learning of the English grammar have found to be an arduous task for teachers and a lacklustre one for students. The traditional pen and paper method often cause second language (L2) learners to become unmotivated in understanding this important element of the language. Thus, it is critical to provide L2 learners with the motivation to engage learning grammar in a more meaningful and purposive process. An ideal way to provide such learning experiences is through the use of language games that accommodate L2 learners’ desire to grasp grammar rules in an enjoyable way. To fill the gap for a purposive and meaningful grammar-based language game, Worchitect, a card-based game that focuses on (English) parts of speech is developed. The card game poses players/learners with questions that will foster their understanding of the rules of grammar for them to play the game and accumulate the highest scores possible. This game provides a constructive reinforcement to L2 users as it allows for the English parts of speech (and grammar) rules to be deductively attained. Furthermore, Worchitect is highly marketable as it is suitable for learners of various language proficiencies; for language teachers to be used as reinforcement or the actual learning activity; for parents who are looking to spend quality time with their children; and for any language enthusiast.


2017 ◽  
Vol 40 (4) ◽  
pp. 89-110
Author(s):  
Janyne Sattler

ABSTRACT: In Wittgenstein's Philosophical Investigations the notion of a 'language game' gives human communication a regained flexibility. Contrary to the Tractatus, the ethical domain now composes one language game among others, being expressed in various types of sentences such as moral judgments, imperatives and praises, and being shared in activity by a human form of life. The aim of this paper is to show that the same moves that allow for a moral language game are the ones allowing for learning and teaching about the moral living, where persuasion takes the place of argument by means of a plural appeal. For this purpose, literature would seem to be one of the best tools at our disposal. As a way of exemplifying our moral engagement to literature I proceed at last to a brief analysis of Tolstoy's Father Sergius, to show how playing this game would help us accomplish this pedagogical enterprise.


2017 ◽  
Vol 28 (2) ◽  
pp. 365-376
Author(s):  
Marialena Avgerinou

This paper provides a parallel linguistic and conceptual reading of Wittgenstein?s and Beckett?s works. More specifically, the Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus and the Philosophical Investigations are looked at in relation to the absurd plays Not I and Waiting for Godot, respectively. The limits of language as described in the Tractatus are part of the verbally and conceptually asphyxiating world brought on stage by Beckett in the monologue Not I, while the transition to ?language games? of the Philosophical Investigations can be identified in parts of Waiting for Godot. The suggested conclusion is that Wittgenstein?s expression of the ineffable, the problematic use of language and (its) meaning can be and have been expressed in a form of art, while the meanings of Wittgenstein?s writings are in harmony with their stylistic form, his concept of ?showing? further illustrating this idea.


Author(s):  
Olga Iermachkova ◽  
Katarína Chválová

The paper is devoted to the language game in teaching Russian as a foreign language. The research aims to examine the phenomenon of the language game in journalistic text and show its effective implementation in the study processes. Language games are considered at different language levels (word-formation, graphics, paremiology and etc.). The article analyzes the definitions of the examined phenomenon and its main functions in journalistic text.


Philosophy ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 89 (2) ◽  
pp. 251-272 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dale Jacquette

AbstractThe object of this essay is to discuss Ludwig Wittgenstein's remarks inPhilosophical Investigationsand elsewhere in the posthumously published writings concerning the role of therapy in relation to philosophy. Wittgenstein's reflections seem to suggest that there is a kind of philosophy or mode of investigation targeting the philosophical grammar of language uses that gratuitously give rise to philosophical problems, and produce in many thinkers philosophical anxieties for which the proper therapy is intended to offer relief. Two possible objectives of later Wittgensteinian therapy are proposed, for subjectivepsychologicalversus objectivesemanticsymptoms of ailments that a therapy might address for the sake of relieving philosophical anxieties. The psychological in its most plausible form is rejected, leaving only the semantic. Semantic therapy in the sense defined and developed is more general and long-lasting, and more in the spirit of Wittgenstein's project on a variety of levels. A semantic approach treats language rather than the thinking, language-using subject as the patient needing therapy, and directs its attention to the treatment of problems in language and the conceptual framework a language game use expresses in its philosophical grammar, rather than to soothing unhappy or socially ill-adjusted individual psychologies.


2003 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 387-402 ◽  
Author(s):  
Willem Zuidema ◽  
Gert Westermann

Research in language evolution is concerned with the question of how complex linguistic structures can emerge from the interactions between many communicating individuals. Thus it complements psycholinguistics, which investigates the processes involved in individual adult language processing, and child language development studies, which investigate how children learn a given (fixed) language. We focus on the framework of language games and argue that they offer a fresh and formal perspective on many current debates in cognitive science, including those on the synchronic-versus-diachronic perspective on language, the embodiment and situatedness of language and cognition, and the self-organization of linguistic patterns. We present a measure for the quality of a lexicon in a population, and derive four characteristics of the optimal lexicon: specificity, coherence, distinctiveness, and regularity. We present a model of lexical dynamics that shows the spontaneous emergence of these characteristics in a distributed population of individuals that incorporate embodiment constraints. Finally, we discuss how research in cognitive science could contribute to improving existing language game models.


2014 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 29-39 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hanne Nørreklit

Purpose – The purpose of this article is to demonstrate how the quality of Qualitative Research in Accounting & Management (QRAM) is manifested through the conceptualization of knowledge about functioning actions that are applicable for local management accounting practices. Design/methodology/approach – Drawing on language game theory and pragmatic constructivism, the paper analyzes the “practice doing” embedded in key language games of the case descriptions of three articles on intra-organizational buyer-supplier relations published in QRAM with the aim of revealing how they contribute to the development of a performativity in management accounting topos that integrates facts, possibilities, values and communication. Findings – The analysis documents that the three QRAM articles on inter-organizational cost management make a common contribution to the knowledge related to what to do to make functional actions within the practice of inter-organizational cost management. Together, the articles provide conceptual rigour with a complexity in content that can encompass the four dimensions of integration. Research limitations/implications – In providing a framework for analyzing practice relevance, the paper has implications for contemporary discussions on doing research that is relevant for practice. Originality/value – The paper provides novel insight into the analysis of quality in management accounting research. Additionally, it provides a framework for reflecting on the accumulation of practice-relevant knowledge and identifying areas requiring more research.


2015 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Hans Julius Schneider

AbstractDid Wittgenstein in coining the term ‘Sprachspiel’ mean to convey the connotation of an open playfulness, as the German terms ‘Spiel’ and ‘spielerisch’ suggest? The paper tries to show that although this was not his original motive for choosing the term, the characterization of natural language offered in the Philosophical Investigations includes and indeed highlights its open, not rule-governed (and in this sense playful) sides. In this respect language is unlike a calculus and unlike a game like chess.Wittgenstein compares language to both, but, so the paper argues, he does so in order to make visible what is special in language and is different from a calculus as well as a strictly regulated game like chess.When he applies the word ‘calculus’ in an affirmative sense for describing a feature of what he describes as language games, the context is the principle of compositionality, interpreted, however, in such a way that the difference between the workings of a calculus and the workings of language is preserved.The paper comes to the conclusion that, in using a natural language, speakers have some freedom to decide whether they cling to or depart from conventional usage. This freedom is a central ingredient of the human language faculty.


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