Proper names

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Graeme Forbes
Keyword(s):  
Modern Philosophy ◽  
Philosophy Of Language ◽  
Proper Names ◽  
The Other ◽  
Julius Caesar ◽  
Philosophical Issue ◽  
Proper Name ◽  
Chain Theory ◽  
Way Of Thinking ◽  
Apostolic Succession

The Roman general Julius Caesar was assassinated on 14 March 44 bc by conspirators led by Brutus and Cassius. It is a remarkable fact that, in so informing or reminding the reader, the proper names ‘Julius Caesar‘, ‘Brutus’ and ‘Cassius’ are used to refer to three people each of whom has been dead for about two thousand years. Our eyes could not be used to see any of them, nor our voices to talk to them, yet we can refer to them with our words. The central philosophical issue about proper names is how this sort of thing is possible: what exactly is the mechanism by which the user of a name succeeds in referring with the name to its bearer? As the example indicates, whatever the mechanism is, it must be something that can relate the use of a name to its bearer even after the bearer has ceased to exist. In modern philosophy of language there are two main views about the nature of the mechanism. On one account, which originated with Frege, a use of a name expresses a conception or way of thinking of an object, and the name refers to whatever object fits, or best fits, that conception or way of thinking. Thus with ‘Cassius‘, for example, I may associate the conception ‘the conspirator whom Caesar suspected because of his size’ (recalling a famous speech in Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar). Conception theories are usually called ‘sense’ theories, after Frege’s term ‘Sinn‘. The other account is the ‘historical chain’ theory, due to Kripke and Geach. In Geach’s words, ’ for the use of a word as a proper name there must in the first instance e someone acquainted with the object named…. But…the use of a given name for a given object…can be handed on from one generation to another…Plato knew Socrates, and Aristotle knew Plato, and Theophrastus knew Aristotle, and so on in apostolic succession down to our own times. That is why we can legitimately use "Socrates" as a name the way we do’ (1969–70: 288–9).

Peut-on sauver un sens de dénomination pour les noms propres ?

2004 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 115-145 ◽  
Author(s):  
Georges Kleiber
Keyword(s):  
Proper Names ◽  
The Other ◽  
Long Term Memory ◽  
Semantic Description ◽  
Procedural Approach ◽  
Classic Problem ◽  
The Status ◽  
Proper Name ◽  
Procedural Instruction

This study revisits the classic problem posed by the meaning of proper names, and proposes a procedural approach to this problem, by analysing the meaning of proper names as an instruction to find in long-term memory the referent that carries the proper name in question. This is a revision of my earlier theory of ‘naming predicates’ (Kleiber 1981), which captures the meaning of proper names like Louis in terms of paraphrases of the form “the x who is called Louis”. The concept of ‘naming predicate’ was meant to provide an alternative to the inadequacies of the two classic approaches to the meaning of proper names, viz. theories that analyse proper names as semantically empty (e.g. Mills, Kripke 1972) and theories that analyse proper names in terms of uniquely identifying descriptions (Frege, Russell 1956). An analysis in terms of naming predicates (‘the X called Louis’) gives proper names an abstract type of meaning, thus avoiding the disembodied sign that results from analysing them as semantically empty, and at the same time does not go to the other extreme of incoporating aspects of the referent in the proper name’s meaning, thus avoiding the well-known problems with referential identity (e.g. Tullius = Cicero) and the related puzzles of transparence and opacity. In spite of these descriptive advantages, further research has shown that there are a number of problems with the notion of ‘naming predicate’. One of these problems concerns the status of proper names in ‘naming constructions’ like I am called Louis. Applying a naming predicate analysis to such constructions either leads to infinite regression (Wilmet 1995), or — if Louis in the naming predicate ‘the x called Louis’ is regarded as a phonetic form rather than a proper name — to a denial of proper name status in the very construction that expresses the naming link between proper name and referent (Jonasson 1982). Another problem concerns the cognitive naturalness of an analysis in terms of ‘naming predicates’. While this analysis is quite natural in contexts like There is no Louis in this office, it works less well in contexts like This painting is a real Picasso and, most importantly, in prototypical uses like Louis is a painter and a sculpturer, where a naming predicate analysis solely identifies the referent as the carrier of the proper name. These problems have led me to propose a revision to the theory of naming predicates. The descriptive advantages of using the naming relation between proper name and referent as the basis of the semantic description are obvious, which means that this aspect of the theory needs to be maintained. What causes most of the problems, however, is associating this naming relation with a predicate. As an alternative, I propose to reanalyse it in a procedural sense, not as a predicate describing the referent but as a procedural instruction to look for the referent that carries the proper name. This puts proper names in the domain of indexical signs like deictic elements. Common nouns, on the other hand, are not indexical in this sense but stand for concepts, which means that indexicality only comes into the picture when deictic elements are added.

scholarly journals Proper name-marking via liaison in French

2019 ◽  
Vol 72 (4) ◽  
pp. 627-652
Author(s):  
Natascha Pomino ◽  
Elisabeth Stark
Keyword(s):  
Empirical Studies ◽  
Proper Names ◽  
Noun Phrases ◽  
The Other ◽  
Linguistic Change ◽  
The Poor ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
Relevant Point ◽  
Proper Name ◽  
The One

Abstract The liaison consonant [z] in French noun phrases has traditionally been assumed to function as a plural marker. The realization of “plural [z]” in N(oun)-A(djective)-combinations is becoming, however, very rare in naturalistic data – except for contexts which allow a proper-name reading. On the one hand, one might think that we are dealing with a recent phenomenon, the beginning of a potential linguistic change in French in the sense of exaptation, reuse of former morphophonological material such as plural markers to signal proper-namehood in the sense of ‘frozen morphology’. If this turns out correct, we expect the productivity of the new synchronic function to increase: New NA-combinations which function as proper names should be realized systematically with liaison, and proper name-marking via liaison should also become possible with other liaison consonants. On the other hand, we may be dealing with a (completed) diachronic process, in that only those NA-combinations which allowed liaison at the relevant point in time may have a liaison consonant in their univerbalized form. That is, new NA-combinations, even though they are used as proper names, do not display a liaison consonant, because liaison is no longer possible. The purpose of this paper was to investigate, based on empirical studies, whether liaison productively marks NA-combinations which function as proper names and distinguishes them from NA-combinations that count as common nouns, or whether we are dealing with a completed diachronic process. In view of the poor productivity observed, we argue that we are dealing with cases of univerbation.

The Effect of Proper Name and Appearance Changes on Children's Reasoning about Gender Constancy

1989 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 195-205 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carole R. Beal ◽  
Maria E. Lockhart
Keyword(s):  
Fourth Graders ◽  
Proper Names ◽  
Second Graders ◽  
The Other ◽  
Proper Name ◽  
Gender Constancy ◽  
Appearance Changes

Two studies were conducted to assess how changes in sex-typed names and in appearance affect children's performance on the gender constancy task. In the first study, pre-schoolers and second-graders participated in a gender constancy task in which proper names, pronouns, or sex-neutral terms were used to refer to a picture of a child whose appearance was transformed to look like the other gender. The results showed that children of both ages were more likely to respond correctly when the same proper name was used to refer to the picture throughout the task. In the second study, preschoolers, second-graders and fourth-graders were asked whether a change in proper name would change a person's gender, both by itself and with an accompanying appearance change. The results showed that younger children thought that gender would be changed by a proper name even when appearance remained constant. The results suggest that children who lack a solid understanding of gender constancy can be misled by changes in both appearance and proper name cues.

scholarly journals Towards an Indexical Paradoxico-Metaphysics

2018 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 155-172
Author(s):  
Hilan Nissior Bensusan
Keyword(s):  
Philosophy Of Language ◽  
Proper Names ◽  
Object Oriented ◽  
The Other ◽  
Language And Thought ◽  
The Universe

Abstract This paper sketches a metaphysical view according to which the furniture of the universe is made of indexicals. The view draws from work in the philosophy of language and thought concerning demonstratives, proper names and other deictic operations (by Perry, Kaplan, Kripke among others). It also draws on Levinas‘ conception of the Other as beyond any substantive description. Indexicalism, as I call it, is compared with object-oriented views such as Harman‘s and Garcia‘s. Indexicalism lapses into paradox concerning totality and proves to be self-destructive. It is defended, however, as a paradoxico-metaphysics.

Namesakes in literature, or Chekhov's code in Sholokhov's novels

2021 ◽  
pp. 116-138
Author(s):  
E. O. Shatsky
Keyword(s):  
Short Stories ◽  
Civil War ◽  
Proper Names ◽  
The Other ◽  
Russian People ◽  
Traditional Morality ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
The Family ◽  
Cherry Orchard ◽  
Proper Name

An allusive proper name is one of the traditional artistic devices of the Russian classics. The author examines Sholokhov's prose to find nearly a dozen names with reference to various Chekhov short stories. In most cases, there is no similarity between the characters' destinies, but the sheer ubiquity of Chekhov-inspired names can be considered as an homage to the master. On the other hand, the allusive names that Sholokhov consistently borrows from The Cherry Orchard [Vishnyoviy sad] are indicative of plot parallels between Sholokhov's novels and Chekhov's play. Notably, Sholokhov uses allusive proper names as a means of generalisation and typification of characters, from the bulwark of traditional morality, the Cossack woman Natalia Stepanovna, the ‘Russian Lucretia,' to the evercheerful soldier Lopakhin, to the family of Mikhail and Dunyasha Koshevoy as a symbol of recovery of the nation divided by the civil war, to the Gaev family as a premonition of the fate awaiting peasant Russia. Such allusions allow for treatment of Sholokhov's novels as a trilogy about the tragedies of the Russian people in the first half of the 20th c.

scholarly journals PEMAKAIAN ISTILAH BAHASA SANSKERTA PADA NAMA DIRI DI DALAM PRASASTI POH (827 ÇAKA): TINJAUAN PERSPEKTIF IDENTITAS

2018 ◽  
Vol 38 (2) ◽  
pp. 116-135
Author(s):  
Kayato Hardani
Keyword(s):  
Proper Names ◽  
The Other ◽  
Human Being ◽  
Proper Name ◽  
Born Baby ◽  
Development Of Language ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Descriptive Qualitative

Proper names in general use as the individual differentiator within the community as well as the identity. Parent in giving name on their newly born baby is often based on some motivation. Proper names can be analyzed linguistically because it contains elements of the sign that serves referential as well as vocative. The proper names is a part of the human being itself, so that in every interaction within society, someone always conscious of his own identity for his own interests, the other person and society as his place of life and interaction. Diachronically the development of language, including the use of the name itself can be traced back its presence through written inscriptions in the form of inscriptions. The writing of the proper name in Poh inscription is explicitly only as a list of attendees (witnesses) who attended the inauguration ceremony. Starting from this point can be found the use of the name of the old Javanese period. This study aims to understand the construction and meaning in the proper name found in the Poh Inscription using an identity perspective. The method used in this study is descriptive qualitative which begins with observing and analyzing proper names using Sanskrit language elements.

scholarly journals Challenges in Translation of English Phraseological Units With Onomastic Constituents Into Vietnamese Equivalents

2021 ◽  
Vol 37 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Nguyen Viet Khoa
Keyword(s):  
Proper Names ◽  
Translation Studies ◽  
Qualitative Approach ◽  
The Other ◽  
Target Language ◽  
Translation Process ◽  
Translation Strategies ◽  
Depth Study ◽  
Proper Name ◽  
Multiple Levels

Translation of phraseological units with proper names (PUPs) is topical for the contemporary translation studies nowadays. It is noted that PUPs reflect the culture and national mentality of a definite nation. Quite a few studies have prospectively examined English PUPs and their translation into other languages, but it is hard to find such an in-depth study in the case the target language is Vietnamese. By employing the qualitative approach, this paper sets out the findings of the study where 241 English PUPs in our compiled database were classified into four groups according to their translations into Vietnamese. The group of non-idiomatic and descriptive translation equivalents accounts for a majority of more than 57% of all the PUPs, proving that PUPs in both languages are highly culture-specific. Although the other three groups share a minority of approximately 43% of all the PUPs, they hold interesting implications and multiple levels of similar or different metaphors. Based on the findings, the paper discusses the challenges translators encounter during the translation process of English PUPs into their Vietnamese equivalents. It is evident that among various translation obstacles, the proper name factor is clearly one of the most challenging issues. The paper then proposes some translation solutions to cope with these special expressions. In addition to recommending to flexibly apply translation strategies, the author's conclusion emphasizes that only when translators manage to decode and grasp how PUPs work cross-linguistically in both languages and cultures can they achieve an appropriate translation of English PUPs.

scholarly journals Common names and proper nouns: Morphosyntactic evidence of a complete nominal paradigm

2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 815
Author(s):  
Samuel Jambrović
Keyword(s):  
Proper Names ◽  
Common Noun ◽  
The Other ◽  
Proper Noun ◽  
Proper Nouns ◽  
Count Nouns ◽  
Empirical Coverage ◽  
Proper Name ◽  
At Home

The terms "common noun" and "proper name" encode two dichotomies that are often conflated. This paper explores the possibility of the other combinations—"common name" and "proper noun"—and concludes that both exist on the basis of their morphosyntactic behavior. In support of common names, inflectional regularization is determined to result from a "name" layer in the structure, meaning that common nouns that regularize are, in fact, common names (computer mouses, tailor’s gooses). In support of proper nouns, there are bare singular count nouns in English that receive definite interpretations and seem to be licensed as arguments by the same null determiner as proper names (I left town, she works at home). Not only does a four-way distinction between nouns, names, proper nouns, and proper names achieve greater empirical coverage, but it also captures the independent morphosyntactic effects of [PROPER] and [NAME] as features on D and N, respectively.

DIRECTIONS OF ASSOCIATIVE IDENTIFICATION OF PERSONAL NAMES

2019 ◽  
Vol 18 (28) ◽  
pp. 118-128
Author(s):  
Olena Karpenko ◽  
Tetiana Stoianova
Keyword(s):  
Proper Names ◽  
Mental Lexicon ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Sound Symbolism ◽  
Personal Names ◽  
Communicative Process ◽  
Proper Name ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Scientific Value ◽  
The Brain

The article is devoted to the study of personal names from a cognitive point of view. The study is based on the cognitive concept that speech actually exists not in the speech, not in linguistic writings and dictionaries, but in consciousness, in the mental lexicon, in the language of the brain. The conditions for identifying personal names can encompass not only the context, encyclopedias, and reference books, but also the sound form of the word. In the communicative process, during a free associative experiment, which included a name and a recipient’s mental lexicon. The recipient was assigned a task to quickly give some association to the name. The aggregate of a certain number of reactions of different recipients forms the associative field of a proper name. The associative experiment creates the best conditions for identifying the lexeme. The definition of a monosemantic personal name primarily includes the search of what it denotes, while during the process of identifying a polysemantic personal name recipients tend have different reactions. Scientific value is posed by the effect of the choice of letters for the name, sound symbolism, etc. The following belong to the generalized forms of identification: usage of a hyperonym; synonyms and periphrases or simple descriptions; associations denoting the whole (name stimulus) by reference to its part (associatives); cognitive structures such as “stimulus — association” and “whole (stimulus) — part (associative)”; lack of adjacency; mysterious associations. The topicality of the study is determined by its perspective to identify the directions of associative identification of proper names, which is one of the branches of cognitive onomastics. The purpose of the study is to identify, review, and highlight the directions of associative identification of proper names; the object of the research is the names in their entirety and variety; its subject is the existence of names in the mental lexicon, which determines the need for singling out the directions for the associative identification of the personal names.

The Problem of the Typology of Rationality in Muslim Culture

2019 ◽  
Vol 62 (6) ◽  
pp. 88-99
Author(s):  
Andrey A. Lukashev
Keyword(s):  
Modern Philosophy ◽  
Theoretical Basis ◽  
Theoretical Models ◽  
The Other ◽  
Common Denominator ◽  
Islamic Culture ◽  
The Common ◽  
Per Se ◽  
The One ◽  
Muslim Culture

The typology of rationality is one of major issues of modern philosophy. In an attempt to provide a typology to Oriental materials, a researcher faces additional problems. The diversity of the Orient as such poses a major challenge. When we say “Oriental,” we mean several cultures for which we cannot find a common denominator. The concept of “Orient” involves Arabic, Indian, Chinese, Turkish and other cultures, and the only thing they share is that they are “non-Western.” Moreover, even if we focus just on Islamic culture and look into rationality in this context, we have to deal with a conglomerate of various trends, which does not let us define, with full confidence, a common theoretical basis and treat them as a unity. Nevertheless, we have to go on trying to find common directions in thought development, so as to draw conclusions about types of rationality possible in Islamic culture. A basis for such a typology of rationality in the context of the Islamic world was recently suggested in A.V. Smirnov’s logic of sense theory. However, actual empiric material cannot always fit theoretical models, and the cases that do not fit the common scheme are interesting per se. On the one hand, examination of such cases gives an opportunity to specify certain provisions of the theory and, on the other hand, to define the limits of its applicability.

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