From Reference to Cognition-Reconsidering Meaning through Modern Linguistics and the Indian Semantic Tradition

Abstract

: Meaning is one of the most fundamental yet complex problems in linguistic theory. The question of what a linguistic expression means has generated diverse approaches, ranging from reference and sense to use, context and cognition. Modern linguistic thought has progressively moved beyond the assumption that meaning is reducible to the relationship between a word and an external object. Frege's distinction between sense and reference, Wittgenstein's emphasis on use, Austin's analysis of language as action, and contemporary cognitive approaches have progressively foregrounded the roles of context, conceptualization, experience and cognition in meaning. The Indian śāstric traditions developed a sophisticated analysis of linguistic meaning through the concepts of śabda, artha, śakti, abhidhā, lakṣaṇā, tātparya, vākyārtha and śābdabodha. Nyāya, Mīmāṃsā and Vyākaraṇa approached the problem from distinct philosophical perspectives, while Bhartṛhari's Vākyapadīya offers an especially comprehensive account connecting language, meaning and cognition. This paper undertakes a comparative examination of these approaches. Rather than equating concepts belonging to different intellectual traditions, it investigates the semantic problems addressed by them and argues that a movement from reference to cognition provides a productive framework for understanding meaning as a dynamic phenomenon involving linguistic expression, context, interpretation and consciousness.