Philosophy of language is the branch of philosophy that studies language. Its primary concerns include the nature of linguistic meaning, reference, language use, language learning and creation, language understanding, truth, thought and experience (to the extent that both are linguistic), communication, interpretation, and translation.

At heart, the discipline is concerned with five fundamental issues.

• How are sentences composed into a meaningful whole, and what are the meanings of the parts of sentences?
• What is the nature of meaning? (What exactly is a meaning?)
• What do we do with language? (How do we use it socially? What is the purpose of language?)
• How does language relate to the mind, both of the speaker and the interpreter?
• How does language relate to the world?

Overview

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