[Wittrs] Utterances, Sentences, Propositions

[kirby urner]

On Thu, Aug 18, 2011 at 10:04 AM, Sean Wilson <whoooo26505 at yahoo.com> wrote:

<< snip >>

> But why am I writing this? Largely because this all seems to analytic. If it were just a particular arrangement of a lexicon -- like grabbing three tools from the cabinet -- it would fine for whatever you are doing with them. But maybe some get the same work done with lesser tools. Or maybe bringing three is overkill. I don't know.  But I guess what I am really saying is that I think these distinctions DO make good sense. Because I can see in my mind three things that are, in fact, different.
>

We invent a namespace (language game) for the task at hand, and if
it's useful, we may assume it will catch on and enjoy a long
(relatively) half life.

So much of language analysis has shifted to talk of the Document
Object Model (DOM) with poet Gene Fowler ('Waking the Poet')
suggesting we absorb all that <tag></tag> stuff as more punctuation,
conscious grammar, not leaving it to machines as if humans were
somehow aloof from these new "markups".

I'd say pragmatism forked most of the real work to the standards
bodies (W3 in particular) while "left behind" analytic types kept
barreling ahead with mostly short half-life stuff (flash in the pan
etc.).

Kirby