What can go wrong with the use of
language in the course of
argument?
3.1. THE EMOTIVE AND COGNITIVE MEANING
OF WORDS
Argument is an expression.
Reasoning is represented in words.
Logic works in language.
This chapter focuses on two functions
of language. These are:
Emotive meaning
Cognitive meaning
Words that are said to have
cognitive meaning impart/convey
information.
Words that are said to have emotive
meaning evoke emotions.
Example 1
7× 5(3x+3) = 35
5(3x+3) = 5
log5(3x+3) =log5
3x +3=1
3x = -2
X= -2/3
Example 2
The death penalty, which is legal in 36 states, has been
carried out most often in Georgia; however, since 1977
Texas holds the record for the greatest number of
executions.
Example 3
The death penalty is a cruel and inhuman form of
punishment in which hapless prisoners are dragged
from their cells and summarily slaughtered only to
satiate the bloodlust of a vengeful public.
Value Claims are the cognitive
meaning of an emotive statement.
Factual Disputes are disputes on facts
Verbal Disputes are disputes that
center on the meaning of a word.
Example1
[Link] are not free because our behavior is determined by
our genes in conjunction with environmental influences.
B. I disagree. This is a free country. Ethiopians are a free
people!
Example2
[Link] battle of Adwa took place in 1889.
[Link] it took place in 1896.
3.2. THE INTENSION AND EXTENSION
OF TERMS
arguments are comprised of statements
statements are made up of words, words
symbolize meanings and meanings are
conveyed through definitions.
the basic units of any ordinary language are
words.
logic is more interested in particular words
called terms.
A term is any word or arrangement of words
that may serve as the subject of a statement.
Term includes proper names, common names,
and Descriptive phrases.
• Verbs, non-substantive adjectives,
adverbs, prepositions, conjunctions and
all non-syntactic arrangement of words
are NOT terms.
•In identifying a word as a term it is
important to distinguish the use of words
from the mention of a word.
•A word is said to be used when it is in its
proper function in English grammar.
•Any word can be a term if they are mentioned
Example
1. “Did” is a three-letter English word.
[mentioned]
2. I know what you did last night. [used]
•Words are usually considered to be
symbols and the entities they symbolize are
usually called meanings.
•Terms, being made up of words, are also
symbols, but the meanings they symbolize
are of two kinds: intensional and
extensional.
•The intensional meaning consists of the
qualities or attributes that the term
connotes.
•the extensional meaning consists of the
members of the class that the term
denotes.
•The intensional meaning is otherwise known
as the intension or connotation, and the
extensional meaning is known as the
extension or denotation.
Intension Extension
•Companion animal •All cats in the
•Mammal/domestic Cat universe
•Four-legged
•Feeds/feasts on rats
•Carnivorous
•Meowing- cry of cats
•Cute
•selfish
Examples:
1.‘dog’ means like Lulu, Bobby, Royal, Cooper,
Pluto.
[Link] is like Jonathan, Govinda.
[Link] is the oldest tortoise on earth with
the world’s Guinness record of 190 years.
•Conventional connotation of a term
consists of the properties or attributes that
the term commonly connotes to the members
of the community who speak the language in
question
•If a term denotes an empty (or null) class,
the class that has no members then it is said
to have empty extension.
•The fact that some terms have empty
extension indicates that intension determines
extension. But extension suggests intension.
•Increasing intension when each
term in the series (except the first)
connotes more attributes than the one
preceding it
•Decreasing intension is the reverse
of that of increasing intension.
•Increasing extension when each
term in the series (except the first)
denotes a class having more members
than the class denoted by the term
preceding it.
•Decreasing extension is the reverse
of this order.
Examples
1. Tiger; mammal; feline; animal
2. Doctor of medicine; person; brain
surgeon; professional person;
surgeon
3. Parallelogram; polygon; square;
rectangle; quadrilateral
4. Italian sports car; car; vehicle;
Maserati; sports car
3.3. DEFINITIONS AND THEIR PURPOSES
“If you wish to converse with me define your terms.”
Voltaire
definition is a group of words that assigns a
meaning to some word or group of words.
every definition consists of two parts: definiendum
and definiens.
definiendum is the word or group of words that is
supposed to be defined and the definiens is the
word or group of words that does the defining.
There are five types of definitions. These are
stipulative, lexical, précising, theoretical, persuasive.
STIPULATIVE DEFINITIONS
It arbitrarily assigns meaning to a word for the first
time. This may involve either coining(make up) a new
word or giving a new meaning to an old word.
It is used to replace a more complex expression with a
simpler one.
It is used to set up secret codes.
It is often occasioned by some new phenomenon or
development.
It is used as the unique use of language among a
particular group of people.
It cannot be evaluated as true or false.
LEXICAL DEFINITIONS
is used to report/repeat the meaning that a
word already has in a language.
a lexical definition may be true or false
depending on whether it does or does not
report the way a word is actually used.
lexical definitions have the further purpose of
eliminating the ambiguity. A word is
ambiguous when it can be interpreted as
having two or more clearly distinct meanings in
a given context. Examples: party; light; bank;
sound; race; right; bachelor, pool
PRECISING DEFINITIONS
It’s used to reduce the vagueness of a
word.
A word is vague if there are borderline
cases such that it is impossible to tell
whether the word applies to them or not.
Examples: love; happiness; peace;
excessive; fresh; rich; poor; normal;
discipline vs. abuse;
THEORETICAL DEFINITIONS
provides a theoretical picture or
characterization of the entity or entities
denoted by the definiendum.
it provides a way of viewing or conceiving
these entities that suggests deductive
consequences.
Theoretical definition functions as
proposals to see or interpret some
phenomenon in a certain way.
Theoretical definitions are neither true nor
false.
PERSUASIVE DEFINITIONS
engender a favorable or unfavorable attitude
toward what is denoted by the definiendum.
assigns an emotionally charged or value-laden
meaning to a word.
The objective of a persuasive definition is to
influence the attitudes of the reader or listener.
They are instruments of persuasion.
Example
‘Abortion’ means the ruthless murdering of
innocent human being.
‘Abortion’ means a safe and established surgical
procedure whereby a woman is relieved of
unwanted burden.
[Link] TECHNIQUES
EXTENSIONAL/DENOTATIVE INTENSIONAL/CONOTATIVE
Demonstrative Synonymous
(Ostensive) definitions
definition
Pointing
Enumerative Etymological
definitions definition
Naming them Operational
individually
definition
Definition by Subclass
Naming them in Definition by genus
group and difference
Demonstrative (Ostensive)
definitions
Are probably the most primitive form of definition.
All one need know to understand such a definition is
the meaning of pointing.
Used if the speakers do not know each other’s
language.
Since they are the most primitive they are also the
most limited( for instance when the object to be
pointed is not available).
In such definitions the definiens is gesture. In sign
language the ‘words’ are signs or gestures.
They are either partial or complete.
Enumerative definitions
It assigns a meaning to a term by naming the
members of the class the term denotes.
It names the members individually. The members are
single irreducible unit of a larger class.
They are either partial or complete.
‘Planet’ means one of the following Mercury, Venus,
Earth, Mars, Saturn, Jupiter, Neptune, Uranus, and
Pluto.
‘Actress’ means ……. (finite)
‘Number’ means …… (infinite)
‘Continent’ means Africa, Europe, Asia, Australia, North
America, and South America. (finite)
‘Ocean’ means Atlantic, Pacific, Indian, and Antarctic
(finite)
Definition by Subclass
It assigns a meaning to a term by naming
subclasses of the class denoted by the
term.
It is used when we encounter something
that is either difficult or impossible to
completely enumerate.
It names the members in groups.
They are either partial or complete.
Example
‘Fictional work’ means either a poem, a
play, a novel, or a short story.
Synonymous
A synonymous definition is one in
which the definiens is a single word
that connotes the same attributes as
the definiendum. In other words, the
definiens is a synonym of the word
being defined. It is highly concise.
Example: Physician means doctor.
Etymological definition
It’s the history of a linguistic form such as a word
shown by tracing its development since its earliest
recorded occurrence in the language where it is found,
by tracing its transmission from one language to
another, by analyzing it into its component parts, by
identifying its cognates in other languages, or by
tracing it and its cognates to a common ancestral form
in an ancestral language.
Examples
‘License’ – Latin – licere (to be permitted)
‘Captain’ – Latin – caput (head)
‘Principle’ – Latin – principium (beginning/source)
Operational definition
An operational definition assigns a meaning to
a word by specifying certain experimental
procedures that determine whether or not the
word applies to a certain thing.
Operational definitions were invented for the
purpose of tying down relatively abstract
concepts to the solid ground of empirical reality.
However, it has the deficiency of conveying only
part of the intensional meaning of a term.
Example: One substance is “harder than”
another if and only if one scratches the other
when the two are rubbed together.
Definition by Genus and
Difference
A Definition by Genus and Difference
assigns a meaning to a term by identifying
a genus term and one or more difference
words that when combined convey the
meaning of the term being defined.
“genus” simply means a relatively larger
class and “species” means a relatively
smaller subclass of the genus.
The specific difference or “difference” is
the attribute or attributes that distinguish
the various species within a genus.
Examples
1. “Husband” means married man.
2. “Skyscraper” means very tall building.
3. “Tent” means a collapsible shelter made
of canvas or other material that is
stretched and sustained by poles.
3.5. CRITERIA FOR LEXICAL DEFINITIONS
1. Should be grammatically correct!
2. Should mention the essential meaning of a
term!
3. Should be neither too broad nor too narrow!
4. Should avoid circularity!
5. Should be affirmative not negative!
6. Should avoid figurative, obscure, vague and
ambiguous language!
7. Should avoid affective terminology!
8. Should mention the pertinent context that the
term is applied to!