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On Katz's Autonomous Semantics

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 March 2026

Ray Jackendoff
Ray Jackendoff*
Affiliation:
Brandeis University
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Abstract

This paper critically examines Jerrold Katz's position on meaning, in particular his view that a semantic theory can be constructed which is free of information derived from pragmatics and speakers' belief systems. It is shown that, if such a semantic theory exists, it either excludes many fundamental phenomena which are normally thought of as semantic, or else misses linguistically significant generalizations. It is then argued that, even if Katz's particular version of semantics is rejected, this does not render an intentionalist semantic theory impossible.

Information

Type
Research Article
Information
Language , Volume 57 , Issue 2 , June 1981 , pp. 425 - 435
Copyright
Copyright © 1981 by Linguistic Society of America

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Footnotes

*

* I wish to thank Jane Grimshaw, Morris Halle, Jorge Hankamer, Elise Jackendoff, D. T. Langendoen, Joan Maling, and Alan Prince for their important comments and suggestions about earlier versions of this paper.

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