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The Connection Between Language and the World: A Paradox of the Linguistic Turn?

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Abstract

Alex Gillespie and Flora Cornish draw on the dialogic turn as they consider that, in order to interpret the meaning of an utterance, it is necessary to emphasize its contextual nature. Among other aspects, they address what context is and what is being done while speaking. Taking these two issues as point of departure, it is worth pondering on (1) what revolves around language and what the status of nonlinguistic semiotic systems is for the philosophers of language, (2) Umberto Eco’s critique of the Philosophy of Language, which has not problematized the pre-linguistic relationship with things, and (3) how ontogenesis may shed light on this scheme where linguistic and nonlinguistic aspects are inevitably interrelated. I will reflect on the pragmatic aspects in adult-child communication at its pre-linguistic level. I will underscore the key role played by the object as a complex referent and as a tool for communication.

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Acknowledgments

This paper was supported by the project EDU2011-27840, I + D + I from the Ministry of Science and Innovation, Spain.

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  1. Facultad de Psicología, Departamento de Psicología Evolutiva y Educación, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Campus de Cantoblanco, 28049, Madrid, Spain

    Cintia Rodríguez

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Correspondence to Cintia Rodríguez.

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Rodríguez, C. The Connection Between Language and the World: A Paradox of the Linguistic Turn?. Integr. psych. behav. 49, 89–103 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12124-014-9274-2

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