What I know when I know a language

In Ernie Lepore & Barry C. Smith (eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Philosophy of Language. Oxford, England: Oxford University Press (2005)
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Abstract

EVERY speaker of a language knows a bewildering variety of linguistic facts, and will come to know many more. It is knowledge that connects sound and meaning. Questions about the nature of this knowledge cannot be separated from fundamental questions about the nature of language. The conception of language we should adopt depends on the part it plays in explaining our knowledge of language. This chapter explores options in accounting for language, and our knowledge of language, and defends the view that individuals’ languages are constituted by the standing knowledge they carry from one speech situation to another.

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2009

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10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199552238.003.0037

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Barry C. Smith
School of Advanced Study, University of London

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References found in this work

Language acquisition in the absence of experience.Stephen Crain - 1991 - Behavioral and Brain Sciences 14 (4):597-612.
What do I know when I know a language?Michael Dummett - 1993 - In The seas of language. New York: Oxford University Press.
Faculty disputes.John Collins - 2004 - Mind and Language 19 (5):503-33.

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