Linguistic Denotation as an Epistemological Issue

Abstract

Linguistic denotation is discussed as an epistemological issue that arises from the philosophy of external realism and the reification of language as a communication tool. Together, these serve as a foundation for viewing language as a sign system used for knowledge representation, when denotation is seen as the semantic property of linguistic signs – indication or reference to something, such as a thing (event, process, activity) or a concept. However, since neither the concept of sign in semiotics nor the concept of knowledge in philosophy (let alone the concept of concept itself) has a uniformly accepted informative definition, the concept of denotation, viewed by many as an implied semantic property of the linguistic sign, is highly controversial. It is argued that the reification of linguistic signs is a poor starting point in our attempts to understand language, not as a tool in the service of the mind, but as a mode of existence of humans in the world as an image of language.