„Wooden language”, persuasive definitions, and inferentialist semantics Cover Image

„Wooden language”, persuasive definitions, and inferentialist semantics
„Wooden language”, persuasive definitions, and inferentialist semantics

Author(s): Cătălin Stănciulescu
Subject(s): Semantics, Philosophy of Language
Published by: Editura Universitaria Craiova
Keywords: Newspeak; Eurospeak; persuasive definitions; representationalism; pragmatism; semantic realism;

Summary/Abstract: The aim of this paper is to reformulate in pragmatist and inferentialist terms some of the critical arguments stated by Françoise Thom (1993/1987) and Roger Scruton (2006) against what the former calls „wooden language”, and the latter calls „Eurospeak”. It will be argued that such a reformulation is more helpful in analyzing political discourse, if the use of value judgments – according to the two authors, a distinctive feature of wooden language – is seen as a rhetorical tactic called „persuasive redefinition” in informal logic and argumentation theory.

  • Issue Year: 2012
  • Issue No: 33+34
  • Page Range: 40-48
  • Page Count: 9
  • Language: English