Abstract
It is generally accepted today that language expressions have meaning by convention, but this invites the question: How does the convention get established? The most acceptable explanation is the Kripke (1972) notion of ‘baptism’, i.e. the initiation of a name-using practice, which is a variation on a long-established view that a history of conventional usage characterizes the vocabulary in the language and allows successive generations to communicate easily.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Title of host publication | The Routledge Handbook of Semantics |
| Editors | Nick Riemer |
| Place of Publication | Abingdon Oxon UK |
| Publisher | Routledge |
| Chapter | 3 |
| Pages | 48-68 |
| Number of pages | 21 |
| Edition | 1st |
| ISBN (Print) | 9780415661737 |
| Publication status | Published - 2016 |