Abstract
Abstract The article presents two concepts of indexicality. The first, more standard and narrow, identifies indexicality with systematic (meaning controlled) context-sensitivity. The second, broader (derived from the work of Jerzy Pelc), conceives indexicality in terms of the potential variability of the general semiotic characteristics expressions (with respect to the context of use). The text introduces the concept of a pragmatic matrix that serves for a schematic representation of contextual variation. I also recapitulate briefly the views of Jerzy Pelc on the meaning (manner of use) and use of expressions, and briefly indicate its relationship approaches with contemporary debates around contextualism and status of non-sentential speech acts. Finally, the relationship between the broader notion of indexicality and the directival theory of meaning is analyzed.
Highlights
IndexicalityWhat is indexicality as a property of linguistic expressions? Elsewhere (Ciercierski 2017) I have defended an account to the effect that the best first approximation is provided by something I have called a Strawsonian picture of indexicality
The article presents two concepts of indexicality
Its first explicit articulation can be found in the article Funkcjonalne podejście do semiotyki logicznej języka naturlanego (‘Functional approach to the logical semiotics of natural language’; Pelc 1967: 109–134 and 1979: 342–375), its development in the book Studies in Functional Semiotics of Natural Language (Pelc 1971) and its most comprehensive formulation in O użyciu wyrażeń (‘On the use of expressions’; Pelc 1971a)
Summary
What is indexicality as a property of linguistic expressions? Elsewhere (Ciercierski 2017) I have defended an account to the effect that the best first approximation is provided by something I have called a Strawsonian picture of indexicality. This suffices to treat the sentence as indexical (in the second, broader, sense) Indexical in this sense shall be an arbitrary noun (like the plural, “dogs”) that has two possible matrices that might change (while the meaning remains constant) from one in which the expression plays a predicate role, to one in which the expression plays a nominal or even propositional role (as a subsentential speech act). This notion of indexicality enables us to state that (Jerzy Pelc uses the term “occasionality” as a synonym of “indexicality”):. We are still talking here about indexical expressions conceived as ordered pairs composed of some presemantic object and its manner of use (meaning)
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