A Linguistic Paradox

In science and law, we try to use words in a very precise fashion.  Accordingly, we define our terms as precisely as possible.  This gives rise to a paradox: each new definition of a word is added to the list of its existing definitions.  Our efforts to reduce the ambiguity of a word serve only to increase its ambiguity.

The more widespread the use of a word, the more groups of people there are who may claim the word for their own specialist use.  It follows that the most common words will have the greatest spectrum of meanings.  Unfortunately, it is the most common words which, by their very familiarity, seem to have a fixed meaning.  This can lead to unwarranted assumptions about an author's meaning.

Let us conduct a linguistic thought experiment.  We will borrow a box from Erwin Schrödinger and label it with the common word 'CAT'.  Our question now is this: what would an English speaker expect to find in the box?  That question cannot be answered unless we know something about the current state of mind of the person who is going to open the box.

Just to show how one person's current expectations can differ wildly from another's, let us set up a context.  A hobbyist is repairing an old Atari games machine.  He or she reaches for a box marked 'CAT'.  What does that specific person expect to find in the box?  A Computer Assisted Troubleshooter1.

Of course, if the label read 'cat', we would probably not expect the box to contain a C.A.T.  The mere orthography can help provide a context within which the intended cat-as-object can be discovered.

Words do not have meanings, they carry meanings.  In order to reveal the meaning of a written word we must know who is the 'sender' of the word and who is the intended 'receiver'.

The communicators must never be forgotten when trying to make sense of old manuscripts.  I am currently researching the sagas of the Viking age.  I must constantly remind myself that I need to know, not what 'norðr' means, but what it meant.  I know it translates as north or northerly and I know what those terms mean today in various contexts.  What I can be very certain of is that no Viking using the word 'norðr' ever meant 'the direction towards the north geographic pole'.  A Viking giving sailing directions to another Viking had a very clear meaning in mind when using the Viking word for north.  But that is the subject matter of another article.

[1] - http://devkits.handheldmuseum.com/Atari-CatBox/index.htm