Autological word
Encyclopedia
An autological word
is a word expressing a property which it also possesses itself (the word "short" is short, "common" is common, "noun" is a noun, "English" is English, "pentasyllabic" has five syllables, "word" is a word). The opposite is heterological, a word that does not apply to itself ("long" is not long, "banana" is not a banana, "Englisch" is German). A number of autological words are available at this website.
Unlike more general concepts of autology and self-reference, this particular distinction and opposition of "autological" and "heterological words" is uncommon in linguistics
for describing linguistic phenomena or classes of words, but is current in logic and philosophy where it was introduced by Kurt Grelling
and Leonard Nelson
for describing a semantic paradox, later known as Grelling's paradox or the Grelling-Nelson paradox
The fame of this paradox later extending also to non-academic circles has created a more widespread popular interest, expressing itself in more recent times also in the creation of lists of autological words.
One source of autological words are archetypal words (ostensive definition
) – words chosen to describe a phenomenon by using an example of the phenomenon, which are thus necessarily autological. One such example is a mondegreen
– a mishearing of a phrase, which itself is based on a mishearing of "And laid him on the green" as "And Lady Mondegreen".
is a word expressing a property which it also possesses itself (the word "short" is short, "common" is common, "noun" is a noun, "English" is English, "pentasyllabic" has five syllables, "word" is a word). The opposite is heterological, a word that does not apply to itself ("long" is not long, "banana" is not a banana, "Englisch" is German). A number of autological words are available at this website.
Unlike more general concepts of autology and self-reference, this particular distinction and opposition of "autological" and "heterological words" is uncommon in linguistics
Linguistics
Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. Linguistics can be broadly broken into three categories or subfields of study: language form, language meaning, and language in context....
for describing linguistic phenomena or classes of words, but is current in logic and philosophy where it was introduced by Kurt Grelling
Kurt Grelling
Kurt Grelling was a logician, philosopher and member of the Berlin Circle.- Life and work :Shortly after his arrival in 1905 at University of Göttingen, Grelling began a collaboration with philosopher Leonard Nelson, with whom he tried to solve Russell's paradox, which had shaken the foundations...
and Leonard Nelson
Leonard Nelson
Leonard Nelson was a German mathematician and philosopher. He was part of the Neo-Friesian School and a friend of the mathematician David Hilbert, and devised the Grelling–Nelson paradox with Kurt Grelling...
for describing a semantic paradox, later known as Grelling's paradox or the Grelling-Nelson paradox
Grelling-Nelson paradox
The Grelling–Nelson paradox is a semantic self-referential paradox formulated in 1908 by Kurt Grelling and Leonard Nelson and sometimes mistakenly attributed to the German philosopher and mathematician Hermann Weyl. It is thus occasionally called Weyl's paradox as well as Grelling's paradox...
The fame of this paradox later extending also to non-academic circles has created a more widespread popular interest, expressing itself in more recent times also in the creation of lists of autological words.
One source of autological words are archetypal words (ostensive definition
Ostensive definition
An ostensive definition conveys the meaning of a term by pointing out examples. This type of definition is often used where the term is difficult to define verbally, either because the words will not be understood or because of the nature of the term...
) – words chosen to describe a phenomenon by using an example of the phenomenon, which are thus necessarily autological. One such example is a mondegreen
Mondegreen
A mondegreen is the mishearing or misinterpretation of a phrase as a result of near homophony, in a way that gives it a new meaning. It most commonly is applied to a line in a poem or a lyric in a song...
– a mishearing of a phrase, which itself is based on a mishearing of "And laid him on the green" as "And Lady Mondegreen".
Literature
- Volker Peckhaus: The Genesis of Grelling's Paradox, in: Ingolf Max / Werner Stelzner (eds.), Logik und Mathematik: Frege-Kolloquium Jena 1993, Walter de Gruyter, Berlin 1995 (= Perspektiven der analytischen Philosophie, 5), pp. 269-280
- Simon Blackburn: The Oxford Dictionary of Philosophy, Oxford University Press, 2nd ed. Oxford 2005, p. 30 ("autological"), p. 170 ("heterological"), p. 156 ("Grelling's paradox")