Language-game
Encyclopedia
A language-game is a philosophical
concept
developed by Ludwig Wittgenstein
, referring to simple examples of language
use and the actions into which the language is woven.
7), and connected by family resemblance
. The concept was intended "to bring into prominence the fact that the speaking of language is part of an activity, or a form of life" (PI 23).
The term 'language game' is used to refer to:
These meanings are not separated from each other by sharp boundaries, but blend into one another (as suggested by the idea of family resemblance). The concept is based on the following analogy: The rules of language (grammar) are analogous to the rules of games; meaning something in language is thus analogous to making a move in a game. The analogy between a language and a game brings out the fact that only in the various and multiform activities of human life do words have meaning. (The concept is not meant to suggest that there is anything trivial about language, or that language is 'just a game', quite the contrary.)
:
Philosophy
Philosophy is the study of general and fundamental problems, such as those connected with existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language. Philosophy is distinguished from other ways of addressing such problems by its critical, generally systematic approach and its reliance on rational...
concept
Concept
The word concept is used in ordinary language as well as in almost all academic disciplines. Particularly in philosophy, psychology and cognitive sciences the term is much used and much discussed. WordNet defines concept: "conception, construct ". However, the meaning of the term concept is much...
developed by Ludwig Wittgenstein
Ludwig Wittgenstein
Ludwig Josef Johann Wittgenstein was an Austrian philosopher who worked primarily in logic, the philosophy of mathematics, the philosophy of mind, and the philosophy of language. He was professor in philosophy at the University of Cambridge from 1939 until 1947...
, referring to simple examples of language
Language
Language may refer either to the specifically human capacity for acquiring and using complex systems of communication, or to a specific instance of such a system of complex communication...
use and the actions into which the language is woven.
Description
Wittgenstein used the term "language-game" (Sprachspiel) to designate forms of language simpler than the entirety of a language itself, "consisting of language and the actions into which it is woven" (PIPhilosophical Investigations
Philosophical Investigations is, along with the Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus, one of the most influential works by the 20th-century philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein...
7), and connected by family resemblance
Family resemblance
Family resemblance is a philosophical idea made popular by Ludwig Wittgenstein, with the best known exposition being given in the posthumously published book Philosophical Investigations It has been suggested that Wittgenstein picked the idea and the term from Nietzsche, who had been using it,...
. The concept was intended "to bring into prominence the fact that the speaking of language is part of an activity, or a form of life" (PI 23).
The term 'language game' is used to refer to:
- Fictional examples of language use that are simpler than our own everyday language. (e.g. PI 2)
- Simple uses of language with which children are first taught language (training in language).
- Specific regions of our language with their own grammars and relations to other language-games.
- All of a natural languageNatural languageIn the philosophy of language, a natural language is any language which arises in an unpremeditated fashion as the result of the innate facility for language possessed by the human intellect. A natural language is typically used for communication, and may be spoken, signed, or written...
seen as comprising a family of language-games.
These meanings are not separated from each other by sharp boundaries, but blend into one another (as suggested by the idea of family resemblance). The concept is based on the following analogy: The rules of language (grammar) are analogous to the rules of games; meaning something in language is thus analogous to making a move in a game. The analogy between a language and a game brings out the fact that only in the various and multiform activities of human life do words have meaning. (The concept is not meant to suggest that there is anything trivial about language, or that language is 'just a game', quite the contrary.)
Examples
The classic example of a language-game is the so-called "builder's language" introduced in §2 of the Philosophical InvestigationsPhilosophical Investigations
Philosophical Investigations is, along with the Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus, one of the most influential works by the 20th-century philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein...
:
Later "this" and "there" are added (with functions analogous to the function these words have in natural language), and "a, b, c, d" as numerals. An example of its use: builder A says "d — slab — there" and points, and builder B counts four slabs, "a, b, c, d..." and moves them to the place pointed to by A. The builder's language is an activity into which is woven something we would recognize as language, but in a simpler form. This language-game resembles the simple forms of language taught to children, and Wittgenstein asks that we conceive of it as "a complete primitive language" for a tribe of builders.
Lyotard's interpretation
Jean-François LyotardJean-François Lyotard
Jean-François Lyotard was a French philosopher and literary theorist. He is well known for his articulation of postmodernism after the late 1970s and the analysis of the impact of postmodernity on the human condition...
explicitly drew upon Wittgenstein's concept of language-games in developing his own notion of metanarratives. See, for example, The Postmodern Condition: A Report on Knowledge. However, Wittgenstein's concept is, from its inception, of a plurality of language games; their plurality is not taken to be a feature solely of contemporary discourse. Lyotard's discussion is primarily applied in the contexts of authority, power and legitimation, where Wittgenstein's is concerned to mark distinctions between a wide range of activities in which language users engage.
See also
- Philosophical InvestigationsPhilosophical InvestigationsPhilosophical Investigations is, along with the Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus, one of the most influential works by the 20th-century philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein...
- Description of language-games in sec. 3.4 of Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, "Ludwig Wittgenstein", http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/wittgenstein/#Lan.
- Logico-linguistic modelingLogico-linguistic modelingLogico-linguistic modeling is a method for building knowledge-based systems with a learning capability using Conceptual Models from Soft systems methodology, modal predicate logic and the Prolog artificial intelligence language.- Overview:...
. This is an application of the language-game concept in the area of information systems and knowledge-based system design. - "Forms of Life and Language Games". (2011) http://www.ontosverlag.com/index.php?page=shop.product_details&category_id=27&flypage=flypage.tpl&product_id=354&option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=1