Idiolects and language

Daniele Chiffi

pp. 417-432

in: Axiomathes 22 (4), 2012.

Abstract

The present paper is intended to analyse from a theoretical point of view the relationships between natural language and idiolects in the context of communication by means of the Davidson–Dummett controversy on the nature of language. I will explore from a pragmatic point of view the reliability of an alternative position inspired by the recent literalism/contextualism debate in philosophy of language in order to overcome some limitations of Dummett's and Davidson's perspectives on language, idiolects and communication.