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Thetics and Categoricals
Edited by Werner Abraham, Elisabeth Leiss and Yasuhiro Fujinawa
[Linguistik Aktuell/Linguistics Today 262] 2020
► pp. 13–30

Categorical versus thetic sentences in the Universal Grammar of Realism

| Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München
The aim of this paper is to outline that the notions of thetic versus categorical sentences are characteristic of a long tradition of philosophy, especially of the philosophy of Realism. Characteristic of Realism is a highly developed theory of the copula. Sentences consist of a subject, a rather abstract copula, and a predicate. Thus, the structure of any sentence and of any judgment is conceived as being triadic in nature. The copula appears – overtly or covertly – in synthetic sentences as well as in analytic sentences, both of which are categorical sentences (Roger Bacon 1240/2009: 70), whereby the analytic copula differs from the synthetic copula with respect to the mode of signifying reality. It will be evidenced that the function of analytic sentences is to build up a shared system of knowledge (mental lexicon), whereas synthetic sentences represent a technique to socialize individual experiences. According to the philosophy of Realism, the copula appears even in thetic sentences. Sentences without a copula are meant to be inconceivable. The working hypothesis is that in contrast to categorical sentences, thetic sentences are not triadic, but dyadic in structure. According to the Realist philosopher Lotze, thetic sentences consist of a copula and an amalgam of linguistically unstructured impressions, compressed in the predicate. In line with the philosophy of Realism, thetic sentences are conceived as some premature stage in the evolution of language. Thus, thetic sentences represent an embryonic stage of a categorical sentence as well as of thought (Lotze 1874/1989: 70–74). Thetic sentences are able to imitate the structure of categorical sentences (pseudo-subject – copula – pseudo-predicate). The conclusion is that thetic sentences are pseudo-structured “intransitive” judgments. They consist of a copula and one single chunk of “intransitive experience” only.
Keywords: Realism, Universal Grammar of Realism, categorical sentence, thetic sentence, analytic sentence, copula
Article outline
  • 1.Universal Grammar (Philosophical Grammar) in the paradigm of Realism
  • 2.The function of the copula in analytic categorical sentences
  • 3.The function of the copula in synthetic categorical sentences
  • 4.The function of the copula in thetic sentences
  • 5.Outlook
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 22 July 2020
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/la.262.01lei
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Abraham, Werner
2020. From philosophical logic to linguistics. In Thetics and Categoricals [Linguistik Aktuell/Linguistics Today, 262], ► pp. 226 ff. DOI logo

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