The Reality Of The Controversy Surrounding The Concept Of Meaning In Semantics

Abstract

This is a close analysis of the reality of the controversy surrounding the concept of meaning in semantics. Focus was basically placed on whether the so called failure to explain and disagreements on what meaning really is do exist or not. The paper assesses the so called failures of some of the popular theories explaining what meaning is in a bid to find out the truth of the matter. The paper characterises the failure or disagreement as a myth rather than a reality. It argues that there is generally not even a single one of the theories that is irrelevant as they all look at meaning from various angles and shed some very useful light on what meaning is. It is only that people tend to expect an all encompassing theory that does it all which has since proved very difficult considering the vastness of the ground covered by the concept. It suggests that people consider the theories as efforts focussing on different areas of the same aspect due to the fact that their respective proponents belong to different schools of thought.