| Description |
In this interesting study, Shalom Lappin argues that any adequate theory of sortal incorrectness must meet four requirements. First, it must account for the truth valuelessness of sortally incorrect sentences. Second, it must provide a means of distinguishing truth valuelessness arising from sortal incorrectness from other sources of truth valuelessness. Third, it must be able to capture inferences which depend on sortal factors, while preserving those implications and formulae of classical logic which are unaffected by sortal factors. And fourth, it must supply an account of a significant but often overlooked class of sortally incorrect sentences, viz., those whose sortal incorrectness is introduced via adverbial phrases. |
| OCR Text |
Show LAPPIN, S. Sorts, Ontology, and Metaphor: The Semantics of Sortal 8t'ructure. New York: Walter de Gruyter & Co., 1981. 173 pp. $36.00- In this interesting study, Shalom Lappin argues that any adequate theory of sortal incorrectness must meet four requirements. First, it must account for the truth valuelessness of sortally incorrect sentences. Second, it must provide a means of distinguishing truth valuelessness arising from sortal incorrectness from other sources of truth valuelessness. Third, it must be able to capture inferences which depend on sortal factors, while preserving those implications and formulae of classical logic which are unaffected by sortal factors. And fourth, it must supply an account of a significant but often overlooked class of sortally incorrect sentences, viz., those whose sortal incorrectness is introduced via adverbial phrases. Lappin considers several important theories of sortal incorrectness with these requirements in view. His exceptionally clear discussion illuminates the theories of Thomason, Drange, Sommers, Herzberger, Martin, Bergmann, and others who have attempted to account for the phenomenon. In the process he develops a strong case for his claim that the four requirements he proposes are necessary conditions of a theory of sortal incorrectness and that existing theories are in varying measure unsatisfactory. Lappin's own theory, designed to satisfy these requirements, is developed in considerable detail. It has a number of interesting consequences, one of the more notable of which concerns metaphorical ' sentences. Lappin argues persuasively that metaphor is frequently misunderstood because sortal incorrectness is regarded as one of its essential features. In opposition to this view, Lappin contends that while sortally incorrect sentences can be given only a metaphorical interpretation, not all metaphors are sortally incorrect. Thus, for example, while "Silence is golden" is both metaphorical and sort ally incorrect, "The poor are the negroes of Europe" is merely metaphorical. Lappin therefore holds that important misunderstandings of metaphor can be removed by rejecting its assimilation to sortal incorrectness. Specifically, the traditional treatment of metaphor tends to make its interpretation a matter of semantics, while Lappin treats it as a matter of pragmatics. This, he suggests, permits a better appreciation of the distinction between standard and metaphorical meanings and allows a deeper understanding of the connection between sortal incorrectness and metaphor than is possible on the alternative accounts. Although Lappin's book is highly technical, his arguments are set out with admirable clarity and are usually convincing. His own theory of sortal incorrectness unquestionably rectifies errors in alter- 720 ROBERT HANNA AND STAFF native accounts, and his discussion of competing views is valuable both as criticism and as a general overview of work on sortal incorrectness. His book can be recommended to theorists interested in sortal incorrectness, metaphor, the categorial structure of languages, acceptability and grammaticality in linguistics, and issues concerning the semantics of ill-formed sentences.-Patricia Hanna, University of Utah. |
