SEMANTIC LANGUAGE GAMES, OR PHILOSOPHY BY COMPUTER.

The paper examines Wittgensteins conception of a language game. It is contended that there is, as yet, no linguistic science and that a great deal more deep philosophical imagining and playing is needed before we have enough knowledge to develop a real science of language. Similarly, superficial and over-literary British re-interpretations of Wittgensteins original thinking are disputed. To make the conception of a language-game clearer, Wittgensteins first five interconnected language-games, given in the Brown Book, which illustrate St. Augustines child-language consisting only of names, are analysed in detail. In progressing from game 1 to game 5, Wittgenstein variegates the notion of the child learning ostensively, - and of subsequently relearning by yet more demonstration - and progressively widens the notion of a name. Speech is finally compared with a continually changing sequence of language-games each game being complete in itself, and the flow of speech itself giving the cues for change from game to game. This comparison is asserted to be Wittgensteins first insight. Author