Post-cognitivism: A Plea for Reference in Linguistic Theory

This paper examines how reference has been accounted for by the three main linguistic traditions in the 20 century: structuralism, analytical philosophy and cognitivism. Structuralism acknowledged the importance of reference but postponed its study to the future; analytical philosophy is centrally concerned with reference, thought and language and holds that the link between them can be accounted for by logic; cognitivism ignores the problem altogether and is content with holding implicit views in terms of logic and psychology. Yet speaking necessarily means speaking about something and linguistic theory should take this something into account. The question is how. This paper develops a referential view based on C.S. Peirce which could offer linguistics a new paradigm.