A bundle theory of words

Miller, J.T.M.

Abstract

It has been a common assumption that words are substances that instantiate or have properties. In this paper, I question the assumption that our ontology of words requires posting substances by outlining a bundle theory of words, wherein words are bundles of various sorts of properties (such as semantic, phonetic, orthographic, and grammatical properties). I argue that this view can better account for certain phenomena than substance theories, is ontologically more parsimonious, and coheres with claims in linguistics.

Citation

Miller, J. (2021). A bundle theory of words. Synthese, 198(6), 5731–5748. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11229-019-02430-3

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Oct 4, 2019
• Online Publication Date: Oct 17, 2019
• Publication Date: 2021-06
• Deposit Date: Oct 23, 2019
• Publicly Available Date: Oct 18, 2020
• Journal: Synthese
• Print ISSN: 0039-7857
• Electronic ISSN: 1573-0964
• Publisher: Springer Verlag
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 198
• Issue: 6
• Pages: 5731–5748
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11229-019-02430-3
• Keywords: Words; Substance; Bundle theory; Ontology; Linguistics
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/2934388
• Publisher URL: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs11229-019-02430-3