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John Benjamins Publishing Company
The Idea of a Text and the Nature of Textual Meaning
FILLM Studies in Languages and Literatures
issn 2213-428X
For an overview of all books published in this series, please see http://benjamins.com/catalog/fillm
Series Editor: Roger D. Sell, Åbo Akademi University
Editorial Board
Meenakshi Bharat Gu Yueguo
University of Delhi The Chinese Academy of Social Sciences
Tom Clark John Noyes
Victoria University Melbourne University of Toronto
Sonia Faessell Philippe-Joseph Salazar
University of New Caledonia University of Cape Town
Luisa Granato Tatania Venediktova
National University of La Plata Moscow University
Advisory Board
Petra Broomans, University of Groningen Bénédicte Ledent, University of Liège
Nominated by IASS – International Association Nominated by ACLALS – Association for
for Scandinavian Studies Commonwealth Language and Literature Studies
Fabio Finotti, University of Pennsylvania Liliane Louvel, Poitiers University
Nominated by AISLLI – Associazione Nominated by ESSE -- European Society for the
internazionale per gli studi di lingua e Study of English
letteratura italiana Diana Luz Pessoa de Barros, University of São Paulo
Chen Rudong, Peking University Nominated by ALFAL – Asociación de
Nominated by GRS – Global Rhetoric Society Lingüística y Filología de América Latina
Erik Doxtader, University of South Carolina Daniela Merolla, Leiden University
Nominated by ARCSA – Association for Rhetoric Nominated by ISOLA – International Society for
and Communication in Southern Africa the Oral Literatures of Africa
Sebastian Feller, A*STAR - Institute of High Jean-Marc Moura, Paris West University Nanterre
Performance Computing La Défense
Nominated by IADA – International Association Nominated by ICLA – International
for Dialogue Analysis Comparative Literature Association
Elisabeth Jay, Oxford Brookes University S. Ade Ojo, Le Village Français du Nigeria
Nominated by IAUPE – International Nominated by WAMLA – West African Modern
Association of University Professors of English Languages Association
Philippa Kelly, California Shakespeare Theater
Nominated by AULLA – Australasian Universities
Languages and Literature Association
Volume 7
The Idea of a Text and the Nature of Textual Meaning
by Anders Pettersson
The Idea of a Text and
the Nature of Textual Meaning
Anders Pettersson
Umeå University Sweden
John Benjamins Publishing Company
Amsterdam / Philadelphia
TM The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of
8
the American National Standard for Information Sciences – Permanence
of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ansi z39.48-1984.
doi 10.1075/fillm.7
Cataloging-in-Publication Data available from Library of Congress:
lccn 2016057189 (print) / 2017015765 (e-book)
isbn 978 90 272 0134 8 (Hb)
isbn 978 90 272 6601 9 (e-book)
© 2017 – John Benjamins B.V.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form, by print, photoprint, microfilm, or any
other means, without written permission from the publisher.
John Benjamins Publishing Company · https://benjamins.com
Table of contents
List of Figures ix
Series editor’s preface xI
Preface xIiI
Introduction
A theory of text and textual meaning 1
Part I. The theory explained
Chapter 1
The ordinary conception of a text and the cluster conception 11
Two conceptions of what a text is 12
The ordinary conception of the text in practical use 14
Reddy on the metaphors structuring the ordinary understanding of
communication 16
Cruse on words that allow for facets 19
The complementarity of the ordinary conception of the text and the cluster
conception 21
Ontological considerations and the question of how texts exist 23
Rudner and Cameron on what a text is 26
Concluding remarks 29
Chapter 2
Exemplars of texts and complexes of signs 31
Physical utterances and physical exemplars of texts 31
Sounds, marks, and signs 34
The cryptomental nature of linguistic entities 38
The complex of signs associated with a text 39
Concluding remarks 42
vi Table of contents
Chapter 3
Textual meaning 45
Sender’s textual meaning, receiver’s textual meaning, and the question of
a higher court of appeal 46
Sender’s textual meaning 49
Receiver’s textual meaning 52
Commentator’s textual meaning 54
Concluding remarks 56
Chapter 4
A news story and a work of electronic literature 59
Soble’s “Japan Quake Victims ‘Tour’ Damaged Homes via Google” 59
Chemical Landscapes Digital Tales by Falco and associates 66
Chapter 5
A poem: “Dickinson 591” 71
The sender’s meaning of “Dickinson 591” 71
“Dickinson 591” and receivers’ meanings 76
Receivers’ meanings in literary contexts 77
Critics on the theme of “Dickinson 591” 80
Two critical cruxes in “Dickinson 591” 82
On commentators’ meanings 85
“Dickinson 591” and the nature of texts 87
Part II. The theory compared with other theories
Chapter 6
The standard linguistic perspective on text and textual meaning 93
The idea that textual meaning is sender’s meaning 94
The idea that meaning cannot be something mental 96
Standard linguistics and language in use 100
Limitations in the standard linguistic approach to textual meaning 103
Texts as conceived by linguists 106
The idea that physical utterances are also linguistic expressions 107
Concluding remarks 110
Chapter 7
Analytic-aesthetic views of textual meaning 113
Beardsley’s conventionalism 114
Hirsch’s intentionalism 117
Table of contents vii
Tolhurst on textual meaning 119
Levinson on textual meaning 121
Stecker on textual meaning 124
Stecker on what a text does mean 125
Levinson and Livingston on truth about what texts mean 127
Concluding remarks 130
Chapter 8
Text and textual meaning as conceived by standard literary theory 133
The poststructuralist view of textual meaning 134
The idea that language generates meaning 137
The idea that context co-determines meaning 142
On references to psychological states and human agency 144
Derrida on the iterability of signs 145
The idea that in language there are only differences 150
Standard literary theory on what a text is 152
Concluding remarks 156
Chapter 9
The idea that texts are unitary objects 159
The fundamental problem with realism about texts 160
The idea that a text is an abstract object 163
Levinson on the creation of texts 165
Wolterstorff on the physical attributes of abstract objects 167
On the realists’ deeper motives for realism about texts 168
Wetzel’s principal arguments against eliminativism 171
Allegedly non-eliminable references to texts as unitary objects 174
Conclusion
An informal summary 179
References 185
Index 193
List of Figures
1. A simple communication model; “Dickinson 591” viewed according to
the ordinary conception of a text 12
2. A simple communication model; “Dickinson 591” viewed according to
the cluster conception of a text 12
3. A text according to the cluster conception 13
4. A text according to the ordinary conception 14
5. “Dickinson 591”: facsimile of Dickinson’s manuscript 35
6. Photo of the Meldorf fibula 37
7. Line drawing of markings on the Meldorf fibula 37
8. Part of newspaper page with Jonathan Soble’s “Japan Quake Victims
‘Tour’ Damaged Homes via Google” 61
9. Chemical Landscapes Digital Tales: title page 67
10. Chemical Landscapes Digital Tales: snapshot of ”Rough Seas” 67
