On 18/12/06 13:24, "Chaswe@AOL.COM" <Chaswe@AOL.COM> wrote:
SKB wrote:
IF you insist that “American” means or subsumes “product of American cultural values and educational systems” we are locked in a typical semantic loop!
Well, if “American” means anything I would have thought that that is what it means. Otherwise “American” might as well mean anything that happens to be in America, flora and fauna from elsewhere (noisy starlings?), or any human passing through for a longer or shorter period. I don’t quite follow the “semantic loop” concept ?
Charles: “Semantic loops” arise if you use the term X WITHIN the DEFINITION of the term X. In your case, “American” occurred on both sides of your defining ‘equation.’ Longer loops can occur, e.g., you look up “saline” defined as “salty” then find “salty” defined as “saline.” Some say such loops (they can be very deeply nested as you look up the meanings of each defining term) are INEVITABLE. We lexicographers & semanticists do our best, but our ultimate excuse is “Sorry, the FAULT lies in REALITY.”
I repeat: “American” has MANY valid meanings. Compare “American citizen,” “American Pie,” “American Cultural Values,” “American ally,” ... Under SOME of these categories, it’s reasonable to describe VN as an “American writer.” VN himself accepted the tag. BUT, a common semantic error is to then assume that “VN as American writer” implies that you are free to substitute other meanings of “American” in the designation. The designation is NOT exclusive. VN can also be correctly designated as a “Russian writer” and as a “European writer.” (Recalll that VN believed that his best readers would be well-versed in French literature!) Fans of Korzybski (General Semantics) will see the temporality problems — against “VN as Russian writer” do we need some date markers such as 1920 (whatever)-1941, or (in my view, yes) did VN remain a Rusian writer regardless of place & language employed?
Stan Kelly-Bootle
Your original query was