philosophical linguistics

A little-developed branch of LINGUISTICS which studies, on the one hand, the role of LANGUAGE in relation to the understanding and elucidation of philosophical concepts, and, on the other hand, the philosophical status of linguistic theories, methods and observations. When these topics are studied by philosophers, rather than linguists, the terms linguistic philosophy and the philosophy of language are used. When the term ‘philosophical’ is used in association with the various fields of linguistic enquiry, a contrast is usually intended with ‘linguistic’, e.g. ‘philosophical GRAMMAR’ (i.e. NOTIONAL, as opposed to DESCRIPTIVE grammar), ‘philosophical SEMANTICS’ (which includes such matters as the truth and validity of PROPOSITIONS, normally taken for granted by linguistic semantics).