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old as Plato (428-347 B.C.). The same idea of language as a reflection of reality continued through the middle ages and through the modern philosophy into the 20th century. One of most forceful argument of this view of language is of Ludwig Wittgenstein in Logico-Philosophicus (1921). His ideas were dubbed in the picture theory, the concept of "Language game' and 'Form of life' etc. It has been dominant view during the 20th century. On the contrary, there is a Kantian variation according to which, language is not a reflection of reality because it is inaccessible to human intelligence hence it is a reflection of our thought about reality.?
ROLE OF WORD IN LANGUAGE Language is the principle instrument of communication and any language is composed of words, which are combined to form sentences. Hence analysis of the words is also an important part of linguistic analysis. Generally it is defined, as "Words are meaningful sounds or signs that point beyond themselves to other things.” A similar definition is also found in Abhidhāna Rājendra Kosa
"pratipadyate vastvanena iti sabdha ?” Words are meaningful sounds or signs that point beyond themselves. They point to some other things or facts of the world. However it is possible for words to mention or talk about themselves to make the very word itself the object of interest.
For eg. Mahāvīra was a Jain Tirthamkara,
Mahāvīra' is a word with 8 letters. Words are conventional signs as opposed to natural signs. Nimbus clouds means rain— this too is meaning, but it is a natural sign. As opposed to this conventional signs are the signs which are given to the words arbitrarily. In this case human beings have taken certain noises, and given them meaning. These meanings are developed sometimes over centuries. Though they have certainly undergone expansion, contraction, transference, elevation, deterioration in their meaning, still we learn them by convention with the custom or practice of using the noise. The origin of language is lost in the mist of history. In whatever way it started, the fact is that a language is a system of words, a system of conventional
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