meaningdepends

Meaningdepends is a term used in semantics to describe the property that the meaning of many linguistic expressions is not fixed independently of context. It encompasses the idea that interpretation depends on contextual factors such as who is speaking, when and where, what is being discussed, and the listener’s knowledge and goals. The notion is often discussed in relation to indexicals, demonstratives, and lexical items whose senses shift with context; it also covers cases where broader discourse and world knowledge influence how an utterance is understood.

Examples illustrate meaningdepends. The sentence "It’s cold in here" can express a report of ambient temperature, a request to close a window, or a social cue to change seating, depending on context and inferrable intentions. The word "bank" has different meanings in finance versus geography, with the intended sense determined by surrounding talk. More subtle cases include pronouns such as "he" and "they" where reference depends on prior discourse; or presupposed content that survives or is canceled by context.

Meaningdepends is used to explain why a single sentence may yield different interpretations across speakers, communities, or even within a single conversation over time. It is related to, but distinct from, polysemy, as it emphasizes contextual adjustment of meaning rather than stable but related senses. It intersects with pragmatics and semantic underspecification, offering a framework for discussing context-sensitivity and cooperative inference in communication.

Criticism and alternatives: Some scholars argue that the term is too broad or signals a methodological commitment rather than a precise theory. Critics prefer more specific accounts of context-sensitivity, such as indexical theory or situational semantics.