private language

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English

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Noun

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private language (plural private languages)

  1. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see private,‎ language.
  2. (philosophy) A language which expresses one's inner thoughts, feelings, or experiences but which cannot be used for communication, since it is known to and understandable by only one person—the existence of which was famously argued by Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889-1951) to be impossible.
    • 1986, Héctor-Neri Castañeda, edited by James E. Tomberlin, Profiles: Héctor-Neri Castañeda, →ISBN, page 85:
      A private language was not merely a language contingently spoken by one person. . . . A private language was meant to be be semantically and necessarily private: one whose symbols could by definition be "understood only by the speaker".
    • 1995 October 6, Pepe Karmel, “Art in Review”, in New York Times, retrieved 29 April 2014:
      Back in the 1960's, art-world philosophers liked to cite Wittgenstein's contention that there can be no such thing as a private language, because the meaning of words is determined by their shared public usage.
    • 1996 May 4, Peter Mullen, “'I' is a tyrant. You are what you eat”, in The Independent, UK, retrieved 29 April 2014:
      But a private language—one that is spoken and understood by only one person—is a contradiction in terms. The concept of meaning is a public concept. And language is a public phenomenon.

Derived terms

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