Syncategoremata

The distinction between categorematic and syncategorematic words (syncategoremata) can be traced to two main sources, viz., the grammarian Priscian (sixth century) and the famous author (commentator and translator of Aristotle’s works) Boethius (c. 480-526). With the increasing intertwinement of grammar and logic from the eleventh century and the emergence of treatises on logic in the twelfth century onward, the syncategoremata gradually became a subject of interest in their own right. The development of theories on syncategoremata is closely connected with the emergence of theories on the properties of terms, particularly theories of supposition. The most important factor leading to the development of these related areas of study is the medievals’ keen interest in the interpretation of linguistic expressions within the context of the propositions they occur in, a method of analysis that has become known as the contextual approach (De Rijk, Logica modernorum. A contribution to the history of early terminist logic. vol I: On the twelfth century theory of fallacy. vol II, Part one: The origin and early development of the theory of supposition; Part two: The origin and early development of the theory of supposition. Texts and indices. Van Gorcum, Assen, 1962-1967).Generally speaking, the class of words labeled syncategoremata included expressions that, more than their categorematic counterparts, require a context of expressions in order to be meaningful. Nouns and verbs, such as “man” and “to run,” were considered as having a more definitive meaning than expressions like “every” or “not.” In the early days of the syncategoremata studies, the criteria for distinguishing categorematic from syncategorematic words were not entirely clear; authors used both syntactic and semantic criteria to separate the two classes from each other. The different ways of describing the two classes of words sometimes led to different lists of syncategoremata (Braakhuis, De 13de eeuwse tractaten over syncategorematische termen. Deel I: Inleidende studie. Deel II: Uitgave van Nicolaas van Parijs’ Sincategoreumata (diss.). Kreps, Meppel, 1979).Throughout the Middle Ages, logicians developed their own views about the precise characteristics of syncategoremata, including their identity, nature, and (linguistic and logical) function(s). The late twelfth and entire thirteenth centuries produced separate treatises on syncategorematic words, and later on, the topics and analyses featuring in them were incorporated into works of a wider range. The medievals’ ideas on syncategoremata are not only important for understanding their accounts on language and logic but also shed light on their views in other areas of research (Braakhuis, De 13de eeuwse tractaten over syncategorematische termen. Deel I: Inleidende studie. Deel II: Uitgave van Nicolaas van Parijs’ Sincategoreumata (diss.). Kreps, Meppel, 1979; Kretzmann, Syncategoremata, exponibilia, sophismata. In Kretzmann N, Kenny A, Pinborg J, Stump E (eds) The Cambridge history of later medieval philosophy. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp 211-245, 1982).