Trouser-word

In John Langshaw Austin's philosophy of language and the book Sense and Sensibilia, a trouser-word is a term that is not itself defined in terms of content, but only gains meaning through the contrast to its negation. The negative use "wears the trousers in the relationship."[1][2][3][4]

According to Austin, terms are usually defined by their own criteria. To know what it means that something is X (or is an X), one has to know the criteria for it. Only with this knowledge can one say when something is not X (or not X). With trouser-words, the opposite is true: something is Y if it doesn't meet any of the criteria for not being Y. Typical examples are for Austin real, same, and directly . Only in contrast to e. g. a fake duck, say a toy duck or a picture of a duck, does the predicate real have any meaning in the phrase "a real duck."[5]

References
  1. "WEAR THE PANTS definition | Cambridge English Dictionary".
  2. Sense and Sensibilia, Austin, p. 63-77
  3. "'Trouser - Word Piece', Keith Arnatt, 1972, printed 1989". Tate.
  4. Boellstorff, Tom (2016). "Theorizing the Digital Real". Current Anthropology. 57 (4): 387–407 – via JSTOR.
  5. Coval, S.; Forrest, Terry (1967). "Which Word Wears the Trousers?". Mind. 76 (301): 73–82 – via JSTOR.
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