LessonsMental Implication and Degrees of Clarity in IndicationQuiz

A listener who knows the same assigned meaning of several words can understand that meaning through each of them. At the level of established assignment, each word stands in a conventional relation to its sense; one is not simply assigned while the other is only half-assigned.

For example, someone who knows both “asad” and “layth” as words for a lion can recover the animal through either. Greater familiarity or frequency can affect speed of recognition, but that is not identical to whether the word has a conventional meaning.

The argument therefore concludes that replacing one direct synonym with another does not, merely by virtue of convention, provide the distinctive variation of indicated clarity sought in bayān.

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The hearer who knows the assignments

Mental Implication and Degrees of Clarity in Indication

A listener who knows the same assigned meaning of several words can understand that meaning through each of them. At the level of established assignment, each word stands in a conventional relation to its sense; one is not simply assigned while the other is only half-assigned.

For example, someone who knows both “asad” and “layth” as words for a lion can recover the animal through either. Greater familiarity or frequency can affect speed of recognition, but that is not identical to whether the word has a conventional meaning.

The argument therefore concludes that replacing one direct synonym with another does not, merely by virtue of convention, provide the distinctive variation of indicated clarity sought in bayān.