Quasi-proper names, linguistic use, and contextuality

Alessandro Capone

doi:10.1515/ip-2025-4006

Article

Quasi-proper names, linguistic use, and contextuality

Alessandro Capone
Dr Alessandro Capone is full professor of linguistics at the University of Messina. He is the chief editor of the Springer series ‘Perspectives on pragmatics, Philosophy, Psychology’. He is in numerous boards of international journals. He has published books like ‘The pragmatics of indirect reports. Socio-philosophical considerations’ (Springer), ‘Pragmatics and Philosophy. Connections and ramifications’ (Springer), ‘Proper names, quasi-proper names, ‘de se’ thoughts and communication’ (Springer); he has edited books like Interdisciplinary Studies in pragmatics, culture and society’ with Jacob L. Mey. He has directed the section ‘Pragmatics and Philosophy’ of ‘Intercultural Pragmatics’ for a decade. He was nominated by Istvan Kecskes to the Nobel Prize for literature.

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From the journal Intercultural Pragmatics Volume 22 Issue 4

Abstract

In this paper, I discuss expressions such as ‘Dad’, ‘Mum’, ‘Grandpa’, etc., which are called ‘quasi-proper names’. These expressions can be used both to refer to a thing or person in an assertion in which a predicate is assigned to the referent expressed by the quasi-proper-name and to call somebody in particular (John!). In so far as they are indexical expressions, they are even more directly referential than proper names and guarantee discourse continuity to a greater extent than proper names (even if this appears to some to be controversial). To understand the working of quasi-proper names, I introduce a semantic rule that transforms nouns or definite descriptions into proper names and quasi-proper names, making the conceptual elements present in those expressions inactive and introducing a direct route from the proper name to the referent. Such a rule is synchronic, although it has diachronic consequences. Quasi-proper names can stimulate a debate about the function and role of proper names across cultures. I consider a number of expressions similar to quasi-proper names and I add the class of quasi-quasi-proper names (cases in which a term similar to a quasi-proper name can be used in vocatives but not in a subject-predicate structure, or, vice-versa, it can be used in a subject-predicate structure but not for vocatives).

Keywords: quasi-proper names; quasi-quasi-proper names; indexicals; capitalization transformations; deactivation of concepts; direct reference

Corresponding author: Alessandro Capone, University of Messina, Messina, Italy, E-mail: alessandro.capone@unime.it

This paper is dedicated to the memory of Istvan Kecskes, great mentor and friend. I would like to give thanks to Wayne Davis, Keith Allan, and Giuliana Giusti, who gave me numerous comments on this paper, allowing me to improve it. In particular, I was really intrigued by Wayne’s comments which gave a different direction to this paper. I am sorry that he had to comment on it at least a dozen times.

About the author

Alessandro Capone

Dr Alessandro Capone is full professor of linguistics at the University of Messina. He is the chief editor of the Springer series ‘Perspectives on pragmatics, Philosophy, Psychology’. He is in numerous boards of international journals. He has published books like ‘The pragmatics of indirect reports. Socio-philosophical considerations’ (Springer), ‘Pragmatics and Philosophy. Connections and ramifications’ (Springer), ‘Proper names, quasi-proper names, ‘de se’ thoughts and communication’ (Springer); he has edited books like Interdisciplinary Studies in pragmatics, culture and society’ with Jacob L. Mey. He has directed the section ‘Pragmatics and Philosophy’ of ‘Intercultural Pragmatics’ for a decade. He was nominated by Istvan Kecskes to the Nobel Prize for literature.

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Published Online: 2025-12-03

Published in Print: 2025-09-25

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Keywords for this article

quasi-proper names; quasi-quasi-proper names; indexicals; capitalization transformations; deactivation of concepts; direct reference