I have been thinking about a question that I would have expected to have been discussed, but I haven't come across much.

We are told that a theory of meaning for a language is important because it illuminates the question of how speakers can encounter a novel sentence and work out what it means.

Textbooks in semantics often start with this motivation. I have taught the topic this way too.

What about the task for the speaker of selecting the right sentence?

#philosophy