Concept

Language game (philosophy)

Overview

A language-game (German: Sprachspiel) is a philosophical concept developed by Ludwig Wittgenstein, referring to simple examples of language use and the actions into which the language is woven. Wittgenstein argued that a word or even a sentence has meaning only as a result of the "rule" of the "game" being played. Depending on the context, for example, the utterance "Water!" could be an order, the answer to a question, or some other form of communication.

Overview adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0; see the article history for authors).

Philosophers who discussed Language game (philosophy)

• Ludwig Wittgenstein

Related ideas

• Ludwig Wittgenstein
• Natural language
• Philosophical Investigations
• Family resemblance

Place in the tradition

Part of Analytic philosophy.

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