: The opposition between substantive and adjective stabilizes in the Middle Ages. The two main sources of medieval thinking explain the variety of areas in which it occurs : the opposition between the two constituants of the noun, substance and quality, as defined by Priscian, and the theory of paronyms developped by Boethius, in his commentary on Aristotle's Categories. The opposition between substantive and adjective plays a central role in solving various problems, concerning semantics, reference, function, syntax but also theology. From these various contexts, one can appreciate the operational efficacity of such notions as connotation, dependency, oblique signification or referential restriction.
La question du langage des anges est un des lieux privilégiés où les théologiens médiévaux se sont intéressés au langage. De ces analyses ressortent trois points, qui sont liés : d’une part la question est spéculative, au sens où elle n’a pas pour objet l’explication d’un passage scripturaire particulier, et concerne surtout sur le parler des anges entre eux ; d’autre part, les théologiens mènent leur réflexions en mettant systématiquement en parallèle la manière dont les anges parlent et la manière dont « nous » parlons ; enfin, comme c’est le cas pour d’autres questions concernant l’analyse du langage, telle celle des formules sacramentelles ou des noms et attributs divins notamment, les théologiens empruntent des notions aussi bien aux sources philosophiques (Aristote notamment) qu’aux sources théologiques (Augustin en premier lieu).
The developments of medieval logic and semantics were realized by the Arts Masters in the medieval schools of the twelfth century and in the medieval universities from the thirteenth century onwards. Logic produced an analysis of the truth conditions of the proposition, in which special attention was given to the theory of the properties of the terms composing the proposition. However, while they were concentrating on truth, logicians considered semantic questions unrelated to this notion. Some of these cases have in common that their analysis requires one to take into account not only their semantic properties but also the context of their use, their proferring and reception. Interestingly, these analyses were found not only in grammar and logic but also outside the "arts of language," in theology and law. The examples given in this article contribute to answering the question: What was medieval logic? The answer will be that it was not only about truth conditions. But the examples that I give serve even more to show what medieval logic was not. It was not much about language use, nor about the moral and social dimensions of use, and not much about the interplay between speaker and hearer that is relevant for meaning.
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