Compacted doctrines: Empson and the meanings of words.

This chapter describes the account of word meaning advanced by William Empson in 'The Structure of Complex Words' (1951). Exposition is supported by detailed historical analysis of the word wit, chosen to illustrate the possibilities, as well as difficulties, of the framework Empson devised to investigate meaning ‘equations’ that his selected words are capable of entering into. Noting the apparent likeness between 'Complex Words' and Raymond Williams’s slightly later 'Keywords' (1976/1983), including use by both authors of the term ‘keyword’, the chapter examines important differences of approach between the two authors (differences revealed especially in a review Empson published of Williams’s 'Keywords', discussed in the chapter). In conclusion, it is suggested that despite differences between them some similar implications regarding meaning follow from the work of both authors. These include the idea that, rather than merely describing distinct word meanings, or even meanings attributed to words by individual speakers, historical analyses of meaning should focus on social practices that accompany language use, including practices which find their existence and articulation in institutions. In this more social view of meaning, it is suggested, meaning and social identity are kinds of effect, or produced relation, rather than stable elements outside language with which to begin an analysis.

This material has been published in William Empson: the critical achievement by / edited by Christopher Norris , Nigel Mapp. This version is free to view and download for personal use only. Not for re-distribution, re-sale or use in derivative works. © Cambridge University Press, 1993