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Australasian Journal of Philosophy· 2026Q1

Dual Character Concept Terms: A New Case for Polysemy

Jessica Keiser

Short summary

Dual-character concept terms are linguistically marked in languages like French and Spanish, providing new evidence for their polysemous nature.

AI-generated from the title and abstract; the full text is not read.

Key points

  • Dual-character concept terms are linguistically marked in languages such as French and Spanish.
  • This linguistic marking offers new, independent evidence for the polysemy of these terms.
  • The findings challenge competitor views that explain normative generics without invoking polysemy.
  • Polysemy is presented as the strongest explanation for the linguistic behavior of dual-character concept terms.

AI-generated from the title and abstract; the full text is not read.

Abstract

The claim that dual-character concept terms are polysemous is often understood to be supported solely on the basis that it provides an elegant explanation of the normativity of normative generics. Understood so narrowly, this hypothesis has been vulnerable to challenges from competitor views that purport to explain normative generics equally well. This paper offers new, independent evidence for the polysemy of dual-character concept terms—namely that they are linguistically marked in other languages such as French and Spanish. I argue that this data puts pressure on competitor accounts, showing polysemy to be the strongest explanation for the linguistic behaviour of dual-character concept terms and the expressions containing them.

The authors' abstract, as published at the source. Australasian Journal of Philosophy, 2026 · DOI ↗

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Field: Language and Linguistics

Language and LinguisticsArts and Humanities