The pragmatic value of language games and their rules in Ludwig Wittgenstein. Theoretical contributions to the study of interpersonal communication

Abstract

The linguistic turn has meant a real epistemological change to understand the nature of language, placing communication as a privileged object of study for Humanities and Social Sciences. By means of this radical understanding of language as the authentic place of communication, socialization and exchange, the extra-linguistic components emerge as necessary elements of analysis, in such a way that the linguistic turn reveals itself largely as a pragmatic turn. This pragmatic reading of the linguistic turn allows us to set the ordinary language philosophy as a theoretical framework for the analysis of interpersonal communication. In this regard, we may remark the figure of Ludwig Wittgenstein, author usually left in a second place by communication studies (but not by philosophy or anthropology), so our proposal seeks a review of the pragmatic value of the notion of language game as a theoretical contribution to interpersonal communication. Thus, it is claimed a specific place for this author among other theories of interpersonal communication, since his contribution is not confined to the interpretation of the intentionality of speech acts, but reaches certain ways of life, as knowing how to follow a rule of the (language) game.