ABSTRACT
For you to understand (1), you must know that it expresses Tyrone. But if Tyrone’s identity depends on facts scattered across space and time, and often exceedingly difficult to ascertain, how can you have any hope of understanding (1), or any bit of language? The problem sounds intimidating, but at the same time we all know that the core of the solution is clear. One understands (1) by understanding the individual words that compose (1), and knowing how the meanings of individual words determine the meanings of complex expressions composed of those words.
