I'm a philosophy student and I was going through philosophy of language but I feel that I do not have yet the basis to be critic about what I am reading. I think about it as going through philosophy of logic without any basic notions of propositional and first order logic.
What would be some good books to set a base of linguistics before going to the philosophy of language?
I'm a philosophy student and I was going through philosophy of language but I feel that I do not have yet the basis to be critic about what I am reading. I think about it as going through philosophy of logic without any basic notions of propositional and first order logic.
This is a common sentiment, and I can assure you it won't go away just by doing some linguistics! Your best bet is to persevere. Read slowly, take notes, and only move on from reading a sentence/paragraph/section/chapter once you feel you have a good grip on what the author is saying. Comprehension comes first; criticism after.
But, if you really want to read some linguistics, for semantics you can read Heim and Kratzer's "Semantics in Generative Grammar", and for some syntax you can read "Core Syntax" by David Adger. I found both of these helpful for coming to grips with the linguistics you might encounter in philosophy of language. You might also consider posting this question to the linguistics stackexchange.
Additionally, it's worth pointing out that you won't need much if any linguistics to engage with traditional philosophy of language (e.g. Russell, Searle, Putnam, or just about anyone writing before the 90s or so). But I guess this depends on exactly what you're reading and what you hope to get out of it.
