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At the heart of Marty’s and Bühler’s semantics lies the notion of linguistic function. While Marty focuses on manifestation (Kundgabe) and signification (Bedeutung) as constitutive moments ofcommunication, Bühler builds his theory on a third function, the representation (Darstellung) – a performance proper to linguistic signs and in virtue of which they are coordinated to the world. The moment of representation is not absent in Marty, but, contrary to Bühler, he does not see in it the essential feature of language. Such a difference is accounted for by the fact that Marty and Bühler defend two different functionalisms: a functionalism of use (Zweck) for the former, and a functionalism of performance (Leistung) for the latter.

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