Current Issues at the Semantics/Philosophy of Language Interface
Practical information
Instructors: Seth Cable & Alejandro Pérez Carballo
Office hours: By appointment.
Overview
This seminar will join together the seminars Topics in Semantics (LING 743) and Seminar in Philosophy of Language (PHIL 746), and will explore two main areas of research that are currently engaging both semanticists and philosophers of language. The seminar will consist of two parts, summarized below.
The seminar will be open to graduate students in both linguistics and philosophy. Our hope is that this will be the first of many similar opportunities to encourage dialogue between linguists and philosophers on issues of common interest
(You can download a PDF version of this document here.)
Part 1: De Re, De Dicto, De Se
Part 1 of the seminar will concern recent work on the compositional semantics of propositional attitude reports, particularly that work concerned with the ambiguity between so-called de dicto, de re, and de se readings.
We will begin with a whirlwind review of the classic literature on the de re / de dicto ambiguity and the development of the ‘Kaplan-Lewis analysis’. We will then move on to such topics as the analysis of so-called ‘third readings’, whether (and how) so-called ‘acquaintance relations’ are actually part of the truth-conditions of these readings, the problem of ‘de se communication’, and other related topics.
Part 2: Scalar Implicatures
Part 2 of the seminar will center around recent work on scalar implicatures. We will do a crash course on scalar implicatures, starting with Grice’s seminal work and working up to the Neo-Gricean approaches that have been developed to account for embedded scalar implicatures. We will then look at arguments for and against so-called ‘grammatical’ approaches to scalar implicatures (e.g. Chierchia, Fox, and Spector). If time permits, we will spend some time thinking about how this debate bears on questions about modularity in linguistic theory.
Course requirements
Enrolled students will be required to write a final paper of the course. Students should meet with Alejando and/or Seth prior to March 27th to discuss the intended topic of the paper. The final paper will be due on May 9th.
In addition to the final paper, students will be required to present a major reading (or collection of smaller readings). Given the relatively large number of students, we would like these presentations to be made by pairs consisting of one linguistics student and one philosophy student. Student teams should declare their choice of reading(s) to Alejandro and Seth by February 6th. The readings recommended for presentation are indicated in Section 3 below.
Students should take note that those who are registered for LING 753 will be expected to submit a ‘linguistics paper’ as their final paper, while those registered for PHIL 746 will be expected to submit a ‘philosophy paper’.
Rough outline of Topics and Readings
All papers, except those marked with an asterisk, are recommended for student presentations.
Part 1: De Re, De Dicto, De Se
The evolution of the Kaplan-Lewis analysis (and its relatives)
Key Readings:
- Cresswell & von Stechow (1982) “De Re Belief Generalized”
- Kaplan (1968) “Quantifying In”
- Lewis (1979) “Attitudes De Dicto and De Se”
- Quine (1956) “Quantifiers and Propositional Attitudes”
- Percus & Sauerland (2003) “On the LFs of Attitude Reports”
- Yalcin (2015) “Quantifying In From a Fregean Perspective”
Optional Readings:
- von Stechow & Zimmermann (2004) “A Problem for a Compositional Treatment of De Re Attitudes”
- Maier (2009) “Presupposing Acquaintance: A Unified Semantics for De Dicto, De Re, and De Se Belief Reports”
- Charlow & Sharvit (2014) “Bound De Re Pronouns and the LFs of Attitude Reports”
The Nature and Derivation of the ‘Third Reading’
Key Readings:
- Keshet (2011) “Split Intensionality: A New Scope Theory of De Re and De Dicto.”
- Percus (2000) “Constraints on Some Other Variables in Syntax”
- Schwager (2011) “Speaking of Qualities”
- Sudo (2014) “On De Re Predicates”
- Szabo (2011) “Specific, Yet Opaque”
Optional Readings:
- Schueler (2010) “World Variable Binding and Beta Binding”
Problems concerning ‘Acquaintance Relations’
Key Readings:
- Aloni (2005a) “A Formal Treatment of the Pragmatics of Questions and Attitudes”
- Ninan (2012) “Counterfactual Attitudes and Multi-Centered Worlds”
- *Sosa (1970) “Propositional Attitudes De Dicto and De Se”
Optional Readings:
- Aloni (2005b) “Individual Concepts in Modal Predicate Logic”
- Maier (2009) “Iterated De Re: A New Puzzle for Relational Report Semantics”
- Yanovich (2011) “The Problem of Counterfactual De Re Attitudes”
The Puzzle of De Se Communication
Key Readings:
- Egan (2007) “Epistemic Modals, Relativism, and Assertion.”
- Ninan (2010a) “De Se Attitudes: Ascription and Communication”
- Ninan (2010b) “Semantics and the Objects of Assertion”
- Stalnaker (2008) “Notes on Models of Self-Locating Belief” [in Our Knowledge of the Internal World]
- Torre (2009) “Centered Assertion”
Optional Readings:
- Stalnaker (1981) “Indexical Belief”
Part 2: Scalar Implicatures
Implicatures: pragmatics and modularity
Key Readings:
- *Bach (2006) “The Top 10 Misconceptions about Implicature”
- Gazdar (1979) Pragmatics: Implicatures, Presupposition, and Logical Form, Ch. 3
- Grice (1957), “Meaning”
- Grice (1975), “Logic and Conversation”
- Horn (1996), “Presupposition and Implicatures”
Optional Readings:
- *Bach (2012) “Saying, Meaning, and Implicating”
- *Devitt (2006), Ignorance of Language
- *Fodor (1983), Modularity of Mind
- *Fox and Hackl (2006), “The Universal Density of Measurement”
- Recanati (2002) “Does linguistic communication rest on inference?”
- *Recanati (2011) Truth-conditional pragmatics
- *Saul (2002) “What is Said and Psychological Reality: Grice’s Project and Relevance Theorists’ Criticisms”
- Segal, G. (1996) “The modularity of theory of mind”
- *Soames (2008) “Drawing the Line Between Meaning and Implicature—and Relating Both to Assertion”
- Sperber and Wilson (2002), “Pragmatics, Modularity and Mind-reading”
Embedded Implicatures
Key Readings:
- Ippolito (2011) “A Note on Embedded Implicatures and Counterfactual Presuppositions”
- Recanati (2003) “Embedded Implicatures”
- Sauerland (2004) “Scalar Implicatures in Complex Sentences”
- Sauerland (2004) “On Embedded Implicatures”
Optional Readings:
- Fox (2004) “Implicatures and Exhaustivity”
- Fox (2003) “Implicature Calculation, Only, and Lumping: Another Look at the Puzzle of Disjunction”
- *Gazdar (1979) Pragmatics: Implicature, Presupposition and Logical Form
- Horn (1996) “Presupposition and Implicatures”
- *Levinson (2000) Presumptive Meanings
- *Matsumoto (1995) “The Conversational Condition on Horn Scales”
Implicatures and Grammar
Key Readings:
- Chierchia (2004) “Scalar implicatures, polarity phenomena, and the syntax/pragmatics interface”
- Chierchia, Fox, and Spector (forthcoming) “The Grammatical View of Scalar Implicatures”
- Gajewski and Sharvit (2011) “In defense of the grammatical approach to local implicatures”
- Geurts and Pouscoulous (2009) “Embedded implicatures?!?”
- Russell (2006) “Against grammatical computation of scalar implicatures”
Optional Readings:
- Chemla (2008) “Similarity: Towards a unified account of scalar implicature, free choice permission and presupposition projection”
- Chierchia (2006) “Broaden your views: implicatures of domain widening and the “locality” of language”
- Fox (2004) “Implicature Calculation: Pragmatics or Syntax, or both?”
- Franke (2011) “Quantity implicatures, exhaustive interpretation, and rational conversation”
- *Guerzoni (2004) “Even-NPIs in Yes/No Questions.”
- Ippolito (2010) “Embedded implicatures?”
- Magri (2011) “Another argument for embedded scalar implicatures”
- Marty and Chemla (2013) “Scalar implicatures: working memory and a comparison with only”
- van Rooij (2004) “Signaling games select Horn strategies”
- van Rooij and Schulz (2004) “Exhaustive Interpretation of Complex Sentences”
- Simons (2014) “Local pragmatics and structured contents”
- Spector (2007) “Scalar Implicatures: Exhaustivity and Gricean Reasoning”
Various Dates of Interest
- Friday 2/6: Declare readings to be presented
- Tuesday 2/17: No Meeting (Monday schedule)
- Tuesday 3/17: No Meeting; Spring Break
- Friday 3/27: Discuss topic for final paper
- Friday 5/8: Final paper due
- Tuesday 5/12: Final Grades Submitted