{"title":"Demonstratives, context-sensitivity, and coherence","authors":"Michael Devitt","doi":"10.1007/s10988-023-09398-x","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s10988-023-09398-x","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Una Stojnić urges the radical view that the meaning of context-sensitive language is not “partially determined by non-linguistic features of utterance situation”, as traditionally thought, but rather “is determined entirely by grammar—by rules of language that have largely been missed”. The missed rules are ones of discourse coherence. The paper argues against this radical view as it applies to demonstrations, demonstratives, and the indexical ‘I’. Stojnić’s theories of demon-strations and demonstratives are found to be seriously incomplete, failing to meet the demands on any theory of reference. Furthermore, the paper argues that, so far as Stojnić’s theories of these terms go, they are false. This argument appeals to perception-based theories of demonstratives, a part of the tradition that Stojnić strangely overlooks. The paper ends by arguing briefly that though coherence has a place in a theory of understanding, it has no place in a theory of meaning.</p>","PeriodicalId":47748,"journal":{"name":"Linguistics and Philosophy","volume":"31 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.1,"publicationDate":"2024-01-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139077889","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"<i>Even</i> in presupposition denials.","authors":"Naomi Francis","doi":"10.1007/s10988-023-09402-4","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s10988-023-09402-4","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>This paper explores a puzzling polarity-based asymmetry in the use of <i>even</i> in sentences that deny presuppositions. It argues that this asymmetry is produced by the interaction of <i>even</i>'s controversial additive presupposition with the alternatives that are salient in the relevant contexts and demonstrates that this proposal makes good crosslinguistic predictions. Along the way, this paper shows that presupposition denials are a fruitful testing ground for uncovering details about the behaviour of <i>even</i> and the role of presuppositions triggered within focus alternatives.</p>","PeriodicalId":47748,"journal":{"name":"Linguistics and Philosophy","volume":"47 6","pages":"949-991"},"PeriodicalIF":1.1,"publicationDate":"2024-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11568004/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142649325","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Strengthened, and weakened, by belief.","authors":"Tue Trinh","doi":"10.1007/s10988-023-09391-4","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s10988-023-09391-4","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>This paper discusses a set of observations, many of which are novel, concerning differences between the adjectival modals <i>certain</i> and <i>possible</i> and their adverbial counterparts <i>certainly</i> and <i>possibly</i>. It argues that the observations can be derived from a standard interpretation of <i>certain</i>/<i>certainly</i> as universal and <i>possible</i>/<i>possibly</i> as existential quantifiers over possible worlds, in conjunction with the hypothesis that the adjectives quantify over knowledge and the adverbs quantify over belief. The claims on which the argument relies include the following: (i) knowledge implies belief, (ii) agents have epistemic access to their belief, (iii) relevance is closed under speakers' belief, and (iv) commitment is pragmatically inconsistent with explicit denial of belief.</p>","PeriodicalId":47748,"journal":{"name":"Linguistics and Philosophy","volume":"1 1","pages":"37-76"},"PeriodicalIF":1.1,"publicationDate":"2024-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10853343/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44817598","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Representing multiply de re epistemic modal statements","authors":"Cem Şişkolar","doi":"10.1007/s10988-023-09394-1","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s10988-023-09394-1","url":null,"abstract":"<p>I review Ninan’s Hundred Tickets case pertaining to quantification into epistemic modal contexts, and his counterpart theoretic way to address it (Ninan, Philos Rev, 2018. https://doi.org/10.1215/00318108-6973010). Ninan’s solution employs a ‘counterpart relation’ parameter intended to reflect how the domain of quantification is thought of in a context. This approach theoretically rules out the possibility of contexts where different ways of thinking about the domain can be deployed through different quantificational noun phrases. I bring out the case of the multiply <i>de re</i> modal statement <i>Any ticket in photo #2 might be any ticket in photo #1</i> to challenge Ninan’s approach. I propose a different approach adapting a more complex ‘counterpart relation’ parameter due to Rabern (Inquiry, 2021. https://doi.org/10.1080/0020174X.2018.1470568). I attempt to flesh it out by relating it to a finer grained notion of epistemic possibility involving assignments to discourse referents. My approach can account for the aforementioned multiply <i>de re</i> statement, as well as address the Hundred Tickets case.</p>","PeriodicalId":47748,"journal":{"name":"Linguistics and Philosophy","volume":"42 3 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.1,"publicationDate":"2023-12-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139057231","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Absolute gradable adjectives and loose talk","authors":"Alexander Dinges","doi":"10.1007/s10988-023-09399-w","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s10988-023-09399-w","url":null,"abstract":"<p> Kennedy (Linguist Philos 30:1–45, 2007) forcefully proposes what is now a widely assumed semantics for absolute gradable adjectives. On this semantics, maximum standard adjectives like “straight” and “dry” ascribe a maximal degree of the underlying quantity. Meanwhile, minimum standard adjectives like “bent” and “wet” merely ascribe a non-zero, non-minimal degree of the underlying quantity. This theory clashes with the ordinary intuition that sentences like “The stick is straight” are frequently true while sentences like “The stick is bent” are frequently informative, and fans of the indicated theory of absolute gradable adjectives appeal to loose talk in response. One goal of this paper is to show that all extant theories of loose talk are inconsistent with this response strategy. Another goal is to offer a revised version of Hoek’s (Philos Rev 127:151–196, 2018, in: Proceedings of the 22nd Amsterdam Colloquium, 2019) recent theory of loose talk that accommodates absolute gradable adjectives after all, while being defensible against a range of important concerns.</p>","PeriodicalId":47748,"journal":{"name":"Linguistics and Philosophy","volume":"13 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.1,"publicationDate":"2023-12-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140106656","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"On the difference between the ‘In’ and ‘According to’ operators","authors":"Merel Semeijn","doi":"10.1007/s10988-023-09395-0","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s10988-023-09395-0","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":47748,"journal":{"name":"Linguistics and Philosophy","volume":"12 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-10-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"136103953","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Keeping context in mind: a non-semantic explanation of apparent context-sensitivity","authors":"Mark Bowker","doi":"10.1007/s10988-023-09396-z","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s10988-023-09396-z","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract Arguments for context-sensitivity are often based on judgments about the truth values of sentences: a sentence seems true in one context and false in another, so it is argued that the truth conditions of the sentence shift between these contexts. Such arguments rely on the assumption that our judgments reflect the actual truth values of sentences in context. Here, I present a non-semantic explanation of these judgments. In short, our judgments about the truth values of sentences are driven by heuristics that are only fallible reflections of actual truth values. These heuristics can lead to different truth-value judgments in different contexts, even when the sentence at issue is not semantically context-sensitive. As a case study, I consider Sterken’s (Philos. Imprint, 15, 2015a) argument for the context-sensitivity of generic generalisations. I provide a non-semantic explanation of Sterken’s truth-value judgments, which builds on Leslie’s (Philos Perspect 21(1):375–403, 2007; Philos Rev 117(1):1–47, 2008) theory of default generalisation.","PeriodicalId":47748,"journal":{"name":"Linguistics and Philosophy","volume":"42 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-10-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135857342","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Language games and their types","authors":"Jonathan Ginzburg, Kwong-Cheong Wong","doi":"10.1007/s10988-023-09393-2","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s10988-023-09393-2","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":47748,"journal":{"name":"Linguistics and Philosophy","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.1,"publicationDate":"2023-09-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47146617","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Philippe Schlenker, Marion Bonnet, J. Lamberton, Jason Lamberton, E. Chemla, M. Santoro, Carlo Geraci
{"title":"Iconic Syntax: sign language classifier predicates and gesture sequences","authors":"Philippe Schlenker, Marion Bonnet, J. Lamberton, Jason Lamberton, E. Chemla, M. Santoro, Carlo Geraci","doi":"10.1007/s10988-023-09388-z","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s10988-023-09388-z","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":47748,"journal":{"name":"Linguistics and Philosophy","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.1,"publicationDate":"2023-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46563662","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Prolegomena to a theory of X-marking","authors":"Kai von Fintel, S. Iatridou","doi":"10.1007/s10988-023-09390-5","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s10988-023-09390-5","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":47748,"journal":{"name":"Linguistics and Philosophy","volume":"46 1","pages":"1467 - 1510"},"PeriodicalIF":1.1,"publicationDate":"2023-08-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42239405","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}