Compositionality, Context and Semantic Values (eBook)

Contents 6
Contributors 8
Ernie 10
Compositionality 14
“If”, “Unless”, and Quantification 15
1 Introduction: Quantified Conditionals and Compositionality 15
2 The Puzzle of Quantified Conditionals 17
3 The Semantics of Conditionals Containing “If” 19
4 The Semantics of Conditionals Containing “Unless” 29
5 Conclusion 41
References 42
Bridging the Paratactic Gap 43
1 Introduction 43
2 Davidson’s Analysis 44
3 Binding Problems 50
4 Sentences, Logical Forms and ‘Parataxis’ 55
5 Conclusion 68
References 69
Context and “What Is Said” 71
On the Epistemic Utility of What is Said 72
1 Introduction 72
2 What is Said and Testimonial Knowledge 73
3 Speech Reports 76
4 Potential Problem: Testimonial Knowledge and the Context of Speech Reporting 78
5 A Dialectical Look at Possible Solutions 81
6 Epistemic Intuitions and What is Strictly Said 84
7 Conclusion 88
References 88
In Defense of Context Shifting Arguments 90
1 Introduction 90
2 The Debate Between Radical Pragmatics and Truth Conditional Semantics 91
3 Cappelen and Lepore’s Positive Views and the Case of “Incomplete Definite Descriptions” 95
4 Cappelen and Lepore’s Main Argument Against CSAs 100
5 Vagueness and a Reductio of the Main Argument 101
6 Why the Second Premise of the Main Argument Against CSAs Is False 102
7 Conclusion: Cappelen and Lepore Should Endorse CSAs 108
Notes 110
References 114
Contextualism, Skepticism and Objectivity 115
1 Assertion and Context 117
2 Knowledge and Belief 119
3 Two Uncontroversial Kinds of Context Dependence 122
4 Contextualism and the Skeptic 124
5 Some Examples 129
6 Contextualism and Objectivity 132
Notes 136
References 137
On Failing to Capture Some (or Even All) of What is Communicated 139
1 Introduction 139
2 The Problem of Irrelevance 141
3 Linguistic Theories as Scientific Theories 143
4 Rescuing the Attack on Minimalism? 150
5 Conclusion 153
Notes 154
References 154
Semantic Values 155
The Disunity of Truth 156
1 In Media Res: Supervaluations 156
2 Flashback: Frege’s Terminality Argument 159
3 Pre-Fregean Semantic Maximalism and Minimalism 161
4 The Disunity of Truth 165
5 Main Plot: Necessity is a Mode of Truth 167
6 Modality and ‘Possible Worlds’ 172
7 The Emergence of Modal Language 173
8 Truth Pointwise and Setwise 176
9 What Makes a Mode of Truth a Mode of Truth? 178
10 Conclusio Res: Vagueness is a Modality 183
11 A Disunified Treatment of Vagueness 186
12 Two Objections to Supervaluationism 188
13 Dynamic Semantics and the Omniscience Argument 191
14 Update, Truth, and Disunity 195
References 199
Descriptions, Negation, and Focus 201
1 Initial Observations 203
2 Approaches to Definite Descriptions 205
3 Negation and Focus 211
4 Improper Descriptions and Negation 218
5 Negative Quantifiers 222
6 Conclusion 224
References 225
Evidentials: Some Preliminary Distinctions 229
1 Evidential Constructions 230
2 Evidence versus Source 231
3 The Object of Evidentiality 232
4 Singulary or Binary? 233
5 Application to Evidentials 236
6 Recursion in Binary Constructions 237
7 Slifting Diagnostics 240
8 Final Questions 240
Notes 241
References 242
The Direct Expression of Metaphorical Content 244
1 Preliminaries 244
2 Some Data 246
3 A Direct Expression Account of Cappy’s Metaphorical Utterance 248
4 A Reason for Rejecting a Direct Expression Account? 250
5 A Direct Expression Response 252
6 Linguistic Communication: Miraculous or Merely Incompletely Understood? 258
References 260
The Empirical Case for Bare Demonstratives in Vision 261
1 Background: Representation in Language and Vision 261
2 Some Parallels Between the Study of Vision and Language 263
3 What does all this have to do with Connecting Vision and the World? 274
Notes 276
References 278
Index 281