Topics in Semantics and Pragmatics
Basic Information
Dates
Description
This course is conceived as an introduction to some foundational topics on meaning and communication, as well as to the study of some recent developments and applications of some central notions in Semantics and Pragmatics.
Structure of the course, contents and primary readings:
1. Introduction.
2. Meaning and intentions
Grice, H. P. 1957. “Meaning”. Philosophical Review, 66, 377–388.
Additional reading: Gluer, Kathrin and Peter Pagin. 2003. “Meaning Theory and Autistic Speakers”. Mind and Language, 18(1), 23–51.
3. Saying and implicating
Grice, P., (1975) “Logic and conversation” (in Grice, P.: 1989, Studies in the Way of Words, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA)
4. Assertion
Stalnaker, R. (1978). “Assertion”. In P. Cole (Ed.) Syntax and semantics (Vol. 9, pp. 315–332). New York: Academic Press. Also in R. Stalnaker, Context and content.
Oxford: Oxford UP, 1999, pp. 78–95.
5. Presuppositions
Abbott, Barbara. 2008. “Presuppositions and common ground”. Linguistics and Philosophy, 21, 523–538.
6. Lying and misleading
Stokke, A. 2013. “Lying and asserting”. Journal of Philosophy, 110(1), 33–60.
Pepp, Jessica. 2019. “Assertion, Lying, and Untruthfully Implicating”. In S. Goldberg (ed.). The Oxford Handbook on Assertion. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2019.
Additional reading: Viebahn, E. (2020), Lying with Presuppositions. Noûs, 54: 731-751.
7. Communication, commitments and deniability
Mazzarella, D. 2021. I didn’t mean to suggest anything like that!: Deniability and context reconstruction. Mind & Language.
Additional readings: Alexander Dinges, Julia Zakkou, (2023) On Deniability, Mind, Volume 132, Issue 526, April 2023, Pages 372–401,
https://doi.org/10.1093/mind/fzac056
Geurts, B. 2019. “Communication as commitment sharing: speech acts, implicatures, common ground”. Theoretical Linguistics, 45(1–2), 1–30.
8. Expressive meaning
Jashion, Robin. ’Varieties of Pejoratives’, in Khoo, J., & Sterken, R.K. (Eds.). 2021.
The Routledge Handbook of Social and Political Philosophy of Language (1st ed.). Routledge
9. Code words
Lo Guercio, Nicolás, and Ramiro Caso. 2022. An account of overt intentional dogwhistling. Synthese 200:1–32.
Additional reading: Khoo, Justin. 2017. “Code Words in Political Discourse”.
Philosophical Topics 45, 2, 33–64.
10. Inclusive language
Additional Reading: González Vázquez, Iz; Klieber, Anna; Rosola, Martina. 2024.
“Beyond Pronouns. Gender Visibility and Neutrality across Languages”, In Luvell,
Anderson and Ernie Lepore (ed.) The Oxford Handbook of Applied Philosophy of
Language, OUP
Methodology
There will be a reading assigned to each session. For each of the readings the teacher will provide in advance a list of “reading questions” that should help the students understand the reading and focus on its most relevant parts. In class, we will discuss those reading questions and the teacher will typically also present and discuss some additional material. In each of the sessions, one of the students will do a short presentation of one particular issue within the topic discussed in that session.
Evaluation
Class participation (10%), class presentation (10%), two problem sets (25%, 25%), and a short paper (30%).
Single assessment: Under exceptional and justified circumstances, a single examination (100% of the grade) can be requested during the 30 first days of the semester using the proper form. Then, on a single deadline at the end of the term, the student will have to provide the answers to two problem sets, and a short paper (to be written on a topic to
be agreed with the instructor).
Re-evaluation/Resit: The resit will consist of delivering failed assignments. Only those students who score a minimum of 3 (and less than 5) can opt for the resit. The only possible final mark after the resit will be 5. The resit takes place a week after the UB evaluation period finishes (January/February).
Bibliography
Abbott, Barbara. 2008. “Presuppositions and common ground”. Linguistics and Philosophy, 21, 523–538.
Dinges, Alexander; Julia Zakkou, (2023) On Deniability, Mind, Volume 132, Issue 526, April 2023, Pages 372–401, https://doi.org/10.1093/mind/fzac056
Geurts, B. 2019. “Communication as commitment sharing: speech acts, implicatures, common ground”. Theoretical Linguistics, 45(1–2), 1–30.
Gluer, Kathrin and Peter Pagin. 2003. “Meaning Theory and Autistic Speakers”. Mind and Language, 18(1), 23–51.
González Vázquez, Iz; Klieber, Anna; Rosola, Martina 2024. “Beyond Pronouns. Gender Visibility and Neutrality across Languages”, In Luvell, Anderson and Ernie Lepore (ed.) The Oxford Handbook of Applied Philosophy of Language, OUP
Grice, H. P. 1957. “Meaning”. Philosophical Review, 66, 377–388.
Grice, P. 1975. “Logic and conversation”. In P. Grice (1989). Studies in the Way of Words. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA.
Jashion, Robin. ’Varieties of Pejoratives’, in Khoo, J., & Sterken, R.K. (Eds.). 2021.
The Routledge Handbook of Social and Political Philosophy of Language (1st ed.). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003164869
Khoo, Justin. 2017. “Code Words in Political Discourse”. Philosophical Topics 45, 2, 33–64.
Lo Guercio, Nicolás, and Ramiro Caso. 2022. An account of overt intentional
dogwhistling. Synthese 200:1–32.
Mazzarella, Diana, Robert Reinecke, Ira Noveck, Hugo Mercier. 2018. “Saying, presupposing and implicating: How pragmatics modulates commitment”. Journal of Pragmatics, Volume 133, August 2018, 15–27.
Mazzarella, D. 2021. I didn’t mean to suggest anything like that!: Deniability and context reconstruction. Mind & Language.
Pepp, Jessica. 2019. “Assertion, Lying, and Untruthfully Implicating”. In S. Goldberg (ed.). The Oxford Handbook on Assertion. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2019.
Stalnaker, R. 1978. “Assertion”. In P. Cole (ed.). Syntax and semantics, vol. 9, 315–332. New York: Academic Press. Also in R. Stalnaker. Context and content.
Oxford: Oxford UP, 1999, 78–95.
Stokke, A. 2013. “Lying and asserting”. Journal of Philosophy, 110(1), 33–60.
Viebahn, E. 2020. Lying with Presuppositions. Noûs, 54: 731-751.