Minimal Semantics (1)

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1、MinimalSemanticsMinimalSemanticsaskswhatatheoryofliterallinguisticmeaningisfor—ifyouweretobegivenaworkingtheoryofmeaningforalan-guagerightnow,whatwouldyoubeabletodowithit?EmmaBorgsetsouttodefendaformalapproachtosemantictheorizingfromapowerfulcontemporaryopponent—advocatesofwhatshecall‘dualpra

2、gmatics’.Accordingtodualpragmatists,richpragmaticprocessesplaytwodistinctrolesinlinguisticcomprehension:aswellasoperatinginapost-semanticcapacitytodeterminetheimplicaturesofanutter-ance,theyalsooperatepriortothedeterminationoftruth-conditionalcontentforasentence.Thatistosay,theyhaveanintegral

3、roletoplaywithinwhatisusuallythoughtofasthesemanticrealm.Borgbelievesdualpragmaticaccountsconstitutethestrongestchal-lengetostandardformalapproachestosemanticssincetheychallengetheformaltheoristtoshownotmerelythatthereissomeroleforfor-malprocessesonroutetodeterminationofsemanticcontent,buttha

4、tsuchprocessesarealonesufficientfordeterminingcontent.MinimalSemanticsprovidesadetailedexaminationofthisdualpragmaticposi-tion,introducingreaderswhoareunfamiliarwiththetopictokeyideaslikerelevancetheoryandcontextualism,andlookingindetailatwheretheseaccountsdivergefromtheformalapproach.Borg’sde

5、fenceofformalsemanticshastwomainparts:first,shearguesthattheformalapproachismostnaturallycompatiblewithanimportantandwell-groundedpsychologicaltheory,namelytheFodorianmodularpictureofthemind.Thenshearguesthatthemainargumentsadducedbydualpragmatistsagainstformalsemantics—concerningapparentconte

6、xtualintrusionsintosemanticcontent—caninfactbecounteredbyaformaltheory.Thedefenceholds,however,onlyifwearesensitivetotheproperconditionsofsuccessforasemantictheory.Specifically,weshouldrejectarangeofonerousconstraintsonsemantictheorizing(e.g.,thatitresolveepistemicormetaphysicalquestions,ortha

7、titexplainourcommunicativeskills).SoBorg’sanswertothequestionofwhatasemantictheoryisforhasaparticular,minimalslant.ThispageintentionallyleftblankMinimalSemanticsEMMABORG11GreatClarendonStreet,OxfordoxdpOxfordUniversityPressisadepartmentofth