资源描述:
《Minimal Semantics》由会员上传分享,免费在线阅读,更多相关内容在学术论文-天天文库。
1、MinimalSemanticsMinimalSemanticsaskswhatatheoryofliterallinguisticmeaningisfor—ifyouweretobegivenaworkingtheoryofmeaningforalan-guagerightnow,whatwouldyoubeabletodowithit?EmmaBorgsetsouttodefendaformalapproachtosemantictheorizingfromapowerfulcontemporaryopponent—ad
2、vocatesofwhatshecall‘dualpragmatics’.Accordingtodualpragmatists,richpragmaticprocessesplaytwodistinctrolesinlinguisticcomprehension:aswellasoperatinginapost-semanticcapacitytodeterminetheimplicaturesofanutter-ance,theyalsooperatepriortothedeterminationoftruth-condi
3、tionalcontentforasentence.Thatistosay,theyhaveanintegralroletoplaywithinwhatisusuallythoughtofasthesemanticrealm.Borgbelievesdualpragmaticaccountsconstitutethestrongestchal-lengetostandardformalapproachestosemanticssincetheychallengetheformaltheoristtoshownotmerely
4、thatthereissomeroleforfor-malprocessesonroutetodeterminationofsemanticcontent,butthatsuchprocessesarealonesufficientfordeterminingcontent.MinimalSemanticsprovidesadetailedexaminationofthisdualpragmaticposi-tion,introducingreaderswhoareunfamiliarwiththetopictokeyidea
5、slikerelevancetheoryandcontextualism,andlookingindetailatwheretheseaccountsdivergefromtheformalapproach.Borg’sdefenceofformalsemanticshastwomainparts:first,shearguesthattheformalapproachismostnaturallycompatiblewithanimportantandwell-groundedpsychologicaltheory,name
6、lytheFodorianmodularpictureofthemind.Thenshearguesthatthemainargumentsadducedbydualpragmatistsagainstformalsemantics—concerningapparentcontextualintrusionsintosemanticcontent—caninfactbecounteredbyaformaltheory.Thedefenceholds,however,onlyifwearesensitivetotheprope
7、rconditionsofsuccessforasemantictheory.Specifically,weshouldrejectarangeofonerousconstraintsonsemantictheorizing(e.g.,thatitresolveepistemicormetaphysicalquestions,orthatitexplainourcommunicativeskills).SoBorg’sanswertothequestionofwhatasemantictheoryisforhasapartic
8、ular,minimalslant.ThispageintentionallyleftblankMinimalSemanticsEMMABORG11GreatClarendonStreet,OxfordoxdpOxfordUniversityPressisadepartmentofth