The Science of Meaning

Essays on the Metatheory of Natural Language Semantics

Edited by Derek Ball and Brian Rabern

Cutting-edge research on the aims and foundations of semantic theory
New interdisciplinary essays spanning philosophy and linguistics
Reinvigorates philosophical debates about meaning, setting the agenda for future research
A comprehensive editorial introduction provides readers with the requisite background

The Science of Meaning

Essays on the Metatheory of Natural Language Semantics

Edited by Derek Ball and Brian Rabern

Description

By creating certain marks on paper, or by making certain sounds-breathing past a moving tongue-or by articulation of hands and bodies, language users can give expression to their mental lives. With language we command, assert, query, emote, insult, and inspire. Language has meaning. This fact can be quite mystifying, yet a science of linguistic meaning-semantics-has emerged at the intersection of a variety of disciplines: philosophy, linguistics, computer science, and psychology. Semantics is the study of meaning. But what exactly is "meaning"? What is the exact target of semantic theory? Much of the early work in natural language semantics was accompanied by extensive reflection on the aims of semantic theory, and the form a theory must take to meet those aims. But this meta-theoretical reflection has not kept pace with recent theoretical innovations. This volume re-addresses these questions concerning the foundations of natural language semantics in light of the current state-of-the-art in semantic theorising.

The Science of Meaning

Essays on the Metatheory of Natural Language Semantics

Edited by Derek Ball and Brian Rabern

0: Introduction to the science of meaning, Derek Ball and Brian Rabern
1: What is - or, for that matter, isn't - 'experimental' semantics?, Pauline Jacobson
2: Axiomatization in the meaning sciences, Wesley H. Holliday and Thomas F. Icard, III
3: David Lewis on context, Robert Stalnaker
4: From meaning to content, François Recanati
5: Reviving the parameter revolution in semantics, Bryan Pickel, Brian Rabern, and Josh Dever
6: Changing notions of linguistic competence in the history of formal semantics, Barbara Partee
7: Lexical meaning, concepts, and the metasemantics of predicates, Michael Glanzberg
8: Interpretation and the interpreter, Kathrin Glüer
9: Expressing expectations, Inés Crespo, Hadil Karawani, and Frank Veltman
10: Fregean compositionality, Thomas Ede Zimmermann
11: Semantic typology and composition, Paul Pietroski
12: Semantics as model-based science, Seth Yalcin
13: Semantic possibility, Wolfgang Schwarz
14: Semantics as measurement, Derek Ball

The Science of Meaning

Essays on the Metatheory of Natural Language Semantics

Edited by Derek Ball and Brian Rabern

Author Information

Edited by Derek Ball, Lecturer in Philosophy, University of St Andrews, and Brian Rabern, Lecturer in Philosophy, University of Edinburgh

Derek Ball is a lecturer in philosophy at the University of St Andrews. His professional interests include the philosophy of language and philosophy of mind.

Brian Rabern is a lecturer in philosophy at the University of Edinburgh. His main research interests centre around philosophy of language, logic, and formal semantics.

Contributors:

Derek Ball, University of St Andrews
Inés Crespo, NYU Paris
Josh Dever, University of Texas, Austin
Michael Glanzberg, Northwestern University
Kathrin Glüer, Stockholm University
Wesley H. Holliday, University of California, Berkeley
Thomas F. Icard, III, Stanford University
Pauline Jacobson, Brown University
Hadil Karawani, ZAS Berlin
Barbara Partee, University of Massachusetts, Amherst
Bryan Pickel, University of Edinburgh
Paul Pietroski, Rutgers University
Brian Rabern, University of Edinburgh
François Recanati, Institut Jean-Nicod
Wolfgang Schwarz, University of Edinburgh
Robert Stalnaker, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Frank Veltman, University of Amsterdam
Seth Yalcin, University of California, Berkeley
Thomas Ede Zimmermann, Goethe-Universität Frankfurt