'Universals in semantics'

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• PhD course / Reading Group
• Thursday 28 January 2010, 15:30-16:30
• Brown Library, RCEAL, 3rd floor, English Faculty Building..

If you have a question about this talk, please contact Eleni Kapogianni.

discussed paper: ‘Universals in semantics’ by Von Fintel and Matthewson, published in The Linguistic Review 25(2008),139-20

abstract

This article surveys the state of the art in the field of semantic universals. We examine potential semantic universals in three areas: (i) the lexicon, (ii) semantic “glue” (functional morphemes and composition principles), and (iii) pragmatics. At the level of the lexicon, we find remarkably few convincing semantic universals. At the level of functional morphemes and composition principles, we discuss a number of promising constraints, most of which require further empirical testing and/or refinement. In the realm of pragmatics, we predict that Gricean mechanisms are universal, but suggest that the precise nature of presuppositions may be subject to cross-linguistic variation. Finally, we follow E.L. Keenan in concluding that the overarching universal of effability or translatability between languages cannot be upheld in its strongest form. A recurring theme throughout this survey is how much work still remains to be done in the relatively young field of cross-linguistic formal semantics.

This talk is part of the Topics in theoretical and experimental semantics and pragmatics (PhD course) series.

This talk is included in these lists:

• Brown Library, RCEAL, 3rd floor, English Faculty Building.
• Pragmatics Reading Group
• Topics in theoretical and experimental semantics and pragmatics (PhD course)

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