Semantics for Opaque Contexts

Ludwig, Kirk; Ray, Greg

doi:10.1111/0029-4624.32.s12.6

Cited by 12 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 33 publications

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“…The question of how individuals manage knowledge about object identity is of broad importance, playing a key role in various phenomena in theoretical semantics and pragmatics as well as in the theory of mind literature. For example, a number of language philosophers have pointed out that terms that objectively might refer to the same entity in a given scenario such as watch and present cannot be straightforwardly substituted in certain contexts without potentially creating an untrue statement (e.g., Davidson, 1984;Ludwig & Ray, 1998;Ray, 1980;Roberts, 1993). To illustrate, the statement Tom believed that the watch looked expensive cannot be substituted with Tom believed that the present looked expensive in a circumstance where Tom may have had no idea that the watch is also a present for someone.…”

Section: Perspective and Common Ground In Real-time Comprehensionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Privileged versus shared knowledge about object identity in real-time referential processing

2015

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A central claim in research on interactive conversation is that listeners use the knowledge assumed to be shared with a conversational partner to guide their understanding of utterances from the earliest moments of processing. In the present study we investigated whether this claim extends to cases where shared vs. private knowledge is discrepant in terms of the identity assigned to a mutually seen object that could be misidentified on the basis of its appearance. Eye movement measures were used to evaluate listeners' ability to integrate a speaker's perspective as they identified the referent for an unfolding expression. The results reconfirmed previous findings showing that listeners can rapidly take into account a speaker's awareness of the existence/presence of a referential object. In contrast, however, listeners showed strong consideration of their private knowledge about the identity of an object during referential processing. Strikingly, this tendency was found even when speaker-produced discourse reinforced the way in which the speaker's understanding of the object's identity differed from that of the listener. Together, the results reveal clear and important differences in the way in which distinct types of perspective-based cues are integrated in real-time communicative interaction.

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Section: Perspective and Common Ground In Real-time Comprehensionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Privileged versus shared knowledge about object identity in real-time referential processing

2015

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“…Finally, I should note that Ludwig and Ray (1998) reply to this first objection, as raised against sententialism generally, by allowing that 'p' is both mentioned and used. If 'p' can be a context-sensitive sentence, however, the framing argument's unwanted consequences then follow.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Biconditional Doctrine: Contra Kölbel on a “Dogma” of Davidsonian Semantics

Groß

2005

Erkenntnis

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Should a theory of meaning state what sentences mean, and can a Davidsonian theory of meaning in particular do so? Max Ko¨lbel answers both questions affirmatively. I argue, however, that the phenomena of non-homophony, non-truth-conditional aspects of meaning, semantic mood, and context-sensitivity provide prima facie obstacles for extending Davidsonian truth-theories to yield meaning-stating theorems. Assessing some natural moves in reply requires a more fully developed conception of the task of such theories than Ko¨lbel provides. A more developed conception is also required to defend his positive answer to the first question above. I argue that, however Ko¨lbel might elaborate his position, it can't be by embracing the sort of cognitivist account of Davidsonian semantics to which he sometimes alludes.

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“…The discussion in Ludwig and Ray (1998), a type of sententialist account, originally seemed to me vulnerable to the problem just sketched in connection with (17′)–(20′); that is, it seemed that the explicit statement that ‘the earth moves’ was to be “understood in English” would carry with it the synonymy of (18′) and (20′), and therewith the non‐synonymy of (19′) and (20′), contrary to hypothesis. However, Ludwig (p.c.)…”

Section: The Translation Argumentmentioning

confidence: 97%

Sententialism: The Thesis That Complement Clauses Refer to Themselves

Higginbotham

2006

Philosophical Issues

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Semantics for Opaque Contexts

Cited by 12 publications

References 33 publications

Privileged versus shared knowledge about object identity in real-time referential processing

Privileged versus shared knowledge about object identity in real-time referential processing

The Biconditional Doctrine: Contra Kölbel on a “Dogma” of Davidsonian Semantics

Sententialism: The Thesis That Complement Clauses Refer to Themselves

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