1,721,180 research outputs found
A pragmatic framework for truth in fiction
No full textAccording to R. Stalnaker, context plays a role in determining the proposition
expressed by a sentence by providing the domain of possible worlds that propositions distinguish between: a sentence expresses a proposition by selecting a subset of the set of possible situations given by the context. This is also true for embedded sentences, but these sentences express propositions
by selecting subsets out of contexts derived from the basic one. In this paper we propose a semantic analysis of sentences of the form “In fiction x, p” based on this picture of context. We argue that the derived contexts for sentences in the scope of “In fiction x” are determined by three factors: what the
beliefs of the author are taken to be, the conventions established for the fiction,
and a defeasible presumption of reliability of the narrator. We develop a formal implementation based on the notion of a system of spheres centered on a set of worlds
Along the Time Line: Tense and Time Adverbs in Italian Sign Language
No full textIn Italian Sign Language (LIS), when past or future time adverbs are present, the signs for verbs exhibit the same manual configurations whether the sentence reports a past event or a future event. Facts of this kind, also observed for American Sign Language (ASL) and other sign languages, have led some authors (Friedman,
among others) to conclude that these languages, on a par with spoken languages like Chinese, lack grammatical tense. Neidle et al. and Jacobowitz and Stokoe have challenged this view for ASL and have argued that ASL sentences contain tense markers. I
present some data showing that LIS verbs inflect for tense. I argue, moreover, that the apparent lack of tense inflection when LIS past and future time adverbs are present is due to the fact that these adverbs shift the s-point and that LIS past and future tenses are absolute tenses. I provide a formal account of the LIS tense system based on these assumptions. The account is implemented in Heim's analysis of tense
Formal Semantics of Sign Languages
Full text linkThe paper discusses some issues that arise from research on sign languages in the area of formal
semantics. Sign languages provide a unique standpoint to investigate semantic phenomena like
donkey anaphora, indexical reference shift, and tense. Moreover, they pose a challenge for semantic
theories, since movement verbs display gradient properties (semi-continuous variations with
semantic import). The paper presents and discusses some accounts that have been proposed
Events and situations
No full textIf we inspect the role of events or situations in formal semantic theories of natural languages, a general strategy common to several theories emerges: Assume that certain linguistic constructions involve a reference to events or situations and appeal to their metaphysical properties to account for semantic properties of the constructions. I concentrate on some paradigmatic cases that illustrate this way of pursuing explanatory tasks in semantics: perception reports, adverbial modification, telicity, and attitude reports
Event categorization in sign languages
No full textSpoken languages share the property of discrete infinity: an infinite number of meaningful expressions is generated from a finite repertoire of basic meaningful forms. Classifier predicates of sign languages, at first blush, represent events of motion and location in a continuous way, by exploiting handshape movements and locations in the signing space. Since movement and locations are regarded as basic components of signs, it seems that classifier predicates are based on a potentially infinite number of basic meaningful components. I examine different accounts of classifier predicates and argue that, in fact, they may be assimilated to demonstrative predicates of spoken languages
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