[SydPhil] History and Philosophy of Linguistics Reading group

[Nick Riemer]

History and Philosophy of Linguistics Reading group

Next meeting: Tuesday, September 11, 2012, Woolley S361, 5.30–7pm

Reading: Nick Riemer (in press). Conceptualist semantics: explanatory power, scope and uniqueness. Language Sciences.

Abstract
A familiar assumption in much linguistic semantics is that meanings are to be identified conceptually as, or as subparts of, the conceptual representations deployed in general cognitive processes. In recent decades, however, this assumption has increasingly come into question as a result of developments in the study of cognitive processes both within and outside linguistics. This article reassesses the place of concept-based explanation in semantics in light of these developments, concentrating on the explanatory power, scope and uniqueness of the conceptual hypothesis as a substantive proposal about the mental architecture supporting meaning. It concludes that while concept-based explanations of meaning are viable – though not necessary – for a certain class of referents, their role in a cognitively natural account of the lexicon is subject to significant but little appreciated limitations.

Reading available by signing up to http://hplinguistics.pbworks.com.

Enquiries: nick.riemer at sydney.edu.au

All welcome!

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