Language in Context: Selected Essays
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | 4.27 (562 Votes) |
| Asin | : | 0199225931 |
| Format Type | : | paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 256 Pages |
| Publish Date | : | 2016-05-19 |
| Language | : | English |
DESCRIPTION:
In Language and Context, Jason Stanley presents a series of essays which develop a theory of how the situation in which we speak interacts with the words we use to help produce what we say. Natural languages all contain constructions the interpretation of which depends upon the situation in which they are used. We are, in the main, confident that our interlocutors will smoothly grasp what we say, because the grammar and meaning of our sentences encodes these constraints. These linguistically mandated constraints are most evident in the cases of sentences containing explicit pronouns, such as "She is a mathematician", where interpretation of the information expressed is guided by the use of the pronoun "she". The theory developed in this book is a vigorous defense of the possibility of a systematic theory of meaning for natural language against these influential tendencies.. In defending this theory, Stanley pays close attention to specific cases of context-sensitive constructions, such as quantified noun phrases, comparative adjectives, and conditionals.Philosophers and co
There is no question that Language in Context is an outstanding achievement. Reading the essays together, framed by an informative Introduction and Postscript, one can appreciate the richness, complexity and breadth of Jason Stanley's theoretical framework. These essays represent the state of the art in semantics and the philosophy of language and are mandatory reading for anyone working in these and related areas. Not since Stephen Neale's Descriptions has a book brought the apparatus of formal semantics and linguistic theory to bear on issues in the philosophy of language in such a constructive and illuminating way."--Gary Ostertag, Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews Philosophical Reviews. "Although the individual essays collected in Language in Context have already been widely read and discussed, it is useful to have them collected in a sing
. Jason Stanley is at Rutgers University, New Jersey
a classic collection of essays DWA Determining the meaning of a sentence in everyday situations often requires that we attend to the context in which these sentences are used. This book presents Stanley's (and in some cases Stanley & co-author) attempts to develop a theory of the role context plays in determining meaning. The book is a collection of previously published ess. G.D. said Immensely stimulating. This is an immensely stimulating book, and I can do nothing better than to echo Ostertag's assessment in the editorial review. The richness and complexity - and the ingenuity of some of the approaches - of this book makes it required reading for anyone working on the topics covered - or topics related to the ones covered - in this book.Par