ENS 22 - SUPER SEMANTICS
Fall 2022
Ecole Normale Supérieure, Paris
September 2022 -February 2023
This site is for the sole benefit of the participants in the class of Super Semantics in the Fall of 2022.
Announcement: The due date for the mini-term paper is Tuesday, January 31st, 2023, ***5pm***, by email to all three instructors.
The site will be updated as we go.
TOPIC
While formal semantics has been a success story of contemporary linguistics, it has been narrowly focused on spoken language. Systematic extensions of its research program have recently been explored: beyond spoken language, beyond human language, beyond language proper, and even beyond systems with an overt syntax. First, the development of sign language semantics calls for systems that integrate logical semantics with a rich iconic component. This semantics-with-iconicity is also crucial to understand the interaction between co-speech gestures and logical operators, an important point of comparison for sign languages. Second, several recent articles have proposed analyses of the semantics/pragmatics of primate alarm calls, an important topical extension of semantics. Third, recent research has developed a semantics/pragmatics for music, based in part on insights from iconic semantics. Finally, the methods of formal semantics have newly been applied to reasoning and to concepts, which do not have a syntax that can be directly observed. The overall result is a far broader typology of meaning operations in nature than was available a few years ago. The course will offer a survey of some of these results, with topics that will change from year to year.
INSTRUCTORS
Emmanuel Chemla (LINGUAE, LSCP CNRS)
Email: chemla@ens.fr
Salvador Mascarenhas (DEC, Institut Jean-Nicod)
Email: salvador.mascarenhas@ens.fr
Philippe Schlenker (LINGUAE, Institut Jean-Nicod, CNRS; New York University)
Email: philippe.schlenker@gmail.com
TIME AND PLACE
Mondays, 4-6:30pm.
First lecture: Sept 19.
Salle Ribot on 29 rue d'Ulm (with occasional lectures online)
CREDITS: 6 ects
PREREQUISITES
Students should have an ability to follow formal analyses, and they should thus have taken a serious introduction to formal logic or to formal semantics, or have significant experience with mathematical theories. If in doubt, please check with the instructors.
COMMUNICATION
We will communicate through this website and by e-mail. Be sure to be officially registered for the class so that we have your address (write to us early in case of doubt).
Material for the class (readings, slides) will either (i) be linked to the sessions below, or (ii) be made available in this Dropbox folder.
Honor Code To foster learning and discussion, students are discouraged from using phones, tablets or laptops during class, unless this is solely to take notes and/or follow the pdf slides as they are presented (with all other applications closed).
[Summary of some data on this topic]
[Effects of laptop multitasking on users and nearby students]
REQUIREMENTS
All details about the requirements are available in this document. Below is just a short version of it.
Golden rule: if you’re in doubt about these instructions or any aspect of the class, write to us!
Topic first: Participants are invited to work on small projects (e.g. literature reviews, formal analyses of a set of phenomena, proposals for experiments). The first task is always the choice of a topic in Super semantics - please discuss possible topics with the instructors as early as possible.
Assessment:
Between 1 and 3 homework about classes will be given
Squib
Nov 18th: confirm your topic by email to all instructors
Dec 7th: Send your squib by email to all instructors
Mini-term paper
Dec 21st: confirm your topic by email to all instructors
Jan 31st, 5pm: send your term paper by email to all instructors
The squib could for be the building up of the final mini-paper.
Individual & group work: You are encouraged to get feedback on your work not just from the instructors but also from one or several students. (If so, please indicate which other student(s) you discussed your work with.) You may also work in groups of up to three participants, please discuss this option with us.
Academic credit: Students should not get double academic credit for the same work. If you are pursuing a project you started in another academic context, please (i) make an explicit note of this, and (ii) indicate what is new in the current version.
Logistics: All materials should be submitted by email to all three instructors: chemla@ens.fr, salvador.mascarenhas@ens.fr, philippe.schlenker@gmail.com.
SESSIONS [to be adapted as we go]
Part A. Super Semantics in reasoning and thought (Chemla & Mascarenhas)
Sept 19: Introduction to super semantics in reasoning [slides]
This lecture will be online due to unforeseen events. Cogmaster will share the link. Write to all three instructors on Monday at noon to request it if you did not receive it by then.
We will introduce the traditional program of semantics, foreshadow how it extends to some non-standard cases, and present a primer on fundamental semantics-pragmatics notions for this course. This will be the foundation to go beyond into topics of super-semantics in the following lectures.
Sept. 26: Alternatives, question semantics, and attention in meaning and reasoning I [slides]
This lecture will resume onsite
(Onsite is the default for the whole class)
Oct. 3: Alternatives, question semantics, and attention in meaning and reasoning II [slides]
Oct. 10: Reasoning vs. interpretation [slides]
There is a homework assignment on the topic of lectures #2 and #3. It is due November 14 by email to Salvador.
Oct. 17: Probabilities in meanings and reasoning [slides]
Oct. 24: Language without words
This class will be online (link shared over email)
We will aim for a shorter session, because preparation is mandatory: instructions.
Oct. 31: [no class: cogmaster break]
Part B. Super Semantics in communication (Schlenker)
Reminder: readings that are not linked below will be found in this Dropbox folder.
The following provides alternatives to long articles (either shorter articles, or introductory general audience chapters).
General reading for this part: One of the following:
Schlenker, What is Super Semantics? Philosophical Perspectives 2019 [published pdf in the Dropbox folder]
Patel-Grosz et al. Super Linguistics: an Introduction, to appear in Linguistics & Philosophy (broader and less detailed than the preceding reference)
Optional background: What it All Means (ask the instructor for a pdf copy).
Nov. 7: Sign language semantics I
Reading: Schlenker, Visible Meaning
Shorter alternative: Schlenker Logical Visibility and Iconicity in Sign Language Semantics: Theoretical Perspectives
Introductory alternative: What it All Means Ch. 2
Nov. 14: Sign language semantics II
Nov. 21: [no class: PSL week]
Nov. 28: Typology of iconic enrichments
Reading: Schlenker Iconic Pragmatics
Introductory alternative: What it All Means Ch. 12
Optional: Tieu et al. Co-speech gesture projection: evidence from inferential judgments
Background: Abner et al. 2015: Gestures for linguists. [pdf]
Dec. 5: Gestural grammar
Optional: Schlenker Gestural Grammar
Introductory alternative: What it All Means Ch. 13
Dec. 12: Music semantics
Background: Jackendoff and Lerdahl, The capacity for music
Reading: What it All Means Ch. 15
Optional: Schlenker, Musical Meaning Within Super Semantics.
Optional talk on dance (online): Pritty Patel-Grosz, Dance semantics and extensions to music (live online, November 7, 2020)
Links: Bernstein on meaning in music Bernstein on Strauss's Don Quixote Another take on the William Tell Overture
Dec. 19, Dec. 26, Jan 2: no class [Cogmaster break]
Jan. 9 Animal Semantics I: Primates
Readings: Schlenker, Chemla, Zuberbühler Semantics and Pragmatics of Monkey Communication. Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Linguistics. [pdf]
Longer version: Schlenker et al. Formal Monkey Linguistics. Target article in Theoretical Linguistics. Preprint version
Shorter version: Schlenker, Chemla, Zuberbühler What do Monkey Calls Mean? Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 20, 12, 894–904. Penultimate version: [pdf]
Introductory alternative: What it All Means Ch. 1
More recent: Berthet et al. 2021 Animal Linguistics: a Primer
Note: there is a very recent issues of Proceedings of the Royal Society on animal vs. human languages.
Links:
Further readings and slides on animal linguistics [from 2017, readings partly updated]
BBC article Catherine Hobaiter on chimpanzee gestures.
Chimpanzee vs. Bonobo gestures
Jan. 16: Animal Semantics II: Primates and Birds
Readings: one of the following
Suzuki and Matsumoto 2022
Schlenker et al., to appear The ABC-D of Animal Linguistics