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: emmanuel.chemla@ens.psl.eu

Benjamin Spector (LINGUAE, Institut Jean-Nicod, CNRS; New York University)

Email: spector.benjamin@gmail.com

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 23.

Salle Ribot on 29 rue d'Ulm

CREDITS: 6 ects

Prerequisites, communication, requirements

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

About any topic: write to us early in case of doubt.

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.

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

The initial description of the course is available in this document.

All details for the requirements, including detailed instructions for squibs are in this more important document.

Below is just a short version of it.

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:

Beside readings and occasional, short preparatory exercises (not to be handed out), students will write two squibs and one mini-term paper. The mini-term paper can build on the squibs, of course. Please send the squibs and mini-terms paper by email to all instructors.

Squib 1: November 30, 9pm
Squib 2: January 12, 9pm
Mini-term paper: February 2, 9pm

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:
emmanuel.chemla@ens.psl.eu,
spector.benjamin@ens.fr,
philippe.schlenker@gmail.com.

Sessions, Class Material

Sept 16: no session (class starts Sept 23)

Part A. Super Semantics (Spector & Chemla)

Sept. 23: Introductory session, Probabilistic Pragmatics I

Slides

Background readings on the Rational Speech Act model:

https://www.annualreviews.org/content/journals/10.1146/annurev-linguistics-031220-010811

Scontras G, Tessler MH, Franke M. 2017. Probabilistic language understanding: an introduction to the Rational Speech Act framework Online course. https://www.problang.org

Exhaustivity and Antiexhaustivity

Cremers, Wilcox & Spector, 2023. Exhaustivity and Anti-Exhaustivity in the RSA Framework: Testing the Effect of Prior Beliefs, Cognitive Science.

Exhaustivity vs. Rational Inference

Asherov, Fox & Katzir, 2024. Strengthening, exhaustification, and rational inference, Ling. and Philosophy.

Script

R-script for the baseline RSA model

Sept. 30: Probabilistic Pragmatics II and Optimal Lexica

Slides 1: Gradable Adjectives, Optimal Lexica

Slides 2: Why `Not all' is not lexicalized

Readings:

Lassiter & Goodman, Adjectival Vagueness in a Bayesian model of interpretation, Synthese (2017) 194:3801–3836
Enguehard & Spector, Explaining gaps in the logical lexicon of natural languages, Semantics & Pragmatics, 2021.

Oct. 7: Constraints on lexicons from cognitive biases, in humans and beyond

Slides are available from the dropbox folder.

Xu, F., & Tenenbaum, J. B. (2007). Word learning as Bayesian inference. Psychological Review, 114(2), 245–272. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-295X.114.2.245
Chemla, E., Buccola, B., and Dautriche, I. (2019). Connecting content and logical words. Journal of Semantics, 36(3):531–547. https://doi.org/10.1093/jos/ffz001
Chemla, E., Dautriche, I., Buccola, B., and Fagot, J. (2019). Constraints on the lexicons of human languages have cognitive roots present in baboons (Papio papio). PNAS, 116(30):14926–14930. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1907023116
Dautriche, I. and Chemla, E. (2016). What homophones say about words. PLOS ONE, 11(9):e0162176. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0162176
Piantadosi, S.T., Tenenbaum, J., Goodman, N. (2016). The logical primitives of thought: Empirical foundations for compositional cognitive models. Psychological Review, 123(4), 392-424. [pdf]

Oct. 14: Reasoning and Language Mixture, the case of monotonicity and polarity items

Slides are available from the dropbox folder.

Chemla, Homer, Rothschild (2011). Modularity and intuitions in formal semantics: the case of polarity items (2011). Linguistics and Philosophy, 34(6): 537-570. 2011. [link]
Denić, Homer, Rothschild, Chemla (2021). The influence of polarity items on inferential judgments. Cognition, 215: 104791. [link]

Szabolcsi, Bott, McElree (2008). The effect of negative polarity items on inference verification. Journal of Semantics 25 (4):411-450. [link]

Oct. 21: Compositionality, Implicatures, Presuppositions outside of human language

Dautriche I., Buccola B., Berthet M., Fagot J. & Chemla E. (2022), Evidence for compositionality in baboons ( Papio papio ) through the test case of negation. Scientific Reports, 12(1), 19181 [paper]
Tieu, L., Schlenker, P. & Chemla, E. (2019). Linguistic inferences without words. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 116(20), 9796-9801. [paper]
Bade, N., Schlenker, P. & Chemla, E. (2024). Word learning tasks as a window into the triggering problem for presupposition. Natural Language Semantics. [paper]

Oct. 28: [no class: master break]

Nov. 4: Probabilistic Reasoning with Quantifiers and the Confirmation Paradox

Slides

Papers

Susanna Rinard A new Bayesian Solution to the Paradox of Ravens

Proposes an account of the Raven case in terms of restrictor constancy

Orin Percus, Constraints on some other variables in syntax

Discusses asymmetries betwen full nouns and predicates regarding the availability of de re reading

David Lewis, Probabilities of Conditionals and Conditional Probabilities

This is the paper where the notion of Imaging (a non-Bayesian probabilistic update rule) is proposed. See also Paul Egré's article in the Stanford Encyclopedia of philosophy: https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/logic-conditionals/

Fitelson & Hawthorne, How Bayesian Confirmation Theory Handles the Paradox of the Ravens

(useful summary until p. 12)

McKenzie, Craig RM, and Laurie A. Mikkelsen, The psychological side of Hempel’s paradox of confirmation

One of the very few experimental psychology papers on the paradox of confirmation.

The beginning is useful to understand the Bayesian approach to confirmation (the whole paper is interesting,).

Nov. 11: [no class: bank holiday]

Part B. Super Semantics in communication (Schlenker)

(i) Readings that are not linked below will be found in the Dropbox folder.

(ii) If you haven't already done so, please fill out the online survey about your background.

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. 18: Introduction - Animal Semantics I

Reading: 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 (in the Dropbox folder)

Introductory alternative: What it All Means Ch. 1

More recent: Berthet et al. 2021 Animal Linguistics: a Primer

Entirely optional: I'Anson Price and Grüter 2015 (evolution of the waggle dance of bees)

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

BBC article Catherine Hobaiter on chimpanzee gestures.

Great ape gesture dictionary

Chimpanzee vs. Bonobo gestures
Humans' understanding of ape gestures; see also this.

Ape dance!

Nov. 25: [no class: PSL Week]

November 30, 9pm: Deadline for Squib #1!

Dec. 2: Animal Semantics II

Reading: one of the following
Suzuki and Matsumoto 2022

Schlenker et al. 2023 The ABC-D of Animal Linguistics

Link on Suzuki on birds

Dec. 9: Animal Semantics III

Reading: one of the following
Suzuki and Matsumoto 2022

Schlenker et al. 2023 The ABC-D of Animal Linguistics

Link on Suzuki on birds

Sign language semantics I

Reading: Schlenker, Lamberton and Kuhn, Sign Language Semantics

Alternatives: Schlenker, Visible Meaning (long!)

Shorter alternative: Schlenker Logical Visibility and Iconicity in Sign Language Semantics: Theoretical Perspectives

Introductory alternative: What it All Means Ch. 2

Dec. 16: Sign language semantics II

Optional: Schlenker et al. 2023 Iconic Syntax

Reminder: 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]

Dec. 23: no class [master break]
Dec. 30: no class [master break]