scholarly journals On Vendler’s freedom of choice

2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (4) ◽  
pp. e460
Author(s):  
Ana Clara Polakof
Keyword(s):  
Free Choice ◽  
Speech Act ◽  
Speech Act Theory ◽  
Alternative Semantics ◽  
Freedom Of Choice ◽  
Proper Understanding ◽  
Existential Import ◽  
The One ◽  
Short Essay

In this short essay, we will provide some contemporary remarks to Vendler (1962 and 1974). We will propose that his characterization of the Free Choice Item any can be properly explained if we take into account an alternative semantics framework. We will assume with Menéndez-Benito (2010) that it is a universal indeterminate pronoun, and with Aloni (2007) that it involves an exhaustification operator to explain its behavior. We will show that, if we take into account this approach, we will be able to explain what Vendler called freedom of choice, lack of existential import, lawlike propositions, among other characteristics. In addition, we will try to do some linguistics in philosophy, and try to explain how a proper understanding of FCI may help to better understand some reference related problems. Finally, we will show that if we take into account a speech act theory, as the one proposed by Searle (1985), we may account for some of the FCI particular behavior with regard to free choice.

Speech acts and conversational sequencing

1994 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 191-205 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christian Brassac
Keyword(s):  
Discourse Analysis ◽  
Speech Acts ◽  
Speech Act ◽  
Speech Act Theory ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
The Other ◽  
Conversational Analysis ◽  
Conversational Interactions ◽  
The One

The question of the use of speech act theory in accounting for conversational sequencing is discussed from the point of view of the explanation of linguistic interaction. On the one hand, this question lies at the heart of the opposition between conversational analysis and discourse analysis. On the other, it dominates the discussion around a text by Searle called "Conversation". After summarizing what is at stake in the debate, I focus on the positions of two authors, Dascal and Van Rees, who favor the idea of a possible (and necessary) combination of illocutionary logic and the analysis of conversational interactions. My own position consists in taking into account the new elements that have recently enriched illocutionary logic (particularly the integration of perlocution through the notion of satisfaction conditions) within the framework of an essentially dialogical position. The proposed approach is in agreement with the theses of these two authors and complements them with elements that satisfy their demands.

scholarly journals The negation of cualquier NP

2021 ◽  
Vol 7 ◽  
pp. 1-24
Author(s):  
Ana Clara Polakof
Keyword(s):  
Free Choice ◽  
Subject Position ◽  
Universal Quantifier ◽  
Alternative Semantics ◽  
Freedom Of Choice ◽  
Object Position ◽  
Original Proposal ◽  
Syntactic Approach ◽  
The Subject

Even though the interpretation of Free Choice Items such as any has been on debate for more than 50 years (Vendler, 1974, Dayal, 1998, Horn, 2000, etc.), it is relatively more recent in Spanish (Menéndez-Benito, 2005, Giannakidou and Quer, 2013, among others). Some have analyzed it as a universal quantifier, neither taking its free choiceness into account nor contexts which seem to be problematic for the universal account (see, for instance, Etxepare and Uribe-Etxebarria, 2011). In this article, we defend that cualquier is a universal indeterminate pronoun which involves freedom of choice (as in the original proposal by Vendler, 1974). We will take into account data (taken from https://www.corpusdelespanol.org/web-dial) which has not been properly considered. We will analyze the interaction of negation and cualquier in Rioplantese Spanish in the subject position of negative generic statements, in the object position in negative episodic statements, and in a non argumental position. We will combine an alternative semantics approach to the analysis of the FCI cualquier, inspired in Menéndez-Benito (2010) and Aloni (2019), with a syntactic approach to negation inspired in Etxepare and Uribe-Etxebarria (2011).  

Ästhetische Urteile und ästhetische Eigenschaften

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jochen Briesen
Keyword(s):  
Speech Acts ◽  
Speech Act ◽  
Speech Act Theory ◽  
Detailed Account ◽  
Combined Approach ◽  
Aesthetic Properties ◽  
Truth Value ◽  
Aesthetic Judgments

What do we mean by uttering aesthetic judgements, such as: "This is beautiful"? Are we merely expressing our enthusiasm, or do we rather describe objects as having properties that are mind-independent and objective? Can aesthetic judgments be true or false, and if so, does their respective truth value apply universally and absolutely, or does it need to be modified in some way? This book is dedicated to the task of answering these kinds of questions with respect to the meaning of aesthetic judgements, which also requires providing a metaphysical analysis of aesthetic properties. The book thus sets out to give a detailed account of both aesthetic judgements and aesthetic properties and defends this “combined approach” against various objections. The theory combines elements of a double-speech-act-theory, according to which voicing aesthetic statements involves performing two speech-acts simultaneously – an assertive act and an expressive act – with a response-dispositional characterization of aesthetic properties.

On bended knee

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicholas Wolterstorff
Keyword(s):  
Speech Act ◽  
Speech Act Theory ◽  
The Body ◽  
Main Argument ◽  
The One ◽  
One Act

In Platonic spirituality, people leave behind corporeal concerns and ascend to contemplation of The One or The Good; in Christianity, people assemble on foot or in wheelchairs to worship God with their body. The main argument of this chapter is that the best way to understand what it is to worship God with one’s body is to borrow from speech-act theory the idea of one act counting as another: my act of kneeling at this point in the liturgy counts as my act of humbling myself before God. The two acts are, as it were fused: body and mind together. After some discussion of the good achieved by worshipping God with our bodies and minds fused rather than with our minds alone, the chapter concludes with some speculations as to why the body is considerably more important in Orthodox liturgical enactments than it is, say, in traditional Reformed-Presbyterian enactments.

Theoretical issues and Problems in the Sociolinguistic Enterprise

1980 ◽  
Vol 1 ◽  
pp. 161-167
Author(s):  
Joshua A. Fishman
Keyword(s):  
Speech Act ◽  
Speech Act Theory ◽  
The Other ◽  
Variation Theory ◽  
Summer Institute ◽  
Indiana University ◽  
Micro Level ◽  
Points Of View ◽  
The One ◽  
Theoretical Issues

The major theoretical challenge for the sociology of language consists of the extent that it contributes to and, indeed, benefits from the sciences of society, on the one hand, and the sciences of language, on the other. Considering that the total enterprise only came into being in the early 70s (taking The SSRC's Summer Institute on Sociolinguistics at Indiana University, 1964, as a reasonable date of departure) some progress toward meeting this challenge is undeniable. Such progress is particularly great at the micro-level where variation theory, discourse analysis, speech act theory, pragmatics, and ethnomethodological concerns and sensitivities have pretty much become modern day orthodoxies that often neither recognize nor remember their sociolinguistic co-origins. Nevertheless, precisely here, where the links to linguistics are strongest, there is hardly any link to sociology or to sociocultural theory more generally (none at all, indeed, except for the ethnomethodological corner thereof). If we look for linkages between macro-sociolinguistic efforts and the parent disciplines, the situation is even less heartening, because not only are such links exceedingly few and far between, but nothing approaching schools of thought or elaborated points of view are discernible. That being the case the likelihood of productive theoretical linkages between micro- and macro-sociolinguistic endeavors is rather remote for the forseeable future.

Linguistic Evidentials and the Law of Hearsay

2021 ◽  
pp. 157-168
Author(s):  
Lawrence M. Solan
Keyword(s):  
Natural Language ◽  
Speech Acts ◽  
Speech Act ◽  
Speech Act Theory ◽  
The Other ◽  
Legal Evidence ◽  
The Law ◽  
John Langshaw Austin ◽  
The One ◽  
The Relationship

This chapter explores the relationship between how natural language expresses degrees of certainty in the truth of an assertion on the one hand, and how the law handles this issue on the other. This discussion focuses, in particular, on the hearsay doctrine and on the linguistic elements identified as “evidentials:” expressions that include information about how speakers came to know the assertions they make. The hearsay rule bars certain kinds of speech acts from serving as legal evidence, in particular, assertions that report what another person earlier said, and which are offered to express the truth about the events at issue in a case. The author links the law governing hearsay in terms of speech act theory, a connection also drawn by the philosopher John Langshaw Austin, who observed that statements offered to prove the fact of the speech act rather than the truth of the matter asserted are admissible.

Speech Acts Without Propositions?

2006 ◽  
Vol 72 (1) ◽  
pp. 155-178 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marina Sbisà
Keyword(s):  
Speech Acts ◽  
Speech Act ◽  
Speech Act Theory ◽  
Linguistic Communication

This paper argues that understanding speech in terms of action requires dispensing with propositions. Austin's outline of speech act theory did not give any role to propositions, which were introduced into speech act theory later on, in order to cope with criticism leveled by Strawson and Searle at Austin's characterization of the locutionary act and his view of the truth/falsity assessment. The introduction of propositions had weakening effects on the claim that speech is action, foregrounding again the received picture of linguistic communication. I show that, in order to make sense of Austin's characterization of the locutionary act, propositions are not needed and give some suggestions as to how one could give an account of the truth/falsity assessment, compatible with the claim that speech is action, without resorting to propositions.

Adiabatic large polarons in anisotropic molecular crystals

2011 ◽  
Vol 35 (1) ◽  
pp. 15-27
Author(s):  
Zoran Ivić ◽  
Željko Pržulj
Keyword(s):  
Energy Transfer ◽  
Effective Mass ◽  
Molecular Crystals ◽  
Single Chain ◽  
Proper Understanding ◽  
One Dimensional ◽  
Interchain Coupling ◽  
Large Polaron ◽  
The One

Adiabatic large polarons in anisotropic molecular crystals We study the large polaron whose motion is confined to a single chain in a system composed of the collection of parallel molecular chains embedded in threedimensional lattice. It is found that the interchain coupling has a significant impact on the large polaron characteristics. In particular, its radius is quite larger while its effective mass is considerably lighter than that estimated within the one-dimensional models. We believe that our findings should be taken into account for the proper understanding of the possible role of large polarons in the charge and energy transfer in quasi-one-dimensional substances.

Communication And Speech Act Theory : A Contextual Study Of Language

2016 ◽  
pp. 16
Author(s):  
Makhlouf Abdelkader ◽  
Driss Mohamed Amine
Keyword(s):  
Speech Act ◽  
Speech Act Theory ◽  
Contextual Study

New Work on Speech Acts

2018 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Speech Acts ◽  
Speech Act ◽  
Speech Act Theory ◽  
New Work ◽  
Half Century ◽  
Recent Advances ◽  
Current Thinking ◽  
Semantics And Pragmatics ◽  
Recent Developments ◽  
The Relationship

The essays collected in this book represent recent advances in our understanding of speech acts-actions like asserting, asking, and commanding that speakers perform when producing an utterance. The study of speech acts spans disciplines, and embraces both the theoretical and scientific concerns proper to linguistics and philosophy as well as the normative questions that speech acts raise for our politics, our societies, and our ethical lives generally. It is the goal of this book to reflect the diversity of current thinking on speech acts as well as to bring these conversations together, so that they may better inform one another. Topics explored in this book include the relationship between sentence grammar and speech act potential; the fate of traditional frameworks in speech act theory, such as the content-force distinction and the taxonomy of speech acts; and the ways in which speech act theory can illuminate the dynamics of hostile and harmful speech. The book takes stock of well over a half century of thinking about speech acts, bringing this classicwork in linewith recent developments in semantics and pragmatics, and pointing the way forward to further debate and research.

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