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What It All Means

Semantics for (Almost) Everything

Author Philippe Schlenker
Ebook
The MIT Press
On sale Nov 22, 2022 | 520 Pages | 9780262371773
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How meaning works—from monkey calls to human language, from spoken language to sign language, from gestures to music—and how meaning is connected to truth.

We communicate through language, connecting what we mean to the words we say. But humans convey meaning in other ways as well, with facial expressions, hand gestures, and other methods. Animals, too, can get their meanings across without words. In What It All Means, linguist Philippe Schlenker explains how meaning works, from monkey calls to human language, from spoken language to sign language, from gestures to music. He shows that these extraordinarily diverse types of meaning can be studied and compared within a unified approach—one in which the notion of truth plays a central role.
 
“It’s just semantics” is often said dismissively. But Schlenker shows that semantics—the study of meaning—is an unsung success of modern linguistics, a way to investigate some of the deepest questions about human nature using tools from the empirical and formal sciences. Drawing on fifty years of research in formal semantics, Schlenker traces how meaning comes to life. After investigating meaning in primate communication, he explores how human meanings are built, using in some cases sign languages as a guide to the workings of our inner “logic machine.” Schlenker explores how these meanings can be enriched by iconicity in sign language and by gestures in spoken language, and then turns to more abstract forms of iconicity to understand the meaning of music. He concludes by examining paradoxes, which—being neither true nor false—test the very limits of meaning.
Acknowledgments ix
Introduction xi
Prologue: Primate Meanings xxiii
1 Meaning in the Wild 1
Part I: The Building Blocks of Meaning 37
2 Visible Logic: Sign Language and Pronouns 39
3 Me, Me, Me! Perspectives in Language 69
4 Nouns and Verbs: Objects and Events 91
5 Beyond the Here and Now I: From Objects to Situations 111
6 Beyond the Here and Now II: Describing and Classifying Objects and Situations 127
Part II: Using Meaning 145
7 Logic Machine I: Predicate Logic 147
8 Logic Machine II: English as a Formal Language 157
9 Logic Machine III: The Expressive Power of Human Language 173
10 Not Quite Saying It: Focus and Implicatures 197
11 Not At Issue: Presuppositions, Supplements, and Expressives 225
Part III: Extending Meaning 245
12 Iconicity Revisited: Sign with Iconicity Versus Speech with Gestures 247
13 Grammar in Gestures 265
14 Meaning in Gestures 287
15 Meaning in Music 303
Epilogue: The Limits of Truth 339
16 The Limits of Truth I: The Riddle of Paradoxes 341
17 The Limits of Truth II: Solving the Riddle of Paradoxes 355
Conclusion 383
Appendix: Phonology, Morphology, and Syntax in Speech and in Sign 389
Glossary 405
Going Further 415
Notes 429
Illustration Sources 451
Index 455
Philippe Schlenker is Senior Research Fellow at Centre national de la recherche scientifique (Institut Jean-Nicod, Paris) and Global Distinguished Professor at New York University. His work spans all aspects of meaning, from philosophical logic to formal semantics, in both spoken and signed languages.
Philippe Schlenker View titles by Philippe Schlenker

About

How meaning works—from monkey calls to human language, from spoken language to sign language, from gestures to music—and how meaning is connected to truth.

We communicate through language, connecting what we mean to the words we say. But humans convey meaning in other ways as well, with facial expressions, hand gestures, and other methods. Animals, too, can get their meanings across without words. In What It All Means, linguist Philippe Schlenker explains how meaning works, from monkey calls to human language, from spoken language to sign language, from gestures to music. He shows that these extraordinarily diverse types of meaning can be studied and compared within a unified approach—one in which the notion of truth plays a central role.
 
“It’s just semantics” is often said dismissively. But Schlenker shows that semantics—the study of meaning—is an unsung success of modern linguistics, a way to investigate some of the deepest questions about human nature using tools from the empirical and formal sciences. Drawing on fifty years of research in formal semantics, Schlenker traces how meaning comes to life. After investigating meaning in primate communication, he explores how human meanings are built, using in some cases sign languages as a guide to the workings of our inner “logic machine.” Schlenker explores how these meanings can be enriched by iconicity in sign language and by gestures in spoken language, and then turns to more abstract forms of iconicity to understand the meaning of music. He concludes by examining paradoxes, which—being neither true nor false—test the very limits of meaning.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments ix
Introduction xi
Prologue: Primate Meanings xxiii
1 Meaning in the Wild 1
Part I: The Building Blocks of Meaning 37
2 Visible Logic: Sign Language and Pronouns 39
3 Me, Me, Me! Perspectives in Language 69
4 Nouns and Verbs: Objects and Events 91
5 Beyond the Here and Now I: From Objects to Situations 111
6 Beyond the Here and Now II: Describing and Classifying Objects and Situations 127
Part II: Using Meaning 145
7 Logic Machine I: Predicate Logic 147
8 Logic Machine II: English as a Formal Language 157
9 Logic Machine III: The Expressive Power of Human Language 173
10 Not Quite Saying It: Focus and Implicatures 197
11 Not At Issue: Presuppositions, Supplements, and Expressives 225
Part III: Extending Meaning 245
12 Iconicity Revisited: Sign with Iconicity Versus Speech with Gestures 247
13 Grammar in Gestures 265
14 Meaning in Gestures 287
15 Meaning in Music 303
Epilogue: The Limits of Truth 339
16 The Limits of Truth I: The Riddle of Paradoxes 341
17 The Limits of Truth II: Solving the Riddle of Paradoxes 355
Conclusion 383
Appendix: Phonology, Morphology, and Syntax in Speech and in Sign 389
Glossary 405
Going Further 415
Notes 429
Illustration Sources 451
Index 455

Author

Philippe Schlenker is Senior Research Fellow at Centre national de la recherche scientifique (Institut Jean-Nicod, Paris) and Global Distinguished Professor at New York University. His work spans all aspects of meaning, from philosophical logic to formal semantics, in both spoken and signed languages.
Philippe Schlenker View titles by Philippe Schlenker

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