1. Philosophy of Language

2. Course Particulars

3. Instructor Dr. Michael Johnson You can call me Michael
If you must, Dr. Johnson

4. About Me From San Antonio, TX, U.S.A.
Undergraduate degree (B.A. philosophy): University of Texas- Austin (2003).
Graduate degree (Ph.D. philosophy): Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey (2011).
Moved to Hong Kong August

5. Tower of Saviors: IGN: Mj UID: 67599983 OpenRice UN: mjhk
Find Me
Tower of Saviors: IGN: Mj UID: OpenRice UN: mjhk

6. Central Podium Levels (CPD) Room 3.01
Location
Central Podium Levels (CPD) Room 3.01

7. Meeting Times
Tuesdays 10:30 AM – 12:20 PM

8. Course Website
michaeljohnsonphilosophy.com > PHIL 2610 Philosophy of Language 2016

9. Instructor

10. Academic Integrity
All students are expected to read and understand HKU’s policy on plagiarism: “What Is Plagiarism?” /page2s.htm

11. Animal Communication

12. Vervet Monkeys

13. High-pitched “chutters”
Vervet Signaling
Predator
Call Type
Avoidance Behavior
Leopard
Short tonal calls
Climb tree
Eagle
Low-pitched “grunt”
Hide in bushes
Python
High-pitched “chutters”
Stand up, look down

15. Honeybee Social insects
Males 100% related to each other, (non-queen) females 75%
Live in colonial nests made of wax
Produce and store honey, made from plant nectar

16. The Waggle Dance

17. Human Language

18. Human Languages
What’s special about human communication, as opposed to animal communication?

19. Unique Features Discreteness Modality Independence Productivity
Displacement

20. Discreteness

21. Double Articulation
Morphemes are made out of phonemes, sounds that make a difference to meaning (e.g. ‘cat’ vs. ‘bat’).
Words are made out of morphemes, the smallest units that have a meaning (e.g. ‘dog’ + PLURAL = ‘dogs’).
Sentences are made out of words.

22. Modality Independence
Modality: representational format– e.g. sounds, butt waggles, etc.
Multi-modal communication: using multiple modalities to communicate, e.g. primate gesture-calls
Modality-independent communication: all the same messages can be sent regardless of the modality

23. Modality Independence

24. Productivity
Language is a system that “makes infinite use of finite means.” --Wilhelm von Humboldt

25. The president of the United States
Recursion: Examples
The president of the United States
noun phrase

26. The president of the United States
Recursion: Examples
The president of the United States
Inside a bigger noun phrase

27. Michael believes that snow is white.
Recursion: Examples
Michael believes that snow is white.
sentence

28. Michael believes that snow is white.
Recursion: Examples
Michael believes that snow is white.
inside a bigger sentence

29. Recursion
The recursive structure of language means that even though there are finitely many words, there are infinitely many grammatically correct sentences, with infinitely many distinct meanings.

30. Recursion: The House that Jack Built

31. Syntax
Syntax is the set of rules that govern how words are put together to form larger expressions, like phrases and sentences. Syntax is recursive when a phrase can be made out of other phrases like it.

32. X-Bar Theory

33. X-Bar Theory

34. Displacement
Animals can communicate messages about things and events in their current environment, but not:
Things that are not around right now
Events in the past
Events in the future
Things that don’t exist

35. Displacement

36. Semantics
Linguistic expressions– simple and complex ones– have meanings. They represent objects and events in the world.

37. What Are Meanings?
If you can speak of things that don’t exist (yet or even ever), what are the things that you are speaking of?

38. Meinong’s Theory
For example, Alexius Meinong ( ) thought that everything you could think of had to exist (else how could you think of it?). He divided the world then into the existent (everything) and the subsistent (the things we normally think exist).

39. Onomatopoeia

40. The Arbitrariness of Language
Most words aren’t onomatopoetic.
In different languages, words for the same things can themselves be radically different.

41. How Does Language Acquire Meaning?

42. Meaning is conventional
Meaning is conventional. But it’s not as though everyone went to a big meeting where we all agreed what words were to mean.

43. Coordination Problems
Coordination problems are problems where there are multiple good solutions and we have to coordinate our actions to achieve one of them. It doesn’t matter which solution we aim for, it just matters that everyone aims for the same solution.

44. Example: Which Side to Drive On

45. Example: Money
Throughout history, people have used different things as money: gold, silver, sea shells, salt (whence ‘salary’), goats, cigarettes (in prison), coins and paper currency. It doesn’t matter to me what I accept in exchange for my goods and labor as long as it’s what everyone else accepts (as long as I can spend it).

46. Language and Convention
Many aspects of language are also conventional:
The meaning of each word.
Some facts about the grammar.
How the words get pronounced.

47. Convention
It is a convention for a group to follow a rule in a certain situation, if whenever they are in that situation:
Everyone follows the rule.
Everyone expects everyone else to follow the rule.
The situation is a coordination problem.
Everyone following the rule is a solution to the coordination problem.
The reason why they follow the rule is (3) and (4).

48. Accepting HKD is Conventional
It is a convention for Hong Kongers to follow the rule “accept HKD” in exchange for goods and services, because:
Everyone gets paid in HKD and makes purchases with HKD.
Everyone expects everyone else to accept payment and make purchases with HKD.
Which currency to accept is a coordination problem.
Everyone accepting HKD is an equilibrium point in that problem.
The reason why we follow the rule is (3) and (4).

49. What the Word Means
Person 2
Person 1
“dog”
Solution
Failure

50. Word Order
Person 2
Person 1
SOV
SVO
Solution
Failure

51. What Word We Use
Person 2
Person 1
“Dog”
“Chien”
Solution
Failure

52. Not Everything Conventional
“Certainly not every feature of a language is conventional. No humanly possible language relies on ultrasonic whistles, so it is not by convention that Welshmen do not… but so long as even two languages are humanly possible, it must be by convention that a population chooses to use one or the other.” – David Lewis

54. Infinity, Again
We know that there are infinitely many grammatical sentences. (Or at least a very, very large amount.) But those sentences (collectively) also have an infinite number of distinct meanings. (Or at least a very, very large amount.) How can we work out the meanings of sentences we’ve never heard before, whose meanings we have never been taught?

55. Compositionality
Here’s the main outline of the solution: 1. We learn the meanings of simple expressions (words). 2. The meanings of complex expressions (phrases and sentences) are determined by the meanings of the words in them and the syntax of the sentence.

56. Compositional Semantics

57. Benefits of Language Cooperative action: coordination, conspicuousness
Tool for thought?