1. Meaning Out There Nayuta Miki (JSPS/Nihon University)
July 6, AAP 2015

2. The topic is…
speaker meaning
2015/7/4
AAP 2015

3. MEANING Speaker meaning
2015/7/6
Speaker meaning
= One’s meaning something by uttering something
[utterance]
MEANING
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AAP 2015
AAP 2015

4. What is it for one to mean something?
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AAP 2015

5. Intuitive MEANING But really plausible? The intention-based view:
[utterance]
MEANING
[utterance]
[intention]
But really plausible?
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AAP 2015

6. But, ``MEANING” is vague……
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AAP 2015

7. What should speaker meaning be like to be theoretically interesting?
How does the intention-based view analyze speaker meaning?
Compare these two conception of speaker meaning
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AAP 2015

8. Speaker meaning Linguistics Language evolution Psychology Pragmatics
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9. Pragmatics = Speaker Meaning - Semantics
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10. Pragmatics Implicature Explicature Presupposition Metaphor Joke ……
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11. If pragmatics is a rational enquiry:
1. Speaker meaning should be systematically explainable
2. Systematically explainable phenomena (in the same way as typical pragmatic phenomena) should be speaker meaning
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AAP 2015

12. The intention-based view:
There is a special type of intention which
1. is sufficient and necessary for speaker meaning
2. determines what the speaker means
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AAP 2015

13. Paul Grice (1957) “Meaning”
S means that p by uttering X iff:
S utters X intending:
a certain audience A to believe that p,
A to recognize that S intends 1,
A’s recognition that S intends 1 to be a part of her reason to believe that p.
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14. Meaning, Expression and Thought
intention to make it mutually known that S has a Gricean intention A to believe that p
Schiffer (1972) Meaning
intention to indicate that S believes that p
Davis (2003)
Meaning, Expression and Thought
intention to make it manifest that p and to make it manifest that S has this very intention
Green (2007)
Self-Expression
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AAP 2015

15. Compatible? If pragmatics is a rational enquiry:
1. Speaker meaning should be systematically explainable
2. Systematically explainable phenomena (in the same way as typical pragmatic phenomena) should be speaker meaning
Compatible?
The intention-based view:
There is a special type of speaker’s intention which
1. is sufficient and necessary for speaker meaning
2. determines what the speaker means
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AAP 2015

16. Searle (1965) “What is a speech act?”
I don’t know Germany or Italian.
But if I utter a German sentence, they will think me to be a German officer!
Kennst du das Land, wo die Zitronen blühen?
on the handout, pp. 7-8
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AAP 2015

17. Does the American soldier mean that he is a German officer?
If he does, he can mean anything he wants by an arbitrary utterance, like Humpty-Dumpty
Then, speaker meaning will not be systematically explainable
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AAP 2015

18. or speaker meaning does not play an essential part in pragmatics
The intention-based view does not give a necessary condition for speaker meaning,
or speaker meaning does not play an essential part in pragmatics
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AAP 2015

19. Unconsciously honest boy
When someone asks him a question while he is focusing on something, he unconsciously tell what he knows
Where is the treasure?
In the forest
on the handout, p. 9
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20. We can get the interpretation that the treasure is in the forest in the same way as a standard explicature
If we do not count this case as speaker meaning, we make an ad-hoc demarcation among uniform phenomena
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AAP 2015

21. I don’t want to die, but I don’t want him to get the treasure either……
Forced Metaphor
Where’s the treasure?
If you lie, you’ll die.
I don’t want to die, but I don’t want him to get the treasure either……
Among the green giants
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AAP 2015

22. What one intends to be believed, to indicate, to show, etc
What one intends to be believed, to indicate, to show, etc. can be different from what she actually means
One can have such an intention, without meaning anything, or vice versa.
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AAP 2015

23. Speaker meaning is not a matter of a speaker’s mind
It is a matter of the link between a speaker’s actual utterance and the inferential potential it has.
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AAP 2015

24. Speaker meaning is out there from a speaker’s mind
Speaker meaning is a matter rather of the interaction between a speaker and her environment than of her intention
Speaker meaning is out there from a speaker’s mind
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AAP 2015