Imperative Meaning in Context
NASSLI 2010, Bloomington, Indiana
- Instructors:
- Cleo Condoravdi and Sven Lauer
- Dates:
- June 21 - 25, 2010
- Time:
- 9 - 10:30am
- Room:
- Swain West 103
This course is concerned with the performative effects of
`conduct-guiding' natural language utterances. Imperatives are the
prototypical type of expression that can be used to bring about such
effects. They can be used for a variety of functions, such as to
command, request, permit, wish, concede, or give advice. Other forms
can be used to the same effect as well, such as modalized indicatives
and questions ('You must pay the victim $500', 'You may take a
cookie', 'Would/Can you sign this receipt, please?'), assertions of
speaker and hearer desires ('I want you to take these pills for a
week', 'You want to take a left here') and a range of more specialized
expressions. The interactional force such an expression can have on
any given occasion of utterance depends on both features of the
context and its conventional meaning. The challenge for theories of
natural language is thus to get the division of labor between (conventional)
semantic meaning and (non-conventional) pragmatic
reasoning right, so as to correctly predict all (and only all) possible
expression/context/force triples.
We survey theories of imperatives in linguistic semantics, the philosophy of language
and logic with an emphasis on how well they rise to the challenge
posed above and develop an approach to the problem that pays due
attention to the interactional purpose of imperatives and other
expressions as tools to coordinate between speakers' and addressees'
displayed preferences and future courses of action.
A basic knowledge of formal semantics is required.
Schedule & Readings
All references to the readings as a .bib-file (general bibliography + .bib-file to come)
Mon, June 21: Introduction
A high-level overview about conceptual issues in the analysis of imperatives. The
independence of denotatum and dynamic effect. The problem of functional heterogeneity.
Searle's view on indirect speech acts.
Material
Readings
- Schmerling, S. (1982) How imperatives are special and how they aren't. Chicago Linguistics Society: Parasession on Nondeclaratives, p. 202-218.
- Ch. 3 of Hamblin, C. L. (1987) Imperatives. Basil Blackwell, Oxford, UK. (bibilography)
- Ch.1 of Mastop, R. (2005) What can you do? PhD thesis, ILLC Amsterdam.
- Stenius, E. (1967) Mood and language-game. Synthese, 17:254-274.
- Ch. 1 of Schwager, M. (2006) Interpreting Imperatives. PhD thesis, Johann Wolfgang Goethe-Universtät, Frankfurt am Main.
- Sections 2.3.4-5 of Han, C.-H. (1998) The Structure and Interpretation of Imperatives: Mood and Force in Universal Grammar. PhD thesis, University of Pennsylvania. (Published: Garland 2000)
- Searle, J. R. (1975) Indirect speech acts. In Syntax and Semantics 3: Speech Acts, p. 59-82. Academic Press, New York.
Tue, June 22: Imperatives and Modals I
Portner's (2005,2007) analysis of imperatives in terms of Todo-Lists & selection functions. Some interactions between modals and imperatives. The representation of discourse parameters.
Material
Readings:
- Portner, P. (2005) The semantics of imperatives within a theory of clause types. In Watanabe, K. and Young, R. B., editors, Proceedings of SALT 14. CLC Publications, New York.
- Portner, P. (2007) Imperatives and modals. Natural Language Semantics, 15:351-383.
Background Reading:
Wed, June 23: Imperatives and Modals II
Ninan's observations about deontic must. How they are or are not arguments against
modal analyses of imperatives. Schwager's (2006) account of imperatives as modal assertions
that necessarily give rise to performative effects.
Material
Readings:
- Ninan, D. (2005) Two puzzles about deontic necessity. In Gajewski, J., Hacquard, V., Nickel, B., and Yalcin, S., editors, New work on modality, volume 51 of MIT Working Papers in Linguistics, p. 149-178. MITWPL, Cambridge, MA.
- Ninan, D. (unpublished) On deontic must. Unpublished Manuscript, MIT, 2005.
- Ch. 6 of Schwager, M. (2006) Interpreting Imperatives. PhD thesis, Johann Wolfgang Goethe-Universtät, Frankfurt am Main.
Secondary Reading
- Condoravdi, C. (2002) Temporal Interpretation of Modals: Modals for the Present and for the Past. In D. Beaver, S, Kaufmann, B. Clark and L. Casillas (eds.) The Construction of Meaning, 59-88. CSLI Publications.
Thu, June 24: Imperatives as Preferential Attitudes
More on Schwager. Open issues for underspecification accounts. Performative uses of desiderative
assertions. Preference Structures and effective preferences. Imperatives as assertions about
effective preferences.
Material
Readings
- Wilson, D. and Sperber, D. (1988) Mood and the analysis of non-declarative sentences In Dancy, J., J.Moravcsik, and Taylor, C., editors, Human agency: Language, duty and value, p. 77-101. Stanford University Press.
- Ch. 2 & 7 of Schwager, M. (2006) Interpreting Imperatives. PhD thesis, Johann Wolfgang Goethe-Universtät, Frankfurt am Main.
Secondary Reading
Fri, June 25: Speaking of Commitments: Imperatives and Explicit Performatives
More on imperatives as assertions about effective preferences. Explicit performatives and speech acts.
Commitments and conventions of use.
Material
Readings
- Searle, J. R. (1989) How performatives work. Linguistics and Philosophy, 12(5):535-558.
- Lewis, D. (1975) Languages and language. In Gunderson, K., editor, Language, Mind, and Knowledge. University of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis.
Secondary Reading
- On anankastic conditionals
- Sæbø, K. J. (2001) Necessary conditions in a natural language In Féry, C. and Sternefeld, W., editors, Audiatur Vox Sapientiae: A Festschrift for Arnim von Stechow, p. 427-449. Akademie-Verlag, Berlin.
- von Fintel, K. and Iatridou, S. (unpublished) What to do if you want to go to Harlem: Anankastic conditionals and related matters. ms., MIT, 2005.
- Huitink, J. (2005) Analyzing anankastic conditionals and sufficiency modals. In Proceedings of ConSOLE XIII, p. 135-156.
- von Stechow, A., Krasikova, S., and Penka, D. (2006) Anankastic conditionals again. In Torgrim Solstad, A. G. and Haug, D., editors, A Festschrift for Kjell Johan Sæbø. Oslo.
- On commitments in discourse