Seminar in Mind & Language

Introduction

Language

Human Languages

What’s special about human communication, as opposed to animal communication?

Language is a system that “makes infinite use of finite means.”

--Wilhelm von Humboldt

Recursion: Examples

The president of the United States

noun phrase

Recursion: Examples

The president of the United States

Inside a bigger noun phrase

Recursion: Examples

Michael believes that snow is white.

sentence

Recursion: Examples

Michael believes that snow is white.

inside a bigger sentence

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.

Recursion: The House that Jack Built

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7sDSYVfnj_E

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.

X-Bar Theory

X-Bar Theory

Semantics

Linguistic expressions– simple and complex ones– have meanings.

They represent objects and events in the world.

Onomatopoeia

The Arbitrariness of Language

• Most words aren’t onomatopoetic.

• In different languages, words for the same things can themselves be radically different.

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

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.

Example: Which Side to Drive On

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).

Convention

It is a convention for a group to follow a rule in a certain situation, if whenever they are in that situation:1. Everyone follows the rule.2. Everyone expects everyone else to follow the rule.3. The situation is a coordination problem.4. Everyone following the rule is a solution to the coordination

problem.5. The reason why they follow the rule is (3) and (4).

Accepting HKD is Conventional

It is a convention for Hong Kongers to follow the rule “accept HKD” in exchange for goods and services, because:1. Everyone gets paid in HKD and makes purchases with HKD.2. Everyone expects everyone else to accept payment and make

purchases with HKD.3. Which currency to accept is a coordination problem.4. Everyone accepting HKD is an equilibrium point in that problem.5. The reason why we follow the rule is (3) and (4).

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.

What the Word Means

Person 2

Person 1

“dog” “dog”

“dog”Solution Failure

“dog”Failure Solution

Word Order

Person 2

Person 1

SOV SVO

SOVSolution Failure

SVOFailure Solution

What Word We Use

Person 2

Person 1

“Dog” “Chien”

“Dog”Solution Failure

“Chien”Failure Solution

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

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?

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.

Compositional Semantics

Philosophical Issues in the Study of LanguageOne question we haven’t answered is:

What are meanings?

Are meanings something in the head, like mental images? Are they something in the world, like the objects and events around us? Are they something we do, like how we use the words to achieve different goals in life? Some philosophers even think there are no meanings!

Mind

Mental States

A mental state is a state of mind, like a sensation, an emotion, a mood, a perception or a thought.• Feeling a tickle, an itch, or a pain• Feeling angry, sad, happy, or nervous• Feeling depressed, anxious, or in good spirits• Seeing, hearing, touching, tasting or smelling something• Believing, desiring, hoping, intending, wishing, regretting, or knowing

something.

The meanings our words have at least partly depends on our mental states.

Convention

It is a convention for a group to follow a rule in a certain situation, if whenever they are in that situation:1. Everyone follows the rule.2. Everyone expects everyone else to follow the rule.3. The situation is a coordination problem.4. Everyone following the rule is a solution to the coordination

problem.5. The reason why they follow the rule is (3) and (4).

In fact, it’s reasonable to think that all representational things that aren’t minds represent because of minds.

Putnam’s Snail

Suppose a snail sets out from under the sand and begins a journey along the beach.

Putnam’s Snail

Without having any knowledge of who Winston Churchill is, or what he looks like, and not intending to draw anyone, the snails track randomly traces an image that looks just like Churchill.

Is it a picture of Churchill? Does it represent him?

A lot of philosophers think that the mind is the source of all representation in our world.

But how does the mind represent?

The Productivity of Thought

Notice first that we seem to be able to have infinitely many thoughts. (Or at least a very, very large amount.)

If our language can express infinitely many different meanings, and we can understand all the sentences, then we can think thoughts with infinitely many different meanings.

The Systematicity of Thought

What we can think about seems to be related.

For example, if I can think that dogs chase cars, and I can think that cats eat mice, then I can also think that cats chase cars and that dogs eat mice.

So maybe our thoughts are composed of some simple parts that are then recursively combined to form a very, very large number of thoughts (perhaps infinite).

The Language of Thought (LOT)

Some philosophers (like Jerry Fodor) think that there is a language of thought.

This language has a recursive syntax, and a compositional semantics, just like human languages.

Arguments that LOT ≠ English

Extensional inequivalence:

• Pre-linguistic infants think (else they can’t learn languages).• Deaf adult humans who don’t know sign-language (or a spoken

language) think.• Non-human animals think.

Arguments that LOT ≠ English

Greater indeterminacy of English compared with LOT:

• Lexical ambiguity: “Fred went to the bank.” • Structural ambiguity: “Flying planes can be dangerous.”• Scopal ambiguity: “Every boy loves some girl.”

Viewing thought on the model of language solves a couple of our problems: how can we have an infinite number of thoughts? How do complex thoughts get their meanings?

But it doesn’t explain how simple concepts get their meanings.

This will be a primary focus in this class.

Connotation and Denotation

Let’s look at one classic theory of mental and linguistic representation: The Idea Theory.

In this theory there are two aspects to meaning, which we might call connotation and denotation.

Connotation

Connotation corresponds more closely with the ordinary English sense of the word ‘meaning’: on the Idea Theory, for instance, the ‘meaning’ or connotation of a word is an idea.

Mind Idea of a Dog Dog

Partly Resembles

Has

Dog

Mind Idea of a Dog Dog

ConnotesDog

Mind Idea of a Dog Dog

Conventional RelationDog

Denotation

But there’s another sense in which the word ‘dog’ means dogs (those furry smelly barking things): it applies to dogs and it’s true of dogs (and false of everything else).

Denotation involves the relation between words and the world– what words apply to/ are true of.

Mind Idea of a Dog Dog

Conventional RelationDog

Natural Relation (Resemblance)

Mind Idea of a Dog Dog

DenotesDog

Relation between the Two

The two aspects of meaning are not unrelated. The Idea Theory’s theory of connotation explains why words have the denotations they do.

‘Dog’ is true of dogs because ‘dog’ connotes the idea of a dog, and dogs resemble the idea of a dog.

That’s one of the theories we’ll learn about in this class. Unfortunately, no one believes it anymore!