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
“dog”
“dog”
Person 1
Solution
Failure
Failure
Solution
“dog”
“dog”
Word Order
Person 2
SOV
SVO
Person 1
Solution
Failure
Failure
Solution
SOV
SVO
What Word We Use
Person 2
“Dog”
“Chien”
Person 1
Solution
Failure
Failure
Solution
“Dog”
“Chien”
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 Language
One 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.
Partly
Resembles
Dog
Has
Mind
Idea of a Dog
Dog
Connotes
Dog
Mind
Idea of a Dog
Dog
Conventional Relation
Dog
Mind
Idea of a Dog
Dog
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.
Conventional Relation
Dog
Natural Relation
(Resemblance)
Mind
Idea of a Dog
Dog
Denotes
Dog
Mind
Idea of a Dog
Dog
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!