Philosophy of Language

The first philosophy of language textbook on the market to cater to both linguists and philosophers.

Zoltán Gendler Szabó (Author), Richmond H. Thomason (Author)

9781107096646, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 1 November 2018

338 pages, 1 b/w illus.
25.3 x 17.8 x 2.4 cm, 0.76 kg

'This rich textbook fills an important need. It will provide indispensable background in philosophy of language for anyone interested in the modern linguistic study of meaning. Linguists and philosophers alike will benefit from Szabó and Thomason's skilled guide to foundational issues.' Kai von Fintel, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

This unique textbook introduces linguists to key issues in the philosophy of language. Accessible to students who have taken only a single course in linguistics, yet sophisticated enough to be used at the graduate level, the book provides an overview of the central issues in philosophy of language, a key topic in educating the next generation of researchers in semantics and pragmatics. Thoroughly grounded in contemporary linguistic theory, the book focus on the core foundational and philosophical issues in semantics and pragmatics, richly illustrated with historical case studies to show how linguistic questions are related to philosophical problems in areas such as metaphysics, epistemology, and ethics. Students are introduced in Part I to the issues at the core of semantics, including compositionality, reference and intentionality. Part II looks at pragmatics: context, conversational update, implicature and speech acts; whilst Part III discusses foundational questions about meaning. The book will encourage future collaboration and development between philosophy of language and linguistics.

Introduction
Part I. Philosophy of Semantics: 1. Frege and Tarski
2. Compositionality
3. Reference and quantification
4. Tense and modality
5. Intentionality
Part II. Philosophy of Pragmatics: 6. Austin and Grice
7. Context and content
8. Common ground and conversational update
9. Implicature and figurative speech
10. Assertion and other speech acts
Part III. Meaning as a Philosophical Problem: 11. Meaning and use
12. Externalism and internalism
13. Paradox and vagueness.

Subject Areas: Semantics, discourse analysis, etc [CFG], Philosophy of language [CFA]