Expressing the self: cultural diversity and cognitive universals minyao huang (editor) - Download th

Page 1


https://ebookmass.com/product/expressing-the-self-culturaldiversity-and-cognitive-universals-minyao-huang-editor/

Instant digital products (PDF, ePub, MOBI) ready for you

Download now and discover formats that fit your needs...

Cultural Anthropology: Appreciating Cultural Diversity 17th Edition Conrad Phillip Kottak

https://ebookmass.com/product/cultural-anthropology-appreciatingcultural-diversity-17th-edition-conrad-phillip-kottak/

ebookmass.com

The Implicit Mind: Cognitive Architecture, the Self, and Ethics Michael Brownstein

https://ebookmass.com/product/the-implicit-mind-cognitivearchitecture-the-self-and-ethics-michael-brownstein/

ebookmass.com

Cultural Diversity: A Primer for the Human Services 5th Edition, (Ebook PDF)

https://ebookmass.com/product/cultural-diversity-a-primer-for-thehuman-services-5th-edition-ebook-pdf/

ebookmass.com

The Daode Jing: A Guide Livia Kohn

https://ebookmass.com/product/the-daode-jing-a-guide-livia-kohn/

ebookmass.com

Kaufman's Clinical Neurology for Psychiatrists (Major Problems in Neurology), 9e (May 20, 2022)_(032379680X)_(Elsevier) 9th Edition Kaufman Md

https://ebookmass.com/product/kaufmans-clinical-neurology-forpsychiatrists-major-problems-inneurology-9e-may-20-2022_032379680x_elsevier-9th-edition-kaufman-md/ ebookmass.com

The

Remnant Chronicles - T3 - The Beauty of Darkness Mary E. Pearson

https://ebookmass.com/product/the-remnant-chronicles-t3-the-beauty-ofdarkness-mary-e-pearson-2/

ebookmass.com

Engineering Management: Meeting the Global Challenges, Second Edition 2nd Edition – Ebook PDF Version

https://ebookmass.com/product/engineering-management-meeting-theglobal-challenges-second-edition-2nd-edition-ebook-pdf-version/

ebookmass.com

Animality in Contemporary Italian Philosophy (The Palgrave Macmillan Animal Ethics Series) 1st Edition Felice Cimatti

https://ebookmass.com/product/animality-in-contemporary-italianphilosophy-the-palgrave-macmillan-animal-ethics-series-1st-editionfelice-cimatti/ ebookmass.com

Quantitative Methods for Business, 5th Edition Donald Waters

https://ebookmass.com/product/quantitative-methods-for-business-5thedition-donald-waters/

ebookmass.com

Posthumanism in Italian Literature and Film: Boundaries and Identity Enrica Maria Ferrara

https://ebookmass.com/product/posthumanism-in-italian-literature-andfilm-boundaries-and-identity-enrica-maria-ferrara/

ebookmass.com

ExpressingtheSelf

ExpressingtheSelf

CulturalDiversityandCognitiveUniversals

ANDKASIAM.JASZCZOLT

GreatClarendonStreet,Oxford, OXDP, UnitedKingdom

OxfordUniversityPressisadepartmentoftheUniversityofOxford. ItfurtherstheUniversity’sobjectiveofexcellenceinresearch,scholarship, andeducationbypublishingworldwide.Oxfordisaregisteredtrademarkof OxfordUniversityPressintheUKandincertainothercountries

©editorialmatterandorganizationMinyaoHuangandKasiaM.Jaszczolt  ©thechapterstheirseveralauthors 

Themoralrightsoftheauthorshavebeenasserted

FirstEditionpublishedin 

Impression: 

Allrightsreserved.Nopartofthispublicationmaybereproduced,storedin aretrievalsystem,ortransmitted,inanyformorbyanymeans,withoutthe priorpermissioninwritingofOxfordUniversityPress,orasexpresslypermitted bylaw,bylicenceorundertermsagreedwiththeappropriatereprographics rightsorganization.Enquiriesconcerningreproductionoutsidethescopeofthe aboveshouldbesenttotheRightsDepartment,OxfordUniversityPress,atthe addressabove

Youmustnotcirculatethisworkinanyotherform andyoumustimposethissameconditiononanyacquirer

PublishedintheUnitedStatesofAmericabyOxfordUniversityPress  MadisonAvenue,NewYork,NY ,UnitedStatesofAmerica

BritishLibraryCataloguinginPublicationData

Dataavailable

LibraryofCongressControlNumber:

Printedandboundby

CPIGroup(UK)Ltd,Croydon, CRYY

LinkstothirdpartywebsitesareprovidedbyOxfordingoodfaithand forinformationonly.Oxforddisclaimsanyresponsibilityforthematerials containedinanythirdpartywebsitereferencedinthiswork.

Contents

Prefaceandacknowledgements vii

Listof figuresandtables viii Listofabbreviations x Thecontributors xiii

 Introduction:Theselfinlanguage,inthought,and enroute in-between  KasiaM.Jaszczolt

PartI.Theselfacrosslanguages

 ‘Me’ , ‘ us ’,and ‘others’:expressingtheselfinArawaklanguages ofSouthAmerica,withafocusonTariana

AlexandraY.Aikhenvald

 ThepropertreatmentofegophoricityinKathmanduNewari

ElizabethCoppockandStephenWechsler

 Self-referringinKorean,withreferencetoKorean first-personmarkers

Hye-KyungLee

 ExpressingtheselfinJapanese:indexicalexpressionsinthe serviceofindexicalthoughts

RodanthiChristofaki

 Dese marking,logophoricity,and ziji

Hsiang-YunChen

 Chartingthespeaker-relatednessofimpersonalpronouns:contrastive evidencefromEnglish,French,andThai

MinyaoHuang, JirantharaSrioutai , andMélanieGréaux

PartII.Self-awarenessandself-expression

 Expressingtheselves:subjectsplitsandviewpointhierarchiesin multiple-perspectiveconstructions

SonjaZeman

 Referentialvariabilityofgeneric ‘ one ’

MinyaoHuang

 Expressingtheself:fromtypesof dese tospeech-acttypes

KasiaM.JaszczoltandMaciejWitek

PartIII. Dese thoughtsandindexicality

 Theincrementalself

JohnPerry

 Onthe essentiality ofthoughts(andreference)

ErosCorazza

 Pragmaticindexicals

KasiaM.Jaszczolt

References

Nameindex

Subjectindex

Prefaceandacknowledgements

Thebookgrewoutoftheresearchassociatedwiththeproject ‘ExpressingtheSelf: CulturalDiversityandCognitiveUniversals’ pursuedbytheeditorsattheUniversity ofCambridgefrom  to .Someofthecontributingchapterswerewrittenby theparticipantsintheproject;somebyauthorswhocollaboratedwithuson thelanguagesandproblemsinvestigatedthere;yetotherswereinvitedasaresultof thediscussionsthatstemmedoutofworkshopsandconferencesessionsweorganized.Finally,somechapterswereinvitedinordertocompletethevisionofthis bookthatisintendedtobringtogetherlinguisticandphilosophicalaspectsof thinkingandspeakingabouttheself orthepropertiesandtheexpressionof dese thought.WeexpressourgratitudetotheLeverhulmeTrustforthegrantawardedto KasiaJaszczolt(PrincipalInvestigator)topursuethisfascinatingtopicfromanovel perspective.WearealsogratefultotheDepartmentofTheoreticalandApplied Linguistics,UniversityofCambridge,andNewnhamCollege,Cambridgeforcreating aperfectworkingenvironmentandofferinginvaluablesupportwhilewewereediting andco-writingthebook.Finally,ourthanksgotoourcolleagueswhoactedas anonymousreviewersandconsultantsduringtheeditorialprocess,toSarahBarrett andJenMoorefortheircarefulcopy-editingandproofreading,toKimBirchallfor compilingtheindex,aswellastoJuliaSteerofOxfordUniversityPressforher advice,guidance,andpatience.Wehopethatwhatfollowswillcontributetothe understandingofwhatexactlywethinkandsaywhenwethinkandspeakabout ourselvesindifferentcontexts,languages,andcultures.

Cambridge

 February 

Figures

Listof figuresandtables

  ThedistributionofextantArawaklanguages,withapproximatelocations

  HierarchyofpreferredevidentialsinTuyucaandTariana

. Screencaptureofthesearchfor first-personpronounsin SDK

  Asketchofpossiblefacetsoftheself

. DRSforexample()

 DRSforexample()

. DRSforexample()

  DRSforexample()

.

DRSforexample()

  Fourtypesofspeaker-relatedreadingsofanimpersonalpronoun

. ComparisonofthefourtypesofreferenceinEnglish

  ComparisonofthefourtypesofreferenceinFrench

. ComparisonofthefourtypesofreferenceinThai

  Overallfrequencyofthefourtypesofreference

. Conceptualizingtheself

  Automaticityinperception

. Σ forexample()

 Σ forexample()

. Σ forexample()

Tables

. A/Sa/possessorprefixes,O/So suffixes/encliticsinproto-Arawak

Minimal-augmentedpersonsysteminPalikur

. Minimal-augmentedpersonsysteminCarib

  Personalcross-referencingprefixesandpronounsinTariana

. Schematicparadigmforegophoricsystems

  Finitepastformsof ‘togo’ (perfective/imperfective)

. Discoursemodel

  PersonalpronounsincontemporaryKorean

. FacetsexpressedinEnglishandJapanese

  Theresultforexample()

  Theresultforexample()

. Possiblecombinationsofthepredicateassignment

  DistributionofthefourtypesofreferenceinEnglish

. DistributionofthefourtypesofreferenceinFrench

  DistributionofthefourtypesofreferenceinThai

. Twodimensionsofcontextualvariationsinthefourtypesofreference

Distributionofthefourtypesofreference

ResponsesinTypeCcases

ResponsesinTypeBcases

ResponsesinTypeAcases

ResponsesinTypeDcases

Contextualvariationsinthefourtypesofreference

. Context-dependentdimensionsunderlyingthefourtypesofuse

 Consultants’ choicesincategories+S G,+S+G,and S+G

.

Consultants’ choicesincategory+S+IEM

Distributionofresponsesannotatedforsituations,moves,goals, andexpressedaspectsoftheself

Listofabbreviations

+G/–Gexpressing/notexpressingspeaker-basedgeneralization

+IEMaconstructiondisplayingimmunitytoerrorthroughmisidentification

+S/–Sexpressing/notexpressingspeaker’sperspective

/ first/secondperson

Atransitivesubject

ACaccusativeparticle

Accaccusativecase

AHaddresseehonorific,suffix

ANIManimate

Approxapproximative

ARTarticle

AUGaugmentative

BPbareproposition

CDcognitivedefaults

CLclassifier

COMPcomplementizer

COMPLcompletive

CoTContextofThought

CoUContextofUtterance

CPIconsciouspragmaticinference

Ddemonstrative

Datdativecase

DCdeclarativesentence-typesuffix/DiscourseCommitment

DECLdeclarative

DIMdiminutive

DOdirectobject

DRSDiscourseRepresentationStructure

DRTDiscourseRepresentationTheory

DSDefaultSemantics

EGOegophoricform

EREmpathyRelation

ERGergative

Evid,EVIDevidentialexpression

exclexclusive

f,FEMfeminine

FIDfreeindirectdiscourse

FoF ‘futureoffate’ structure

Formformulaicexpression

FRUSTfrustrative

FUTfuture(foranyperson)

FUT.CERTcertainfuture(firstpersononly)

FUT.UNCERTuncertainfuture(firstpersononly)

Gengenericform

HABhabitual

Hedgehedgingexpression

IEMimmunitytoerrorthroughmisidentification

Imp,IMPimpersonalform

INindicativemoodsuffix inclinclusive

LFlogicalform

LDAlong-distanceanaphora

LOClocative

MASCmasculine

MDpre-nominalmodifiersuffix

MPCmultiple-perspectiveconstruction

NCLnounclass

NEGnegation

nfnonfeminine

NMnominativeparticle

Nomnominalexpression

NOMnominalization/nominative

NOM.PASTnominalpast

OBJobject

PASTpasttense

PERFperfective

pl,PL,Plplural

posetpartiallyorderedset

POSSpossessive

PPlepastparticipleform

PRES.VISpresentvisual

PROemptycategory ‘bigpro’

PROHprohibitive Listofabbreviations

PSTpasttensesuffix

QUquestion

QUDquestionunderdiscussion

REC.P.NONVISrecentpastnonvisual

REC.P.REPrecentpastreported

REC.P.VISrecentpastvisual

RECIPreciprocal

Refl reflexiveform

REM.P.NONVISremotepastnonvisual

REM.P.VISremotepastvisual

Sintransitivesubject

Sa subjectofintransitiveactiveverb

SCTSemanticCorrelationThesis

SCWDsocioculturalandworldknowledgedefaults

SEQsequentialmarker

sg,SG,Sgsingular

So subjectofintransitivestativeverb

SUBsubordinator

Subjsubjunctive

TCtopic-contrastparticle

Toptopicalization

TOPtopicmarker

TOP.NON.A/Stopicalnon-subjectmarker

UQuniversalquantifierexpression

Vverb

VPverbphrase

WSwordmeaningandsentencestructure

Thecontributors

A LEXANDRA Y.A IKHENVALD ,DistinguishedProfessor,AustralianLaureateFellow,andDirectoroftheLanguageandCultureResearchCentre,JamesCookUniversity,Australia

H SIANG -Y UN C HEN ,AssistantResearchFellow,AcademiaSinica,Taiwan

R ODANTHI C HRISTOFAKI ,PhDstudent,UniversityofCambridge,UK

E LIZABETH C OPPOCK ,AssistantProfessor,BostonUniversity,USA

E ROS C ORAZZA ,Professor,CarletonUniversity,Ottawa,Canada;IkerbasqueResearchProfessor,ILCLI,UPV-EHU,Donostia,theBasqueCountry;Ikerbasque,BasqueFoundationof Science,Bilbao,theBasqueCountry

M ÉLANIE G RÉAUX ,Graduatestudent,UniversityCollegeLondon,UK

M INYAO H UANG ,ResearchFellow,SunYat-senUniversity,China

K ASIA M.J ASZCZOLT ,ProfessorofLinguisticsandPhilosophyofLanguage,University ofCambridgeandProfessorialFellow,NewnhamCollege,Cambridge,UK

H YE -K YUNG L EE ,ProfessorofLinguistics,AjouUniversity,Korea

J OHN P ERRY ,ProfessorofPhilosophyEmeritus,StanfordUniversityandtheUniversityof California,Riverside,USA

J IRANTHARA S RIOUTAI ,AssistantProfessor,ChulalongkornUniversity,Thailand

S TEPHEN W ECHSLER ,ProfessorofLinguistics,UniversityofTexas,Austin,USA

M ACIEJ W ITEK ,ProfessorofPhilosophy,UniversityofSzczecin,Poland

S ONJA Z EMAN ,InterimProfessor,Otto-Friedrich-UniversityofBamberg,Germany

Introduction

Theselfinlanguage,inthought, and enroute in-between

In Nutshell,IanMcEwan ’slatestnovel(,London,JonathanCape),theworldand itsintriguesandhorrorsarepresentedfromtheperspectiveofanine-month-old foetus.Helistens,imagines,deduces,makesplans,andalsofears,hates,loves,and feelselated:anarrayofintentionalandnon-intentionalmentalstatesandcorrespondingspeechacts.Hebeginsbytellingthereaderabouthis firstconceptand, directlyandindirectly,aboutthemeaningofselfhood:

Letmesummonit,thatmomentofcreationthatarrivedwithmy firstconcept.Longago,many weeksago,myneuralgroovecloseduponitselftobecomemyspineandmymanymillion youngneurons,busyassilkworms,spunandwovefromtheirtrailingaxonsthegorgeous goldenfabricofmy firstidea,anotionsosimpleitpartlyeludesmenow.Wasit me?Tooselfloving.Wasit now?Overlydramatic.Thensomethingantecedenttoboth,containingboth,a singlewordmediatedbyamentalsighorswoonofacceptance,ofpurebeing,somethinglike this?Tooprecious.So,gettingcloser,myideawas Tobe.Orifnotthat,itsgrammaticalvariant, is.Thiswasmyaboriginalnotionandhere’sthecrux is.Justthat.(McEwan : )

McEwantalkshereabout firstconcepts, firstthoughts,andtheoriginoftheself, which,arguably,consideringthepertinentstageofthedevelopmentofthisunusual protagonist,stillunquestionablyfollowsuniversalpatterns.Butwhathappenstothe ego aftertheinputfromtheenvironmentreachesit?Istheconceptofthe ego affected bytheacquiredlanguage(s)andculture(s)?Isthe ego essentiallyculture-and language-relative(Whorfian)orinsteadessentiallyuniversal?In TheLanguage Hoax:WhytheWorldLookstheSameinAnyLanguage,JohnH.McWhorter ()emphasizesthesignificanceofthisunderlyinguniversalismandconcludes thattheappealofWhorfianismisshallowandemotional:we want tobelievethat speakingacertainlanguagemakesusacertainkindofperson,orthatspeakinga certainlanguagegivesusinsightsintophysicalandconceptualrealitythatsomeother

ExpressingtheSelf.Firstedition.MinyaoHuangandKasiaM.Jaszczolt(eds) Thischapter©KasiaM.Jaszczolt .Firstpublishedin

languageswouldnotafford(seee.g.Everett  onaseminaldefenceofthisview).

Ifwedon’tbelieveit, ‘anelementoftheromanticislost’ (McWhorter : ).But ifwedobelieveit,weruntheriskofconfusingthedifferencebetweenthespeaker’ s degreeof fluencyina firstandsecondlanguagewiththedifferenceinprojected worldview.McWhortersubscribesheretothewidelysharedstancethatevery languagecanexpresseverything:

Itcannotbedeniedthatsomelanguagespackmoreobservationintothetypicalsentencethan others:thedifferencebetweenwhatatypicalNativeAmericanlanguagerequiresyoutosayand whatatypicalMandarinChinesesentencedoesisobvious.However,inanylanguageonecan, ifnecessary,sayanything,anditismiraculoustoobservehowvariantlylanguagesaccomplish thispossibility.(McWhorter : ) Inthedomainofspeakingaboutoneself,languagesuseamyriadofexpressionsthat cutacrossgrammaticalandsemanticcategories,aswellasawidevarietyofconstructions.LanguagesofSoutheastandEastAsiafamouslyemployagreatnumberof termsfor first-personreferencetosignalhonorification.ExamplesareKorean, Japanese,Burmese,Javanese,Khmer,Malay,orVietnamese.Thenumberand mixedpropertiesofthesetermsmakethemdebatablecandidatesforpronounhood, manygrammar-drivenclassificationsoptingtoclassifythemwithnouns(seeHeine andSong ;Lee,Chapter  thisvolume;Jaszczolt aandChapter  this volume).Somemakeuseofegophors(CoppockandWechsler,Chapter  this volume),logophors(Chen,Chapter  thisvolume),andmanyexhibitaninteraction betweenexpressingtheselfandexpressingevidentiality qua theepistemicstatusof informationheldfromthe ego perspective(Aikhenvald,Chapter ,andCoppockand Wechsler,Chapter  thisvolume).

ButthereisaslightequivocationorslipperinessinMcWhorter’sdefenceofuniversalism.Itisindeedtrue,ashesays,that onecan sayanythinginanylanguage,butthisis notthesameassayingthat ‘verydifferent languagesexpress thebasiccognitiveprocesses calledhumanity’ (: ).1 Itisindeedtruethatspeakerscanexpresstheirthoughts equallypreciselyinalanguagewithorwithouttenseoraspect,withorwithoutafull systemofquantifiers,orwithorwithoutcertainbasicsententialconnectives.Itisso, however, not becauselanguagesthemselvesachievethiscommunicativesuccessbut becausespeakersemploylanguagealongsideothervehiclesofconveyingthoughtssuch asnonlinguistickinesicsandproxemics,socialdefaults,andstereotypesconcerning whatisnotexplicitlysaid,aswellascognitivedefaultsconcerningsuchimportantmatters astheprincipleofoptingforaninterpretationwithhigherinformativenessvalue(dere over dedicto,referentialoverattributive,presupposingovernon-presupposingreading, futurevsnon-futurereferenceintenselesslanguages,andsoforth).Languagewith itsstructuresandmeaningsteamsupwithpragmaticmechanismsofinferenceor defaultexploitationtoachievethisperfectstateofexpressivity.2

Thechoiceofthethemeofthisbook,expressingtheself,washowevernotdirectly motivatedbytheinterestinthegrammarorlexicon.Itstemsfromphilosophical

1 Myemphasis.

2 ThisiswhatIcallelsewhere ‘lexicon/grammar/pragmaticstrade-offs’ (Jaszczolt a).

discussionsonthespecialstatusofthoughtsaboutoneself,knownas dese thoughts. KnowingthatKasiaJaszczoltwrotethisintroductiondoesnotnecessarilymakeme awarethat I wroteit;the first-personperspectiveiscrucial thecomponenttheorizedbyPerry()astheindexicalelementofthoughts(nottobeconfusedwithan indexicalcomponentintheirrepresentation),3 andbyLewisasself-ascriptionof propertieswhere ‘[s]elf-ascriptionofpropertiesisascriptionofpropertiestooneself undertherelationofidentity’ (Lewis a: ;seealsoFeit ).Newdesiderata forcognitivelyplausiblesemanticsfollowedsuit,inthatcognitivesignificance ofsentences(or,better,utterances)thatexpresssuch dese thoughtsoughttobe consideredandtruthconditionsoughttobemadetoworkintheserviceofthisaim. Theliteratureonthistopicisvast,andnobriefintroductioncandoitjustice.Suffice ittosaythatbothphilosophy bywhichImeanherephilosophyoflanguageand metaphysics andlinguistics bywhichImeanheresemanticsandpragmatics haveincreasinglyemphasizedtheneedtoattendtothiscognitivesignificance,asis evidentinthedominanceofcontextualistaccountsofmeaningoversemantic minimalism.4 Although I referstoKasiaJaszczoltwhenIthinkaboutwritingthis text,twoutterancesthatdifferonlyintheuseofoneortheotherreferringexpression maydifferincognitivesignificance,andthereisnogoodreasonforwhysemantic theoryshouldignorethisimportantfact.5

Now,therelationbetweenexpressingtheselfandbelief dese isnotsimple.First, arguably,weexpressandexternalizetheselfthroughallouractsofcommunication, notmerelytheoneswithovertself-reference.WhenIsay, ‘Brexitnegotiationswillbe difficultbutshort ’,Iexpressmyownview,orperspective,onthecurrentpolitical situationintheUK.Someoneelsemayholdadifferentopinion say,thatthe negotiationswilltakealongtimeorthattheywillnotbedifficultatall.Next,even whenIutteranovertlyuncontroversialutterancesuchas ‘TodayisThursday’ (utteredonThursday),Istillexposemyselfasthespeaker,forexamplebecausethe propositionthatIintendtogetacrossis ‘TodayisThursdaynotWednesday’ or ‘Thereisapragmaticsseminarthisafternoon’.Post-Griceancontextualisminpragmatictheoryhasmulledoverthetruth-conditionalstatusofsuchunsaidinformation sincethe s,andthisisnottheplacetorehearsethedebatesoversaid/implicated, truth-conditional/non-truth-conditional,orsemantic/pragmatic.Manyofthemare, inanycase,terminological.Oneisfreetoassume,forexample,thatatheoryof meaningoughttotacklethemain,principalmeaningintendedbythespeakerand recoveredbytheaddressee,thattruthconditionsaremerelyausefultoolwithwhich

3 Perry(,andthisvolume)hereuseslinguistically(butnotepistemologically)noncommittal ‘element’,andfamouslypinsthe ego perspectiveonself-locatingthoughts.

4 SeePerry(),KortaandPerry(),andPerry,thisvolume,andforthesemantics,e.g.Discourse RepresentationTheory,seeKampandReyle(),esp.Maier()onrepresenting dese,orforDefault Semantics,seeJaszczolt(, ).

5 Arguably,twoself-reportsusingthe st-personindexicalcanalsodifferinananalogousway,say, whenonereferstoa ‘temporalslice’ ofoneself aswhenIreportonmypastactionsinthecourseofwhich IwasnotawareIwastheagent(althoughherenativespeakers’ intuitionsdiffer).Cf. ‘Ibelieved,inasense, Iwasmakingamess’ asadescriptionofPerry’s()shopperscenario.Iprovideacognitivelyoriented accountforsuchcasesinJaszczolt(b),andesp.().

wecantacklesuchmeaning(amongothermeanings),andthatallthisfallswithinthe domainofsemantics.Equally,oneisfreetoassumethattherearedifferentkindsof meaningsandthattruthconditionscanbeemployedforthemall.Orthatthereare twodifferentkindsofsemantics:oneminimalandonecognitivelyinformed.Orthat semanticsoughttoconcernitselfmerelywiththelanguagesystemratherthanwith itsutilizationindiscourse,asintheoldendays.Andsoforth.

Thisinterdisciplinaryunderstandingofexpressingtheself,comprisingphilosophy ofmindatoneendofthespectrumandcross-culturalpragmaticsofself-expression attheother,doesnotyetfullydefinetheprojectinthisbook.Wezoomfurther,into thinking and speaking aboutoneself.Herewecancommunicatedifferentkindsof dese beliefs.Therearebeliefsthatarealwayserror-freebecausetheyarereflexive, formedbyself-ascriptionofpropertiesor,asRecanati(: )says,withthe benefitoftheconceptofthe ego.Inotherwords,a dese beliefcanbeimmuneto errorsabouttheactualreferent.Thelatterisknownintheliteratureastheproperty of ‘immunitytoerrorthroughmisidentification’:whenIaminpain,my dese thought isimmunetomisidentifyingtheexperiencer.ButwhenIseemyselfinamirrorand thinkIamwearingabluecoat,Imayhavefallenpreytomistakenidentity:themirror mayinfactbeasheetofglassandthepersonontheothersidemyidenticaltwin (Shoemaker ;seealsoProsserandRecanati ).Thesetopicsaretouched uponinthisvolumebyZeman,JaszczoltandWitek,Perry,andCorazza(Chapters , –).Whatisnoveltotheproposedcollectionisthatwestartwiththepresentation ofthe externalizationof dese thoughtinlinguisticcommunication,whichmakesthe readerawareofthemethodologicaloptionlurkingbetweentheactualchaptersbut emergingfromthecollection:tolookforanswerstophilosophicalquestions bylookingatwhatlanguagesdowith dese thoughtintheirexternalization and bythatImeanlanguage systems aswellaslanguagein discourse,addressedby Aikhenvald,CoppockandWechsler,Lee,Christofaki,Huang,Srioutai,andGréaux, andHuang(Chapters –, ,and )andalsodiscussedinalesssystematicwayinall theremainingcontributions.Ononehand,itistruethatlinguisticindexicalityand mentalindexicalityareseparatedomainsofresearchthatoughtnottobeconfused; eachcanbeinstantiatedwithouttheother(seeCorazza,Chapter ).Ontheother, thelattershowsthedepthoftheuseoftheformerwhereithappenstoberelevant.6

Theimportanceofthisjuxtapositioncannotbeoveremphasized.Therecently published OxfordHandbookoftheSelf (Gallagher )collectsresearchontheself acrossthedomainsofpsychology,philosophy,neuroscience,orsociologyinover  pages,butlinguisticsisdiaphanouslyabsent.Thepresentvolume,onthecontrary, makesastatementthatlinguisticresearchon first-personreferenceisalegitimate contributortoresearchontheself toutcourt,byexploringthewaystheselfis expressedandassuchaidingtheinsightsinto dese thoughtsexploredthrough questionsidentifiedinphilosophy,psychology,orcognitivescience.Onedoesnot needtobeaWhorfianrelativisttopursuethatpath.Neitherdoesonehaveto embracelinguisticphilosophyàlaViennaCircle.

6 SeealsoRecanati()foracomprehensiveoverview.

Suchamatchofthelinguisticandthephilosophicalisnotwithoutpotential glitches,though.Icanthinkaboutmyselfunderdifferentguisesandequallyspeak aboutmyselfusingtermsofdifferentsemanticstatus,indexicalornon-indexical. Equally,Icanuseindexicaltermssuchasthe first-personpronoun I toreferto myself,butIcanalsousesuchtermstoperformotherfunctionssuchasthatinthe bound-variableuse(Kratzer ).7 Thereisagrowingawarenessamonglinguists thatmorelanguagesthantheoriginally flaggedAmharic(seeSchlenker , ) canshiftthereferenceofthe first-personpronouninnon-quotativeconstructions (seee.g.Roberts ).So,togetthemethodologyright,wehavetostarteitherwith (i)theinventoryofdedicatedtermsusedforself-referenceandconductalinguistic analysisofthese,possiblyincludingtheirquirkynon-self-referringuses,orwith(ii) thephilosophicalquestionofthepropertiesandsignificanceof dese thought,bearing inmindthatthenourlinguisticinventorywillbedictatednotbyagrammaticalor semanticcategoryofexpression and,possibly,thatsearchingforanysuchinventorywouldonlymuddleupthecorephilosophicalproblem.Kaplan(a)triedto do(ii)bydelineatingthedifferencesbetweenindexicalandnon-indexicalexpressionsinrelationtotheirlinguisticmeaning(character)andthepathtotheirtruthconditionalcontent,but(arguably)atmostcapturedtendencies,asdemonstratedby recentaccountsof(a)languagesallowing ‘monster’ contextsand(b)contextswith non-conventionalusesofindexicals.8

Thechaptersinthiscollectionamounttoaveryencouragingpictureforpursuing theinquiryintotheself.Theyshowthatadoptingdifferentgoalsandmethodscan sumuptopushingforwardonecommongoal.Whenoneinvestigatesthesemantic propertiesof first-personmarkersinaparticularlanguage,say,asininventory,apart ofalanguagesystem,oneinevitablycomesacrosstheindexical/non-indexicaldistinctionpredicatedeitherofconceptsoroflexicalitemsthemselves.Thismaynot directlychallengethephilosophicaldiscussionsonindexicals,butitmayshakethem alittle:whatcriteriaoughtwetousewhenwesaythatacertainfunctionofan expressiontypeisstandardordefault?Whatistheadvantageofanglocentrismin suchdebates?Whatcriteriadoweusewhenwedubsomecontextsproperandothers quirky?Next,whenoneinvestigatestheuseofsuchexpressionsindiscourse,one addsmorequestions,suchashowmuchinformationconveyedbyutterancesabout theselfoughttobemodelledandformalizedinatheoryofmeaning.Should processingconsiderationsbereflectedintherepresentationofthemeaningofsuch utterances(thequestionofpsychologisminsemantics)?Andmanyothers.Philosophicalquestionsconcerningthetypesandpropertiesof dese thoughts,therelation between dese and dere,or dese and dedicto,andthesignificanceofindexical thoughtingeneralcannoweitherstartwithlinguisticfacts,ignorethem,orincorporatethemasandwherethey fit,dependingonthequestion,andsometimes dependingonsomepertinenttheoreticalassumptions.Buttheoptiontoconsult linguisticfactsoughttobeavailabletophilosophers,justastheoptiontoconsultthe

7 SeeJaszczolt,Ch.  thisvolume.

8 Newliteratureonthistopicisvast.Seee.g.Roberts()on(a)andmy ‘PragmaticisingKaplan’ (Jaszczolt b)on(b).

philosophyof dese thoughtsoughttobeopentolinguists.Thisbookisasmallstep towardsachievingjustthat.

Beforeroundingup,oneterminologicalassumptionisinorder. ‘Self-referring’ isa confusingterm.Ineverydayparlance,UKcitizenscan ‘self-refer ’ forhealthchecks, i.e.book,change,orcanceltheirhospitalappointmentsonline;inlinguisticpragmatics,speakersrefertothemselvesindiscourse;inphilosophy,an x canreferto itselfwherewecansubstitutefor x somerelevantobjectofanalysis.Andananalogous broadeningofthetermappliesto,say,self-representing.Inthebuoyant fieldofresearch onphenomenalconsciousnessinphilosophyofmind,self-representationalismconcerns mentalstates:astateisconsciousinvirtueofrepresentingitself(seeKriegel ; McClelland ).Whenself-referring,self-ascription,self-attribution(say,ofpropositionsorstates),andsoforthareusedinwhatfollows,theyaretobetakenas substitutingthe ego,initsguiseofaspeakeroraholderofmentalstates,forthe x. Thebookisdividedintothreethematicparts.However,thetitlesofthepartsand theallocationwithineachpartareonlyroughindicatorsoftheprimaryresearch questionsaddressedbytheauthors,inthatreferenceto first-personmarkersin naturallanguagespermeatesmostchapters,asdoesthephilosophicalquestionof thespeci ficityofthe first-personperspectiveandpropertiesof dese thought(orat leastitslinguisticexternalization).PartI, ‘Theselfacrosslanguages’,focusesonthe semanticandpragmaticpropertiesofdevicesusedfor first-personreferenceina varietyoflanguagesthatareofsometheoreticalinterestinthisrespect.Thecontents ofthechaptersisasfollows.InChapter , ‘“Me” , “ us ”,and “others ”:expressingthe selfinArawaklanguagesofSouthAmerica,withafocusonTariana’ , Alexandra Aikhenvald offersanin-depthanalysisofformsusedforself-expressioninArawak languages,pointingoutsuchaspectsastheroleofimpersonalconstructions,the interactionbetween firstpersonandepistemicmodality,thecaseoffuturepredicates, expressingtheselfthroughevidentials(andtheassociated ‘first-personeffectof evidentials ’),thequestionof first-personnarration,evidentialsinreportedspeech, andself-quotation,concludingwithcommentsonsocialconventionsforselfexpression.Intheprocessshealsoaddressescontrastiveanalyseswithinthislanguage familyandthequestionofborrowing.Chapter  followswith ‘Thepropertreatment ofegophoricityinKathmanduNewari’ by ElizabethCoppockandStephenWechsler. Theauthorsdiscusstheegophoricformof first-personstatements,second-person polarquestions,andspeech dese reportsinaSino-Tibetanlanguage,Newari.They proposethatthesemanticfunctionofthis ego-markingistoself-ascribeaproperty, andtheyanalysethisfunctionusingthetoolsofcenteredworldsandspeechact theory.Intheprocess,theyalsoaddresstheinteractionofegophoricmarkingwith markingofevidentiality.InChapter , ‘Self-referringinKorean,withreferenceto Korean first-personmarkers’ , Hye-KyungLee offersacorpus-basedanalysisofthe above-mentionedtermsthatleadstoanin-depthdiscussionofthecontext-and discourse-typedependenceoftheiruse.Sheaddressesthequestionofhowpragmatic (andsociopragmatic)aspectsof first-personmarkersinKoreaninteractwiththeir semantics,andtakesastanceintheongoingdebateconcerningtheirstatusas pronounsornouns,concludingthattheyoughttobeclassi fiedaspronounsinthat theyfulfiltheessentialfunctionalcriteriaofpronounhood.Thisanalysisalsomakes

thechapterrelevantforthediscussionsinPartIII.InChapter , ‘Expressingtheself inJapanese:indexicalexpressionsintheserviceofindexicalthoughts’ , Rodanthi Christofaki offersananalysisoftermsusedfor first-personreferenceinJapanese, addressingthequestionofhow dese thoughtisexpressedinalanguagewitha multitudeofsuchexpressions,andinparticularwhataspectsoftheselfsuch expressionsreveal.ShepointsoutthatinadditiontothedirectreferentialitypredicatedofpersonalpronounsinlanguagessuchasEnglish,thesetermsalsoconveyrich conceptualandexpressivecontent,andassuchdefythestandardKaplanianclassification.Shethenmovestoassessingtheplausibilityofarelativisticpictureofselfreferenceasanaturalcorollary,buteventuallyoptsforauniversalistviewonwhich, ononehand,differentaspects(orfacets)oftheselfaredistinguished,butonthe othertheysumuptoacross-culturallycomparableself.Next,inChapter , ‘Dese marking,logophoricity,and ziji’ , Hsiang-YunChen arguesthatlong-distance ziji (‘self ’)inChinesedoesnotautomaticallyconvey dese meaningevenifitisregarded asclearlylogophoric.Shecriticallyassessesanumberofaccountsthatlinklogophoricityand dese reading,andconcludesthatalthoughinthecaseof ziji longdistanceanaphora,logophoricityand dese readingarerelatedissues,theyarealso separate:bothsyntaxandpragmaticsmustplayapartintheinterpretation.Finally, inChapter , ‘Chartingthespeaker-relatednessofimpersonalpronouns:contrastive evidencefromEnglish,French,andThai’ , MinyaoHuang,JirantharaSrioutai,and MélanieGréaux exploreselectedsetsofimpersonalpronounsandconstructions usedforself-referenceinEnglish,French,andThaiinordertoquestiontheviewthat theyconveydetachmentandgeneralizingfromthespeakerto ‘otherswhoarelikethe speaker’.Theypresentanddiscussempiricaldataobtainedfortheselanguages throughaquestionnaire-basedmethod,andconcludethattheproposalofspeakerbasedgeneralizationhasnotbeencorroborated,inthatimpersonalconstructionsare usedinawidevarietyofwaysthatdifferonbothdimensions:speakerorientationand generalization.

WemoveprogressivelytothedomainofcognitivescienceinPartII, ‘Selfawarenessandself-expression’,whichfocusesonthelinguisticexternalizationof certainphenomenaassociatedwith first-personreferencesuchasgeneralization beyondtheself,kindsof dese thought,andtheassociatedproblemofimmunityto errorthroughmisidenti fication,appealingtoavarietyofrelevantlanguages.In Chapter , ‘Expressingtheselves:subjectsplitsandviewpointhierarchiesin multiple-perspectiveconstructions’ , SonjaZeman approaches ‘thelinguisticself ’ as acoverconceptforvariouslinguisticdimensionsbywhichtheselfcanbeconceptualized,andanalysesso-calledmultiple-perspectiveconstructions,forexamplethe epistemicuseofmodalverbs,freeindirectdiscourse,andthe ‘futureoffate’ construction.Sheaskshowtheunityofthe firstpersoncanbecomesplit,andhowthis splitcanbecompatiblewithaholisticpictureoftheselfindiscourse.Shediscusses theexternalandtheinternalperspectiveontheselfwithrespecttomentalcontent andcommunicativeroles.In ‘Referentialvariabilityofgeneric “ one ”’ (Chapter ), MinyaoHuang arguesagainstthethesisthatgeneric ‘ one ’ standardlyconveyswhat Moltmanncalls ‘generalizingdetachedself-reference’,orinotherwordsthatit expressessubject-based,addressee-orientedgeneralization thetopicalsodiscussed

fromacross-linguisticperspectiveinPartI.Onthebasisofempiricalevidence collectedthroughapurpose-designedquestionnaire,sheconcludesthatgeneric one inEnglishcanrefertoanyofthefourpossiblecombinationsofthefeatures ‘+/ speaker-based’ and ‘+/ generalization ’.Sheproposesthatthevariabilityinthe useofgeneric one reflectstwocontext-dependentdimensionsofmeaning:foregroundingandrestrictionongeneralization.Extendingthetopicoftypologiesof expressionsusedforself-reference,inChapter , ‘Expressingtheself:fromtypesof dese tospeech-acttypes’ , KasiaM.JaszczoltandMaciejWitek discussthecognitive significanceofthedevicesusedtocommunicate dese thoughts,andargue(andalso partiallyempiricallydemonstrate)that, pace someextantproposalsand pace the dominantpresumptioninsemanticsandphilosophyoflanguage,thereisnoevidencethatnaturallanguagesusedifferentkindsofexpressionsforexternalizing differentaspectsofself-reference.OnthebasisoftheirempiricalresultsfromPolish, aswellasevidencefromarangeofotherlanguagesandsometheoreticalargumentation,theysketchapossiblefuturemodelfoundedonacorrelationbetweenspeechacttypes,interlocutors’ goals,andassociatedlinguisticconventionsontheonehand andanexpressiontypeontheother.Anadditionalcorollaryofthisresearchis furtherjustificationfortheclaimoffunctionalindexicalitydefendedamongothers byJaszczolt(Chapter ).

PartIII, ‘Dese thoughtsandindexicality’,bringstogetherphilosophicaldiscussionson dese thoughtsandthephilosophicalandsemanticquestionstodowith referenceandreferring. JohnPerry in ‘Theincrementalself ’ (Chapter )presents histheoryofso-calledincrementaltruthconditions,immersedinhisreflexivereferentialtheoryandcriticalreferentialism(Perry ;KortaandPerry ), accordingtowhichpropositionsarenolongerobjectsofbeliefsorobjectsof expressionsofbeliefsbutratherareconstruedassomewhatmalleabletoolsused forrede finingandexploringthewaysinwhichtruth-conditionalitycanbeexploited foranalysingvariousaspectsofmeaning.Thepurposeofincrementaltruthconditionsistoshedlightonthecognitivesignificanceof dese thoughtsandreports thereon.Inthiscontext,hearguesagainsttheExpressionpictureofutterances dese andtheRelationpictureofreports dese.Finally,heattendstothedistinctionbetween beliefsabouttheselfandbeliefsconcerningtheself,emphasizingthedifference betweenperspectivalbeliefsandbeliefs dese thatIdiscussedearlierinthisIntroduction.Next,inChapter , ‘Onthe essentiality ofthoughts(andreference)’ , ErosCorazza takesonboardtheso-calledirreducibilitythesis,namelythatindexicals suchas ‘I’ , ‘ now ’,and ‘here’ comewiththecognitiveimpactthatisnotthereinthe caseofcorrespondingnon-indexicalterms.Hediscussesthe ‘viewpoint-based’ natureof dese thoughts,anddefendstheviewthathumansaredesignedtoperceive thesurroundingsinan ‘indexical’ mannerthatstemsfromthisviewpointdependence.HebeginsbydiscussingDonnellan ’sreferentialusesofdescriptionsas ‘having anobjectinmind’,andjuxtaposesinthiscontexttheindexicalembeddingof thoughtswithPolyshyn’stheoryofsituatedvisionas(sotospeak)atheoryofmental indexicals.Hecontinuesbydiscussingtheautomaticandthereflexivemind,andas suchthefundamentalnatureof(subdoxastic)viewpointdependencevis-à-visthe derivativenatureof(conceptual) dese thoughts.Finally,inChapter , ‘Pragmatic

indexicals’ , KasiaM.Jaszczolt offersapragmatic,contextualistaccountofthe meaningofdevicesusedfor first-personreferencethatmakesuseofthepostGriceanideaoftop-downmodi ficationoftruth-conditionalcontent.Onthisview, theindexical/non-indexicaldistinctionbecomesblurredbecauseexpressionsoneach sideofthedichotomycanhaveindexicalaswellasnon-indexical functions Shedemonstrateshowindexicalitycanbe ‘pragmaticized’,andhowtheresulting ‘functionalindexicals’ canberepresentedinherradicalcontextualisttheoryof DefaultSemantics.

PartI Theselfacrosslanguages

Turn static files into dynamic content formats.

Create a flipbook
Issuu converts static files into: digital portfolios, online yearbooks, online catalogs, digital photo albums and more. Sign up and create your flipbook.