The Hebrew University of Jerusalem

The Linguistics Department

and

The Language, Logic and Cognition Center

are pleased to announce a series of 5 lectures
to be held on May 15, 17, 22, 24, 29 from 12:30-15:00
in rooms 2501 (Sundays) and 2205 (Tuesdays)
at the Humanities Building, Mt Scopus Campus

The Semantics of Pronouns

Philippe Schlenker

(Institut Jean-Nicod & NYU)

Because they make complex patterns of reference possible, pronouns are an essential building block of natural language semantics. They also display pervasive and often illuminating cross-linguistic variation. This course will discuss several contemporary topics in the semantics of pronouns, with special reference to their cross-linguistic dimension (in particular in sign language). We will address the following questions:

(i)  How do pronouns come to depend on their antecedents?
(ii)  Is c-command necessary to obtain 'binding'?
(iii)  Are there time- and world-denoting pronouns?
(iv)  How are the perspectival properties of first person pronouns preserved in indirect discourse?

Pre-requisites: Some prior experience with formal linguistics and/or formal logic is desired.

Tentative Plan (to be adapted as we go)

  1. Free and bound pronouns
  2. E-type pronouns
  3. Temporal and Modal Anaphora
  4. Attitude Reports and Indexical Pronouns

Students can earn 1 point credit for participating in the series. Please register for course # 36826 at the Faculty of Humanities. For further questions write to Avigail or visit Prof. Schlenker's course webpage.

Readings

  1. Free and Bound Pronouns

    Lecture Notes on Pronouns and Presupposition; Pronouns and Quantifiers


  2. E-type Pronouns

    Schlenker, Philippe (2011). Donkey Anaphora: the View from Sign Language (ASL and LSF). Manuscript, CNRS and NYU. [pdf]

    Advanced: Heim, Irene (1990). E-type Pronouns and Donkey Anaphora. Linguistics and Philosophy 13: 137-177. [pdf]


  3. Temporal and Modal Anaphora

    Partee, Barbara (1973). Some Structural Analogies Between Tense and Pronouns in English. Journal of Philosophy 70: 601-609. [pdf]


  4. Attitude Reports and Indexical Pronouns

    Schlenker, Philippe (2010). "Indexicals" [short survey] (written for the Handbook of Formal Philosophy, edited by Sven Ove Hansson and Vincent F. Hendricks). [pdf]
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