#angelika kratzer

[sinterhinde]

Counterfactuals, 1973:

Counterfactuals is David Lewis's forceful presentation of and sustained argument for a particular view about propositions which express contrary-to-fact conditionals, including his famous defense of realism about possible worlds. Since its original publication in 1973, it has become a classic of contemporary philosophy, and is essential reading for anyone interested in the logic and metaphysics of counterfactuals. The book also includes an appendix of related writings by Lewis. (Google Books)

On the Plurality of Worlds, 1986:

This book is a defense of modal realism; the thesis that our world is but one of a plurality of worlds, and that the individuals that inhabit our world are only a few out of all the inhabitants of all the worlds. Lewis argues that the philosophical utility of modal realism is a good reason for believing that it is true. After putting forward the type of modal realism he favors, Lewis answers numerous objections that have been raised against it. These include an insistence that everything must be actual; paradoxes akin to those that confront naive set theory; arguments that modal realism leads to inductive skepticism, or to disregard for prudence and morality; and finally, sheer incredulity at a theory that disagrees so badly with common opinion. Lewis grants the weight of the last objection, but takes it to be outweighed by the benefits to systematic theory that acceptance of modal realism brings. He asks whether these same benefits might be gained more cheaply if we replace his many worlds by many merely 'abstract' representations; but concludes that all versions of this 'ersatz modal realism' are in serious trouble. In the final chapter, Lewis distinguishes various questions about trans-world identity, and argues that his 'method of counterparts' is preferable to alternative approaches. (Abe Books)

Note: Angelika Kratzer develops a competing but non-contradictory theory of counterfactuals in her 1981 essay Partition and Revision: The Semantics of Counterfactuals. A 'slightly revised' version of the essay is found in Chapter 3 of her 2012 book Modals and Conditionals.

Apologies for the inadequate synopses here. I was pointed in this direction and I have not read any David Lewis yet. I don't know if this is the best place to start. The texts themselves are very expensive - here are the links to b u y them:

https://perso.uclouvain.be/peter.verdee/counterfactuals/lewis.pdf

http://daalv.free.fr/Master-2011-2012/LMPHI%20155%20-%20Anglais%20philo/Lewis-David-(1986)-On-the-Plurality-of-Worlds.pdf

[linguistlist-blog]

Confs: Third North American Conference in Iranian Linguistics

Keynote Speaker Angelika Kratzer (UMASS Amherst) Invited Speakers Amir Anvari (MIT) Saloumeh Gholami (Goethe University Frankfurt) Simin Karimi (University of Arizona) Yadegar Karimi (University of Kurdistan) http://dlvr.it/Sf4Sws

[thelingspace]

How do we capture the meaning of "may" or "can"? What kinds of linguistic math do we need to understand them? In this week's episode, we take a look at modality: where words like "must" fit in our meanings; how we consider many ways the world could be to account for their semantics; and how the same string of sounds can have a lot of flavours.

We must say, we’re happy to be back! Looking forward to hearing what people have to say. ^_^

[drlinguo]

I would recommend the following books:

1. Kratzer, Angelika; Heim, Irene (1998). Semantics in generative grammar. Oxford: Blackwell. ISBN 0-631-19713-3.

2. Zimmermann, Thomas Ede / Sternefeld, Wolfgang: Introduction to Semantics. An Essential Guide to the Composition of Meaning

3. Analyzing meaning: An introduction to semantics and pragmatics. Second corrected and slightly revised edition (Paul R. Kroeger Open Access: http://langsci-press.org/catalog/book/144 )

Do you by chance have any favourite sources on lexical / semantic fields?

Yes, but those would be from the 1970s and in German

[nylanguageworkshop]

Fall 2020 Lineup

During the Fall of 2020, we will meet on Mondays, 5:30–7:30, somewhat less than weekly. Here is our lineup of speakers:

Sept 28 Bob Beddor (NU Singapore)

Oct 5 Vera Flocke (Indiana)

Oct 19 Dilip Ninan (Tufts)

Oct 26 Masha Esipova (Oslo)

Nov 9 Angelika Kratzer (UMass)

Nov 16 Nate Charlow (Toronto)

Nov 30 Eric Tracy (Princeton)

Dec 7 Rory Harder (Toronto)

As usual, anyone who is interested is welcome to attend. Since our meetings will be online, we would be delighted if people from outside New York can join us this term. We will post abstracts (with zoom links) here as the talks approach.

[linguistlist-blog]

Books: Brazilian Portuguese, Syntax and Semantics

This book opens with Angelika Kratzer and Luigi Rizzi talking about contemporary issues, such as non-recursiveness of focus and the semantics of topics. The chapters climb down the spine from the left periphery to DP: the value of subjunctive across the history of German, expressive expressions in Brazilian Portuguese, left and right dislocation and the speaker’s perspective in Italian, Brazilian double subjects and left dislocated topic, long versus short wh-movement in Brazilian Portuguese and http://dlvr.it/RYMjfH

[linguistlist-blog]

Calls: OASIS 2

2nd Call for Papers: OASIS 2 (Ontology as Structured by the Interfaces with Semantics) University of Nantes October 16-18, 2019 OASIS 2 will feature invited talks by Sudha Arunachalam (New York University), Rose-Marie Déchaine (University of British Columbia), Nicola Guarino (ISTC - CNR), Angelika Kratzer (UMass Amherst) and Brent Strickland (IJN - CNRS). There will also be invited classes on topics in linguistics for an interdisciplinary audience, taught by David Adger (Quee http://dlvr.it/R4sQD1