[PLing] Talk by Gabor Brody

[Valerie Wurm]

Dear colleagues,

We would like to invite you to our next talk within the Theoretical 
Linguistics Colloquium.

Speaker: Gabor Brody (Yale University)

Date/venue: December 18, 15:00 - 16:30, Sensengasse 3a 1090 Vienna, 
Seminarraum 8

Title: What do descriptions describe?

Abstract: How do children start connecting language to things in the 
world? Some of the first words infants understand are nouns, and it is 
argued that the entities that nouns describe are either (1) object 
representations created by perceptual processes that are indexed in 
space, (2) 'sortal' representations that are indexed based on their kind 
membership, or (3) 'mental files' indexed in relation to knowledge 
states of communicative partners. I will argue that there are issues 
with all of these options. The issue with (1) is that it does not 
empirically account for even infant behavior, (2) might be a category 
error, and (3) fails as a theory of adult state. Instead, I will propose 
that for infants, children, (and adults) nouns describe 'discourse 
referents': entities that are indexed by grammar in relation to the 
common ground. I first explore the role of discourse referents for 
adults, with experimental work on the ‘formal link’ condition for 
pronoun resolution. Then I will present developmental work on two case 
studies -- 'mutual exclusivity' and 'false descriptions' -- that probe 
the relationship of descriptive content and grammar in how children 
represent entities.

Upcoming events as well as further information can be found on our 
website:
https://sites.google.com/view/totlvienna/upcoming

We are looking forward to seeing you at the talk,
Iva Kovač, Magdalena Lohninger and Valerie Wurm