Ling N: Semantics of Attitude Predicates: Through the Lens of Neg-raising (advanced)
Block 4
Mon, Wed, Fri, 9:00-10:20 am (NY)
(Lagos: 2:00-3:20 pm; Central Europe: 3:00-4:20; Kyiv/St. P: 4:00-5:20)
This advanced course focuses on the semantics of attitude predicates (e.g., think, believe, know, hope, want). After an overview to the core machinery of intensionality, we turn to a detailed comparison of competing theoretical approaches to attitude semantics, including classic Hintikkan accounts and more recent event-based frameworks. A central theme of the course is how attitude predicates encode and organize assertive vs. presuppositional content, and how these choices shape interpretation and inference. We use neg-raising as a key empirical phenomenon to probe into these issues. Drawing on cross-linguistic and experimental evidence, we examine how different theories account for neg-raising effects, and what this reveals about the underlying semantics of attitude predicates—particularly the source of inference patterns and their interaction with lexical meaning, compositional structure, and pragmatic principles.