IULC Publications

The Syntax and Semantics of Referential Attitude Reports

By Peter Jay Ludlow

In the first part of this work, Ludlow discusses how a Davidsonian semantic theory might be enriched by some of the resources of modern linguistic theory, showing how the task of semantic theory is to define a truth predicate off of the LF representations of natural language sentences and sketching the shape that such a formal truth predicate might take. The second part focuses on the problem of attitudes, specifically 'referential attitude reports.' Ludlow demonstrates that there is an alternative to the model-theoretic approach to attitudes and addresses the particular problems of obtaining the 'non-specific' or 'attributive' reading and of 'specific' readings of referential attitude reports, particularly when the object of intention seems to be non-existent (e.g., in John seeks Pegasus).

108 pages
$2.00

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