Attitude Reports

Propositional attitude reports, which are sentences built around clause-embedding psychological verbs, are a significant topic at the interface of linguistics and philosophy. This book provides a comprehensive overview of the grammar of these reports, synthesizing key facts, theories, and open problems in their analysis. It emphasizes the intersection between propositional attitude reports and other areas of semantic and syntactic theory and is suitable for students and researchers interested in exploring this fertile area of study.

Format: Paperback
Length: 248 pages
Publication date: 03 August 2023
Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Propositional attitude reports, which are sentences constructed around clause-embedding psychological verbs like "Kim believes that it's raining" or "Kim wants it to rain," are a central topic at the intersection of linguistics and philosophy. These reports interact with a wide range of semantically relevant grammatical phenomena and raise fundamental questions about meaning. This comprehensive book offers a bird's-eye view of the grammar of propositional attitude reports, synthesizing key facts, theories, and open problems in their analysis. Drawing from the theoretical framework of generative grammar and compositional truth-conditional semantics, it emphasizes the points of intersection between propositional attitude reports and other important areas of semantic and syntactic theory. The book includes discussion points, suggestions for further reading, and a helpful guide to symbols and conventions, making it an invaluable resource for students and researchers interested in exploring this fertile field of study.

Introduction:
Propositional attitude reports, as described above, are a fundamental aspect of language and cognition. They involve the use of psychological verbs that embed clauses, expressing beliefs, desires, or other mental states. These reports play a crucial role in communication, as they convey information about the speaker's mental state and the world around them.

The Grammar of Propositional Attitude Reports:
Propositional attitude reports are characterized by a combination of linguistic features, including the use of psychological verbs, clausal embedding, and semantic interpretation. Psychological verbs, such as "believe," "want," or "think," carry the semantic load of the report, indicating the mental state or attitude of the speaker. Clausal embedding involves the incorporation of a subordinate clause within the main clause, which provides additional information about the mental state or event being described.

Semantic Interpretation:
The interpretation of propositional attitude reports relies on the principles of truth-conditional semantics. According to this framework, the meaning of a sentence is determined by the truth-conditions of its constituent parts. The main clause of a propositional attitude report represents the proposition that the speaker believes or desires, while the subordinate clause provides additional context or information about the mental state or event.

Interaction with Other Grammarian Phenomena:
Propositional attitude reports interact with a wide range of semantically relevant grammatical phenomena. They can be combined with other grammatical elements, such as negation, conditionals, and imperatives, to create complex sentences with multiple meanings. For example, "Kim believes that it's raining, but she doesn't want it to rain" combines the belief that it's raining with the desire that it not rain.

Theoretical Frameworks:
Propositional attitude reports have been studied within various theoretical frameworks, including generative grammar and cognitive linguistics. Generative grammar, in particular, has provided a rich framework for analyzing the grammar of propositional attitude reports. It emphasizes the role of transformational rules and the structure of the mental lexicon in the production and interpretation of sentences.

Open Problems:
Despite the significant progress made in the study of propositional attitude reports, there are still many open problems that need to be addressed. These include questions about the nature of mental states, the relationship between propositional attitude reports and other linguistic phenomena, and the computational mechanisms that underlie their interpretation.

Conclusion:
Propositional attitude reports are a fascinating and important area of research at the intersection of linguistics and philosophy. This book provides a comprehensive overview of the grammar of propositional attitude reports, synthesizing key facts, theories, and open problems in their analysis. By exploring the intersection of propositional attitude reports with other important areas of semantic and syntactic theory, it sheds light on foundational questions about meaning and cognition. As such, it will be of great interest to students and researchers in the field.

Weight: 328g
Dimension: 139 x 216 x 17 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781108437202