Speaker's reference, semantic reference, sneaky reference. (21st March 2021)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Michaelson, Eliot
• Is Part Of: Mind & language. Volume 37:Number 5(2022)
• Page Start: 856
• Page End: 875
• Publication Date: 2021-03-21
• Subjects: demonstratives -- meaning -- names -- reference -- speaker's meaning; Psycholinguistics -- Periodicals; Thought and thinking -- Periodicals; Language and languages -- Philosophy -- Periodicals; 153.42
• DOI: 10.1111/mila.12349
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0268-1064

Abstract

Abstract : According to what is perhaps the dominant picture of reference, what a referential term refers to in a context is determined by what the speaker intends for her audience to identify as the referent. I argue that this sort of broadly Gricean view entails, counterintuitively, that it is impossible to knowingly use referential terms in ways that one expects or intends to be misunderstood. Then I sketch an alternative which can better account for such opaque uses of language, or what I call "sneaky reference." I close by reflecting on the ramifications of these arguments for the theory of meaning more broadly.