June 25, 2010: Ikumi Imani, Eric McCready

Time:: 3:30pm, June 25, 2010
Place:: National Institute of Informatics (National Center of Sciences Bldg.),
20th floor, Lecture Room 1 (2005)
Talk 1
Speaker:: Ikumi Imani (Nagoya Gakuin University)
Title:: A topological approach to space-time mappings
Abstract:: Available in PDF. (Joint work with Itaru Takarajima.)
Talk 2
Speaker:: Eric McCready (Aoyama Gakuin University)
Title:: Being Bad while Looking Good
Abstract:: Exhibiting Gricean cooperativity is often taken as a norm of communication. An important element of being a Gricean cooperator is being truthful. But there are cases in which this norm is violated, either deliberately, in order to gain some advantage, or unavoidably, in cases where a speaker is unsure about the content of her utterance. How can one (potentially) violate Gricean Quality, yet still maintain a reputation for being cooperative? The answer is through hedging. This paper develops a model of hedging according to which hedges serve to protect the utterer from possible negative impact of their speech on their reputations. The model is then applied to ordinary linguistic hedges, to communication in advertising, and to so-called relevance conditionals.

Semantics Research Group
Sponsored by the Global COE program Center for Advanced Research on Logic and Sensibility, Keio University

Semantics Research Group Meeting, June 25, 2010