Please join the Neurophilosophy Forum for a talk by Dorit Bar-On (University of Connecticut).

Title: Pragmatics as Psychology: Language, Animal Communication, and ‘Protolanguage’

Date/Time: Friday, November 3, 2023 at 2 PM

Location: 25 Park Place NE, 16th floor, 1618 (philosophy department conference room)

Abstract: Several theorists of language evolution agree that “language as we know it had to be preceded by something intermediate between true language and an ACS [animal communication system]” (Bickerton 2009). This hypothetical evolutionary intermediary has been referred to as “Protolanguage”. Recently, animal communication theorists have argued that we should pursue a ‘pragmatics-first’ approach to the evolution of language. This gives rise to the question what sense we could give to the idea of a pragmatic Protolanguage. After distinguishing two different ways ‘pragmatics’ has been construed – one ‘Carnapian’, the other ‘Gricean’ – I consider a candidate ‘intermediary’ conception, inspired by recent work on formal ‘monkey linguistics’ (due to Schlenker et al.). I argue that Schlenker et al.’s analysis is not fit to serve the purposes of pragmatics-first approaches. Understanding why can help point us in the direction of a better – psychologically based – construal of intermediate pragmatics.

Dorit Bar-On is a Professor of Philosophy at the University of Connecticut and Director of the Expression, Communication, and the Origins of Meaning Research Group. Her research focuses on philosophy of language, philosophy of mind, epistemology and metaethics.

To learn more about Dr. Bar-On’s work, check out her website: https://t.gsu.edu/45QfCew

We hope you can join us!