Linguistic and Philosophical Perspectives about Reference

Bringing varied perspectives on problems related to reference from philosophers of language and linguists, this edited collection initiates a dialogue between the two fields. The contributors to this volume, both philosophers and linguists, answer four questions: What is reference? Is there reference to the abstract? Is there sentential reference? Is there reference to time? Each chapter is followed by two responses: A linguist will comment on what the philosopher said, and how it can impact the research made in the related linguistic field, while a philosopher will comment on what the linguist said, in a similar sort of fashion. Edited by Ana Clara Polakof, Linguistic and Philosophical Perspectives about Reference highlights ways that linguistics and philosophy of language are currently closely connected and can mutually benefit from sustained interaction.

Ana Clara Polakof is professor at the Linguistics Institute at Universidad de la República in Uruguay.

Acknowledgments Introduction Introduction (Ana Clara Polakof/Universidad de la República, Uruguay) Part One What Is Reference? 1 What is Reference? A Philosopher's Perspective (Arthur Sullivan/Memorial University, Canada) 2 Comment to Arthur Sullivan's Paper (Luciana Sanchez-Mendes/Universidade Federal Fluminense, Brazil) 3 Reference and Natural Language Semantics (Roberta Pires de Oliveira/Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, Brazil) 4 Is a Semantics without Reference Philosophically Interesting? (Eduarda Calado /Universidade de Campinas, Brazil) Part Two Is There Reference to the Abstract? 5 Reference to the Abstract (Filipe Martone and Marco Ruffino/Universidade de Campinas, Brazil) 6 On the Reference to the Abstract: A Grammatical Approach (Andrea Bohrn/Universidad de Buenos Aires, Argentina) 7 Is there Reference to Abstract Objects in Natural Language? (Friederike Moltmann/CNRs, Francia) 8 Commentary on Moltmann's Chapter (Matías Gariazzo/Universidad de la República, Uruguay) Part Three Is There Sentential Reference? 9 Is There Sentential Reference? (Kepa Korta/University of the Basque Country, Spain) 10 Comment on "Is There Sentential Reference?" (Fernando Carranza/Universidad de Buenos Aires, Argentina) 11 Is There Sentential Reference? The Case of Event Sentences (Ana Müller, Universidade de Sao Paulo, Brazil and Ana Clara Polakof, Universidad de la República, Uruguay) 12 Sentential Reference and Event Sentences: A Rejoinder (Tomás Barrero Guzmán/Universidad de los Andes, Colombia) Part Four Is There Reference to Time? 13 Is There Reference to Time? (María de Ponte University of the Basque Country, Spain) 4 On the Internal and External Perspectives of Time in Linguistics (Romina Trebisacce /Universidad de Buenos Aires, Argentina) 15 Is There Reference to Time? (Brenda Laca/Universidad de la República, Uruguay) 16 Some reflections on Laca's "Is there reference to time?" (David Rey /Universidad del Valle, Colombia) About the Contributors