Formal Semantics and Philosophical Logic

Fausto Carcassi: 'Most' vs 'more than half': A pragmatic explanation and an RSA model


Speaker: Fausto Carcassi
Title: 'Most' vs 'more than half': A pragmatic explanation and an RSA model
Date:
Time: 16:00 - 17:30
Location: https://uva-live.zoom.us/j/85657747706

To join the meeting, please click the Zoom link: https://uva-live.zoom.us/j/85657747706

 

While ‘most’ and ‘more than half’ are generally assumed to be truth-conditionally equivalent, the former is usually interpreted as conveying greater proportions than the latter. Previous work has attempted to explain this difference in terms of pragmatic strengthening or variation in meanings. In this talk, we propose a novel explanation that keeps the truth-conditions equivalence. We support this explanation with a computational model of usage in the Rational Speech Act framework. We find that the difference in typical proportions associated with the two expressions can be explained with previously independently motivated semantic and pragmatic mechanisms.