Making Sense: Language, Logic, and Interpretation - Fall 2016

Gennaro Chierchia, Virginie Greene and Stuart Shieber

Why is human language capable of conveying meaningful information to a degree unmatched by natural or artificial codes? Why does semantic content spontaneously attach to speech sounds, but not in the same way to, say, music? We claim that this has to do with language being the carrier of a spontaneous form of logic. We investigate our hypothesis by using formal models from logic, linguistics, computer science, and literary criticism. We show how such models can be helpful in better understanding ordinary, everyday communication, as well as literary fiction through a reading of texts by Euripides, Cervantes, Austen, Proust, and others.

For more information about this course, see the Harvard University Course Catalog.