The Ling Space
The Ling Space
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How Does "If" Work? The Semantics of Conditionals
What's in our minds when we throw an if/then sentence out there? How do we work out what worlds we may be talking about? In this week's episode, we talk about the semantics of conditionals: what an "if" looks like logically, why a simple logical arrow isn't enough to capture the complexities of conditionals, and how we change what possibilities we allow ourselves to think of based on what our "if" clause holds.
This is Topic #95!
This week's tag language: Kyrgyz!
Related videos:
How Logical is Language? ua-cam.com/video/lw4ykgRtv3Q/v-deo.html
How Do We Capture the Truth of Beliefs? Type Theory: ua-cam.com/video/CWE9ycOxCEQ/v-deo.html
Can we define "must"? Modality: ua-cam.com/video/vtYdrzdU2dY/v-deo.html
Last episode:
How do we understand missing words? The syntax of Ellipsis: ua-cam.com/video/WXhn1tdZ_os/v-deo.html
Other of our semantics videos:
Thinking vs. Knowing: Presuppositions and Anti-presuppositions: ua-cam.com/video/-iQ7XrehKdw/v-deo.html
How Do We Signal What's Important When We Talk? Information Structure: ua-cam.com/video/gZ6o8yFvJYI/v-deo.html
How Can One Greek Letter Help Us Understand Things? Lambda Calculus: ua-cam.com/video/BwWQDzXBuwg/v-deo.html
Our website also has extra content about this week's topic, on other kinds of conditional sentences, at: www.thelingspace.com/episode-95/
Find us on all the social media worlds:
Tumblr: thelingspace.tumblr.com/
Twitter: TheLingSpace
Facebook: thelingspace/
And at our website, www.thelingspace.com/ !
You can also find our store at the website, thelingspace.storenvy.com/
We also have forums to discuss this episode, and linguistics more generally.
Sources:
The theory of conditionals here dates back to Kratzer's 1986 paper "Conditionals," which is where that quote at the end comes from: semanticsarchive.net/Archive/ThkMjYxN/Conditionals.pdf
The idea of if-clauses as restrictors actually goes back to David Lewis' 1975 paper "Adverbs of Quantification," which you can find here: www.andrewmbailey.com/dkl/Adverbs_of_Quantification.pdf.
The presentation was based mostly on some of the usual semantic suspects:
web.mit.edu/fintel/fintel-heim-intensional.pdf,
Seth Cable's course notes: people.umass.edu/scable/LING620-SP18/Handouts/12.Conditionals.pdf
schoubye.org/teaching/Formal-Semantics/FormalSemanticsNotes2014.pdf.
Crucial inspiration also from here books.google.ca/books?id=1NwWDgAAQBAJ&dq=frana+modality+in+the+nominal+domain&source=gbs_navlinks_s , in a chapter by Ilaria Frana titled "Modality in the Nominal Domain: The Case of Adnominal Conditionals."
There's also a series of videos on UA-cam that explores the topic from a more philosophical point-of-view, and arrives at a different conclusion, but might still be of interest, starting here: ua-cam.com/video/4Zxp2-_pLCE/v-deo.html
#linguistics #semantics #TheLingSpace
Looking forward to next time!
Переглядів: 11 206

Відео

How Do We Understand Missing Words? Ellipsis
Переглядів 9 тис.5 років тому
What can silence tell us about the syntax of a sentence? How do we know what meaning to fill in when words are missing? In this week's episode, we talk about ellipsis: what rules are at work to tell us how to use it, how sentence structure plays into what words we can leave out, and whether words are even missing at all, or just hiding. This is Topic #94! This week's tag language: Scots Gaelic!...
More People Have Learned about Linguistics than I Have: The Comparative Illusion
Переглядів 10 тис.6 років тому
How do some sentences trick us into thinking they're good, when really they're not? And what can that tell us about how we process language? In this week's video, we take a look at the comparative illusion, a tricky kind of sentence that seems meaningful, but falls apart when we consider it further. And then we look at what exactly it is about them that confuses our minds. This is a shorter for...
Who Is She? The Syntax and Semantics of Pronouns
Переглядів 8 тис.6 років тому
How do we know who "he" is? And how does "he" differ from "himself" when we interpret it? In this week's episode, we talk about the syntax and semantics of pronouns: how we can place them in sentences, how they link up to variables, and the role of context in how we interpret them. This is Topic #93! This week's tag language: Macedonian! Related videos: Referential Treatment: The Syntax of Bind...
How Do We Match Verbs and Times? Event Semantics
Переглядів 6 тис.6 років тому
How do events factor into our mental linguistics? How can we adjust our logic to capture different sentence permutations? In this week's episode, we take a look at event semantics: what problems they're meant to solve, how they help us limit time and place in our sentences, and what evidence we have that events are real. This is Topic #92! This week's tag language: Tswana! Related videos: Meani...
The Evolution of Language: An Interview with Dr. Tecumseh Fitch
Переглядів 9 тис.6 років тому
We were really excited to get a chance to talk with Dr. Tecumseh Fitch! Dr. Fitch is an evolutionary biologist and cognitive scientist who received his PhD from Brown University, and is now a professor in the Department of Cognitive Biology at the University of Vienna. He’s published extensively on the evolution of speech, language, and music, and is the author of the 2010 book The Evolution of...
How Do We Bend the Truth? The Linguistics of Propaganda and Censorship
Переглядів 10 тис.7 років тому
How do we try influencing what other people think about the world? What techniques get used for bending the truth? In this week's episode, we take a look at some of the linguistics around propaganda and censorship: what people can try beyond just outright lying, how using conversational rules can get you to think things that aren't said, and how we can use bias to influence people's views. This...
Can We Define "Must"? The Semantics of Modality
Переглядів 9 тис.7 років тому
How do we capture the meaning of "may" or "can"? What kinds of linguistic math do we need to understand them? In this week's episode, we take a look at modality: where words like "must" fit in our meanings; how we consider many ways the world could be to account for their semantics; and how the same string of sounds can have a lot of flavours. This is Topic #90! This week's tag language: Cornis...
How Can Sentences Work Like Adjectives? The Syntax and Semantics of Relative Clauses
Переглядів 6 тис.7 років тому
We can put whole clauses inside other phrases, but what does that do to their structure and their meaning? In this week's episode, we take a look at the syntax and semantics of relative clauses: how these clauses kind of look like adjectives; how using them creates islands from which words can't escape; and how moving things around in them throws semantic variables into the sentence setup. This...
Interview with Sali Tagliamonte
Переглядів 4,9 тис.7 років тому
We're really excited to have gotten to interview Sali Tagliamonte at the Linguistic Society of America meeting in January! Dr. Tagliamonte is a full professor at the University of Toronto, and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada. She's written a bunch of books and articles about sociolinguistics, and how languages shift and vary over time. You can find out more about her and her work at ind...
How Do Verbs Cause Things? Splitting the Verb Phrase
Переглядів 8 тис.7 років тому
How do verbs like "give" and "put" juggle more than one object? Is there an element that lets verbs cause things to happen? In this week's episode, we talk about splitting up the verb phrase: how our basic syntactic theory has a hard time with verbs with more than one object; how the syntax of causation shows us why we should expand our trees; and how once we break the phrase up, we can capture...
Thinking vs. Knowing: The Semantics and Pragmatics of Presuppositions
Переглядів 21 тис.7 років тому
What's the difference between "thinking" and "knowing"? What rules do we follow for adjusting our conversational worlds? In this week's episode, we delve into the semantics and pragmatics of presuppositions: which words come equipped with them, how presuppositions depend on the situation and our mental worlds, and what antipresuppositions can tell us about the mechanics of interpreting sentence...
How Do We Put Clauses Inside Other Clauses? Complementizer Phrases
Переглядів 8 тис.7 років тому
How do sentences fit inside other sentences? Where can we put words like "that", "whether", and "if"? In this week's episode, we take a look at complementizer phrases: what exactly they are, how they account for embedded sentences and questions, and what they can let us do to capture word order in languages like German and Dutch. This is Topic #86! This week's tag language: Tok Pisin! Related v...
How Do Babies Build Sentences? The Stages of Child Syntax
Переглядів 20 тис.7 років тому
What kinds of sentences do we hear from babies and toddlers? How much grammar can we find in their language use? In this week's episode, we take a look at child syntactic stages: what characteristics kids display as they progress from one to two to many words, whether their grammars are similar to those of adults, and how their linguistic interpretation may tell us more than just their speech. ...
Interview with Anne Charity Hudley
Переглядів 3,9 тис.7 років тому
We're really excited to have gotten to interview Anne Charity Hudley at the Linguistic Society of America meeting in January! Dr. Charity Hudley is an associate professor at the College of William and Mary, and the inaugural William and Mary Professor of Community Studies. She's co-authored two books on English language variation in classroom settings, and also wrote the section on language and...
How Can We Tell What Roles Nouns Play? Case Theory
Переглядів 10 тис.7 років тому
How Can We Tell What Roles Nouns Play? Case Theory
How Do We Capture the Truth of Beliefs? Type Theory
Переглядів 11 тис.7 років тому
How Do We Capture the Truth of Beliefs? Type Theory
The Language Conservancy - Project for Awesome 2016
Переглядів 1,5 тис.7 років тому
The Language Conservancy - Project for Awesome 2016
What Constraints Are There on Linguistic Sounds? Optimality Theory
Переглядів 39 тис.7 років тому
What Constraints Are There on Linguistic Sounds? Optimality Theory
The Linguistics of Arrival
Переглядів 76 тис.7 років тому
The Linguistics of Arrival
What Could Alien Languages Look Like?
Переглядів 15 тис.7 років тому
What Could Alien Languages Look Like?
Interviews from NerdCon Stories 2016
Переглядів 7967 років тому
Interviews from NerdCon Stories 2016
What Do Nasal Sounds Look Like? Sonorant Acoustics
Переглядів 22 тис.7 років тому
What Do Nasal Sounds Look Like? Sonorant Acoustics
What Does Possession Tell Us About Syntax? Determiner Phrases
Переглядів 6 тис.7 років тому
What Does Possession Tell Us About Syntax? Determiner Phrases
What Do You Start with in a Third Language? L3 Acquisition
Переглядів 15 тис.7 років тому
What Do You Start with in a Third Language? L3 Acquisition
Outtakes #4
Переглядів 7187 років тому
Outtakes #4
What Makes a Basic Sentence? A History of Clauses
Переглядів 8 тис.7 років тому
What Makes a Basic Sentence? A History of Clauses
How Do We Stack Up Our Nouns? Compound Nouns
Переглядів 6 тис.7 років тому
How Do We Stack Up Our Nouns? Compound Nouns
How Do We Signal What's Important When We Talk? Information Structure
Переглядів 10 тис.8 років тому
How Do We Signal What's Important When We Talk? Information Structure
Interviews from VidCon 2016
Переглядів 9918 років тому
Interviews from VidCon 2016

КОМЕНТАРІ

  • @lexsarrasin713
    @lexsarrasin713 День тому

    Very good explanation, I really wish you would also show how the American R is made and where this new F3 frequency comes from. A third chamber??? where?

  • @bradbaker8336
    @bradbaker8336 2 дні тому

    Powerful

  • @tenderrabbit89
    @tenderrabbit89 5 днів тому

    The "researchers" of the 80s are Dan Sperber and Deirdre Wilson.

  • @BorisNVM
    @BorisNVM 6 днів тому

    you are like a linguist hank green

  • @Stevie-J
    @Stevie-J 9 днів тому

    I called my cat a duck. My cat is now a duck because words are magic and I am a magician. Yay, this is progress! 🧙

  • @JandoMorales
    @JandoMorales 10 днів тому

    I’m curious if there is some deep meaning behind the mentioning of Portuguese at the beginning of the movie

  • @EchoLog
    @EchoLog 10 днів тому

    2:20 holy knight of what order? And true pirates know it's not theft cause that's not how ownership works! I jest. But i also dont. 😶

  • @musikarama
    @musikarama 18 днів тому

    this is really super helpful, you explained this in such an easy to understand way, thank you

  • @gendalfgray7889
    @gendalfgray7889 24 дні тому

    Excellent video 👏👏👏

  • @ronaldc8634
    @ronaldc8634 Місяць тому

    I like this channel

  • @RobespierreThePoof
    @RobespierreThePoof Місяць тому

    Taboo is a big topic in anthropology and religious studies too. My favorite examples are cultyres with taboos so strong that they DON'T name the taboo object at all. The most ridiculous version (to me) is making soeaking the name of a particular deity taboo. It just gets so c ridiculous so quickly. Any jews reading this know what i mean.

  • @RobespierreThePoof
    @RobespierreThePoof Місяць тому

    "Nobody dont like me" "No. Nobody likes you." "Nobody dont like me" "No. Nobody likes you." "Nobody dont like me" "No. Say 'Nobody likes me." "Nobody like you" "No. Nobody likes you." "Nobody dont like me or you" "No. Say nobody likes me" "Okay, Nobody don't likes you, mommy" And this is how you improve the self-esteem of your child, but not their grammar.

  • @gouravtayal9753
    @gouravtayal9753 2 місяці тому

    Keep going 🎉

  • @gouravtayal9753
    @gouravtayal9753 2 місяці тому

    Thanks sir 🎉

  • @bhaelmountaser3788
    @bhaelmountaser3788 2 місяці тому

    Slowly please, not all of us are Americans

  • @Antidemonn
    @Antidemonn 3 місяці тому

    I can be looking at her talking for hours.

  • @imthebossmermaid3648
    @imthebossmermaid3648 3 місяці тому

    Thanks for this video!

  • @Justpixy2002
    @Justpixy2002 3 місяці тому

    Great channel!

  • @catarinamaisassone2467
    @catarinamaisassone2467 4 місяці тому

    I was watching HIMYM before this video lol

  • @rhubarb4601
    @rhubarb4601 4 місяці тому

    After 5 years I'm still waiting for more videos. Please do them. Cheers from Spain Basque Country.

  • @roneldell5137
    @roneldell5137 4 місяці тому

    And now, the word 'meat' has another totally different meaning nowadays

  • @easonrytter1205
    @easonrytter1205 4 місяці тому

    Hiya! Is there any ranking of the the contraindications for which just a vowel (V) wins out (as opposed to CV, CVC, VC)

  • @janangelayala3239
    @janangelayala3239 4 місяці тому

    I wanna learn so much but that Nana shirt is just the highlight for me.

  • @whade62000
    @whade62000 5 місяців тому

    I feel like this "5 vowels" argument falls apart though because English does NOT have 5 vowels. It has 5 vowel LETTERS but a lot more vowel PHONEMES, similar to other European languages. English is non phonetic so those letters often do double duty.

  • @hgb3405
    @hgb3405 5 місяців тому

    by the way the first thing I interpreted this as is people have been to Montreal longer than I have

  • @JayFolipurba
    @JayFolipurba 5 місяців тому

    Like my favourite sentence in German that I made up and it's only half a sentence: (e.g. Es besteht kein Zweifel), dass das das Das das *das* Das ist ist. Or rather: Es besteht kein Zweifel, dass dies jenes Das ist, welches das besagte Das ist.

  • @JayFolipurba
    @JayFolipurba 5 місяців тому

    I think this is what I'm looking for? conlaning

  • @JayFolipurba
    @JayFolipurba 5 місяців тому

    I'll need this later, maybe.

  • @JayFolipurba
    @JayFolipurba 5 місяців тому

    It's the 2020s, I'm watching these on 1.5 times speed

  • @WeatherReport63
    @WeatherReport63 5 місяців тому

    The moment man devoured the fruit of knowledge, he sealed his fate... Entrusting his future to the cards, man clings to a dim hope. Yes, the arcana is the means by which all is revealed.

  • @Mohammad_Abushaqra
    @Mohammad_Abushaqra 5 місяців тому

    ⚠ أحاديث ﻻتصح عن رمضان 🚫 (رمضان أوله رحمة، وأوسطه مغفرة، وآخره عتق من النار) 📚[ ضعيف الجامع: 2135 ] 🚫 (لو يعلم العباد ما في رمضان لتمنت أمتي أن تكون السنة كلها رمضان) 📚 [ ضعيف الترغيب والترهيب: 302 ] 🚫 (اللهم بارك لنا في رجب وشعبان وبلغنا رمضان) 📚[ ضعيف الجامع: 4395] 🚫 (من أفطر يوماً في رمضان في غير رخصة رخصها الله له لم يقض عنه صيام الدهر كله وإن صامه) 📚 [ ضعيف الجامع: 5462] 🚫 (من أدرك رمضان بمكة فصامه وقام منه ما تيسر كتب الله له مائة ألف شهر رمضان فيما سواه) 📚[ضعيف الترغيب: 1/294] 🚫 (إن شهر رمضان معلق بين السماء والأرض؛ لا يرفع إلا بزكاة الفطر) 📚 [ ضعيف الجامع: 1886] 🚫 (صوموا تصحوا) 📚 [ ضعيف الجامع: 3504 ] 🚫 (نوم الصائم عبادة) 📚[ ضعيف الجامع: 5972 ] 🚫 (قصة المرأتين اللتين وقعتا في الغيبة، فقال الرسول ﷺ : إن هاتين صامتا عما أحل الله وأفطرتا على ما حرّم الله عز وجل) 📚 [ الضعيفة: 519] 🚫 (أحب عبادي إلي أسرعهم فطراً) 📚[ الموسوعة في الأحاديث الضعيفة: 12/11] 🚫 (إن الجنة لتبخر وتزين من الحول إلى الحول لدخول شهر رمضان فتبرز الحور العين) 📚[ ضعيف الترغيب: 594] 🚫 (إن الله ينظر إلى تنافسكم فيه فأروا الله من أنفسكم خيراً) 📚 [ ضعيف الترغيب: 492 ] 🚫 (إن لله في كل ليلة من رمضان (600) ألف عتيق من النار فإذا كان آخر ليلة أعتق الله بعدد كل من مضى) 📚[ ضعيف الترغيب: 598 ] 🚫 (ذاكر الله في رمضان مغفور له وسائل الله فيه لا يخيب) 📚 [ ضعيف الترغيب: 600 ] 🚫 (الصائم في السفر كالمفطر في الحضر) 📚[ ضعيف الترغيب: 643 ] 🚫 (رمضان بالمدينة خير من ألف رمضان فيما سواها من البلدان) 📚[ ضعيف الترغيب: 1/382 ] 🚫 (إذا صمتم فاستاكوا بالغداة ولا تستاكوا بالعشي) 📚 [ السلسة الضعيفة: 401 ] 🚫 (من اعتكف عشراً في رمضان كان كحجتين وعمرتين) 📚 [ السلسلة الضعيفة: 518]

  • @rillainayah5996
    @rillainayah5996 5 місяців тому

    Thank you for the explanation!

  • @bluekhuder1642
    @bluekhuder1642 5 місяців тому

    I love the obvious HIMYM references ❤❤❤❤😂

  • @PaulVinonaama
    @PaulVinonaama 5 місяців тому

    Why do American men use so much falsetto?

  • @edenglass3098
    @edenglass3098 5 місяців тому

    9 years later, this is still fascinating, and very well explained!!

  • @Sukoopurin
    @Sukoopurin 6 місяців тому

    I’m just here for the shirt

  • @FireFox64000000
    @FireFox64000000 6 місяців тому

    That's great but where can I find a list of these? Also you will notice the onomatopoeia for horse hooves is actually a pattern of four syllables with one sound repeated at least twice. Every language you mentioned followed this pattern.

  • @zakuro8532
    @zakuro8532 6 місяців тому

    Attention is all you need and all you need is wug

  • @StillAliveAndKicking_
    @StillAliveAndKicking_ 6 місяців тому

    This hasn’t aged well. I would argue with the claim that Chomsky is the father of modern linguistics. He is the originator of one linguistic theory, which has been very influential, arguably too influential. Recent computer models based on generalised neural networks have achieved a remarkable success in language production and translation. That a generalised model can do this is strong evidence against the idea of a detailed language model in the human brain. It is evidence that grammar is a feature of language, not the brain. Given how bad academic language tuition is, witness school and university teaching, I struggle to accept much of modern linguistic theory when it comes to second language acquisition.

  • @jkscout
    @jkscout 6 місяців тому

    Why isn't there a maxim of speed? Cause if there were, this guy is definitely flouting it.

    • @rennRRR
      @rennRRR 6 місяців тому

      that would probably be the maxim of manner since it refers to the clarity of his speech but this was still a bit funny icl 😭😭😭

  • @saradehesh9087
    @saradehesh9087 6 місяців тому

    Thanks for thiseffective information

  • @artugert
    @artugert 6 місяців тому

    Did you stop making videos? Do you still post content anywhere?

  • @thenerrdpit7441
    @thenerrdpit7441 6 місяців тому

    your videos got me through my bachelor's degree 8 years ago! i've graduated with a master's degree three years ago. now i'm rewatching these videos to brush up on basics to prepare for my application for a phd. so basically, THANK YOU so much. linguistics forever. 🥰

  • @fridalobato6579
    @fridalobato6579 7 місяців тому

    The sound [b] has the Distinctive Feature matrix is [+labial, +stop, +cons]. Whats the distinctive feature matrix por the labial implosive [ɓ]?

  • @InshruTripathi
    @InshruTripathi 7 місяців тому

    So.. Rosemary's Baby= has Ms. Rose as an agent? And what was theta role again?

  • @rayunseitig6367
    @rayunseitig6367 7 місяців тому

    ok

  • @chengyyun
    @chengyyun 7 місяців тому

    is it just me or does everytime he says "t" it sounds like a "ch"

    • @chengyyun
      @chengyyun 7 місяців тому

      for example 0:01 "meat"

  • @ostrelephant
    @ostrelephant 7 місяців тому

    wug is all you need

  • @sarafonfria
    @sarafonfria 7 місяців тому

    I am studying for the subject of Psycholinguistics and my teacher recommended this video to review the topic of garden path. You explain it all so well. Thank you!!

  • @TaiaPilauri
    @TaiaPilauri 7 місяців тому

    How i met your mother