ABSTRACT

In this chapter five areas are considered on which contemporary philosophers of language have conspicuously made their mark: (1) Assertion: a discussion of the conception on which assertion is a conventionally defined speech-act, and in particular of Williamson’s ‘knowledge-rule’; it explains some phenomena which on the surface seem paradoxical. (2) Context-Relativity: further depth on the idea that indexicality is much more rife than is suggested just by explicit indexicals, and a connection with ‘epistemic relativism’ is sketched. (3) Fictional Entities: neither Frege nor Russell had a quite satisfactory account of the semantics of fictional objects; we look at some alternative accounts. (4) Inferentialism: a perspective on semantics is briefly investigated which flip-flops the classical scheme according to which inference is explained by reference. (5) Slurs: after defects are outlined to some approaches to the ‘slurriness’ of bad words – that slurs are different at the level of cognitive meaning, or that they differ pragmatically – a scheme due to Kaplan is outlined according to which slurriness is part of the ‘expressive meaning’ of words.