The workshop takes place on May 12-13, 2023.
Organizer: Indrek Reiland

It is common to think that language is intimately connected with expression of mental states. We take for granted that sentences semantically express propositions relative to contexts and on some views this can be analyzed in terms of conventional expression of thoughts. Even those who don’t subscribe to such views still tend to think that in using language speakers express their thoughts, beliefs, and desires. Relatedly, some expressions are called expressives since their primary semantic function is taken to be the expression of our non-cognitive mental states. And so-called expressivist views in semantics aim to extend this idea to normative language, epistemic modals, truth etc. Finally, some philosophers and cognitive scientists think that the origins of language can be explained in terms of primitive acts of expression and that this provides an alternative to orthodox Gricean views. This workshop is devoted to discussing these topics.

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