M.I. (Inés) Crespo



Website for the NYU Paris undergraduate course "Philosophy of Language" (PHIL-UA 9085), Spring 2024


We meet on Tuesdays and Thursdays, 9h00 (sharp) till 10h30 (Paris time -- Note that DST starts on 31 March this year).

NB: I will be abroad between 3-10 April. Hence, we will not have class on Thu 4 April or Tue 9 April. We will catch up those two sessions we'll miss on Friday 12 and Friday 19 April, 9h00-10h30. Attendance to these (and all other) classes is mandatory.

The course is taught in person on campus, 57 boulevard Saint-Germain, 75005 Paris (room #406).

Office hours in person (room #606) on Tuesdays, 10h30-11h30. This day and time are preferred but not exclusive, send me an email to set up an appointment if this slot does not work for you.

Syllabus (updated on 10 March). It will probably be updated as we move along.

Course reader (see the shared Google Drive folder - you should be able to access it via your NYU email address).

Note that you are expected to read Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland [1865] before you come to the first session of the course. Any contemporary edition in written form will do (and there is one available in the Google Drive folder), but I strongly recommend that you listen to the audiobook version available here (free) (less than 3 hours to listen to the 12 chapters).

Practical intro to argumentative writing -- Please read it before submitting HW#1.

Homework sets (links will be posted soon):

Assignments should be submitted by email as a PDF by the deadline indicated on the syllabus.

Each of the three homework assignments will be executed in two stages. Stage 1 will take place in the classroom, you will be required to write on the spot, with pen and paper, or on a laptop on condition that it has no access to wifi. It will be handed in (or submitted) to your instructor at the end of the class. Stage 2 will be submitted by email as a PDF file by the deadline indicated in the course planning on the syllabus.

All cases of plagiarism will be penalised and reported to the university administration.

Late submissions will be accepted only with reasons of health or family emergency. Written proof thereof will be required.

Failure to submit or fulfill any required component may result in failure of the class, regardless of grades achieved in other assignments.

HW#1
HW#2
HW#3

Slides:

Session 1
Sessions 2, 3
Sessions 4, 5, 6
Sessions 7, 8, 9, 10
Sessions 11, 12
Sessions 13, 14
Sessions 15, 16
...

Interesting stuff:

Susan Curtiss UCLA PhD thesis (1977): GENIE. A Psycholinguistic Study of a Modern-Day "Wild Child". New York, Academic Press.

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Jean Marc Gaspard Itard (1807) Rapport fait à son excellence le Ministre de l'Intérieur, sur les nouveaux développemens et l'état actuel du sauvage de l'Aveyron . English translation (1972): The wild boy of Aveyron.

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Can't we say "whistleblower" in Spanish?

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Can this dog speak?

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Do emojis have meaning?

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Do penguins’ vocal sequences conform to linguistic laws?

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L’Académie française se résout à la féminisation des noms de métiers.

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In New York: https://www.nouvelobs.com/monde/20180517.OBS6808/a-new-york-un-homme-menace-d-appeler-l-immigration-car-des-employes-d-un-restaurant-parlent-espagnol.html