Normative generics and social kind terms

Dados Bibliográficos

ID21335728
AutoresSamia Hesni (0000-0002-5847-2495, Boston University, autor correspondente)
Ano2024
Volume67
Fascículo9
Páginas3216-3239
Data de publicação2024-10-20
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessNão
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoInquiry (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 0020-174X • E-ISSN: 1502-3923
EditoraInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/0020174x.2022.2032323
OpenAlexW4210491736
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas4
Referências citadas29

Generic statements are commonly expressed using the bare plural – ‘tigers are striped’ – or the indefinite singular – ‘a tiger is striped’. Notoriously, some generics can be expressed using the bare plural locution, but not the indefinite singular; bare plural generics and indefinite singular generics pattern differently. I explore this phenomenon as it applies to normative generic statements: expressions like boys don’t cry, women are kind and nurturing, children are seen and not heard – that convey something over and above (and even distinct from) the descriptive reading. I argue that we should look to a metalinguistic theory of generics to understand indefinite singular normative generics. That is, a normative indefinite singular generic is a proposal about what to include in the extension of the generic term. This theory explains why it is more often than not that felicitous indefinite singular generics are about social kind terms. I argue that this explains a crucial way in which language shapes the social world. When we say things like (2), we propose definitions and uses for the word ‘boy’. Such proposals and their consequences actually impact the behavior of the groups they pick out, as well as the attitudes of others towards those groups

Epistemology · Extension (predicate logic) · Linguistics · Normative · Phenomenon · Plural · Reading (process) · Computer Science · Historical Linguistics and Language Studies · Language, Discourse, Communication Strategies · Mathematics · Philosophy · Syntax, Semantics, Linguistic Variation