Barbara Abbott

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Barbara Kenyon Abbott
Born
Barbara Kenyon Abbott

1943 (age 81–82)
NationalityAmerican
Academic background
Alma mater University of California at Berkeley
Thesis A study of referential opacity (1976)
Academic advisors George Lakoff
Institutions Michigan State University

Barbara Kenyon Abbott (born 1943) is an American linguist. She earned her PhD in linguistics in 1976 at the University of California at Berkeley under the supervision of George Lakoff. [1] From 1976 to 2006, she was a professor in the department of linguistics and Germanic, Slavic, Asian, and African languages at Michigan State University, with a joint appointment in philosophy. [2] She is now a Professor Emerita.

Contents

Career

Abbott's semantics and pragmatics research examines topics in reference and noun phrase interpretation, focusing on philosophically influenced aspects of word meaning, presupposition, and conditional sentences. [3] She has been pivotal in both uniting formal semantics—which adapts analytical techniques from logic to natural languages—and analytical pragmatics—which clarifies the workings of definite and indefinite noun phrases in English. Her work surveying the uses of definiteness in different languages shows how it has mainly been seen in terms of familiarity or uniqueness. [4] Her book Reference, [5] focusing on noun phrases as referring expressions, shows that the issue of speakers' use of language forms to refer to entities has been at the heart of debate among linguists and philosophers for centuries. [6]

Abbott was a professor at Michigan State University where she taught linguistics and philosophy from 1976 to 2006. Her main concentrations are semantics and pragmatics [3] Her book Reference [5] focuses on the issue of how far reference is and if it is a two-place or three-place relation. [7] Abbott is also known for her other published works which include Natural Language Semantics, Language, Linguistics and Philosophy, Journal of Pragmatics, and Mind. [7] She has also published articles, such as Some Problems In Giving An Adequate Model-Theoretic Account of Cause in 1974, and Some Remarks on Referentiality, in 2011. [8]

In 1993, Abbott received an Outstanding Faculty & Staff Award at MSU for "contributions to equal opportunities for achievement and providing an environment that encourages excellence". [9] In 2005, she was an invited speaker at the Third International Conference in Contrastive Semantics and Pragmatics held in at the Shanghai International Studies University in China, [10] and was featured as a guest speaker at the International Cognitive Science Conference held at Pomona College that same year. [11] In 2009, she was an invited speaker at the Second Conference on Concept Types and Frames in Language, Cognition, and Science at the Heinrich-Heine-University of Duesseldorf. [12]

Abbott has served on the editorial board of academic journals including The Journal of Pragmatics , [13] Natural Language and Linguistic Theory , [14] and Intercultural Pragmatics , [15] as well as serving as a referee for articles in Philosophy of Science [16] and in Language.

Personal life

Abbott grew up in Greenwich, Connecticut and currently resides in Michigan with her husband, Larry Hauser. [17] [3]

Publications

Books

Significant articles

References

  1. ↑ "A study of referential opacity". Berkeley Linguistics. Retrieved April 14, 2019.
  2. ↑ Reyes, Julie (2003–2004). "Contributing to the Love of Wisdom" (PDF). The Graduate School Newsletter. Michigan State University. Archived from the original (PDF) on March 5, 2016. Retrieved June 6, 2015.
  3. 1 2 3 "Barbara Abbott's home page". Michigan State University. Retrieved April 14, 2019.
  4. ↑ Barker, Chris (2004). Possessive Weak Definites. University of Massachusetts Occasional Papers. University of Massachusetts. CiteSeerX   10.1.1.183.9321 .
  5. 1 2 Abbott, Barbara (2010). Reference. New York: Oxford University Press Inc. ISBN   978-0-19-920257-7.
  6. ↑ "LINGUIST List 22.267: Philosophy of Language: Abbott (2010)". January 16, 2011. Retrieved June 6, 2015.
  7. 1 2 Reference. Oxford Surveys in Semantics and Pragmatics. Oxford University Press. May 13, 2010. ISBN   9780199203451.
  8. ↑ "Vitarev.htm". August 7, 2015.
  9. ↑ "Award Recipients RCPD". Archived from the original on July 11, 2019. Retrieved June 6, 2015.
  10. ↑ "Calls: Pragmatics/Semantics/China". September 4, 2004. Retrieved June 7, 2015.
  11. ↑ "International Cognitive Science Conference". Archived from the original on June 13, 2015. Retrieved June 8, 2015.
  12. ↑ "FFF CONFERENCE CTF09". Philosophische Fakultät der HHUD. Retrieved June 7, 2015.
  13. ↑ Journal of Pragmatics Editorial Board . Retrieved June 6, 2015.
  14. ↑ "Editorial Note". Natural Language & Linguistic Theory. November 1989.
  15. ↑ "Front matter, Volume 11, number 3". Intercultural Pragmatics. 2014.
  16. ↑ "JSOR-Philosophy of Science". Philosophy of Science. 79 (2): 326–331. 2012. doi:10.1086/665592. JSTOR   10.1086/665592.
  17. ↑ "Board Members". ShareCare of Leelanau, Inc. Archived from the original on May 26, 2020. Retrieved April 14, 2019.
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