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In this paper we challenge the Optionality Criterion that goes with Recanati (2010)'s philosophical position called 'Truth-Conditional Pragmatics' (TCP). According to this criterion, any primary pragmatic process of interpretation other than saturation of context-sensitive expressions is intrinsically optional. This sense of 'optional' opposes a notion of mandatory which is too strict in so far as saturation, the only process considered as obligatory, does not always provide us with minimal propositions. This leads us to reconsider the notion of mandatory and to reformulate the core tenet of TCP in the following way: some primary pragmatic processes of modulation may have an optional demand but this does not avoid that on other occasions the same processes may be mandatorily demanded. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article the French philosopher François Recanati provides a summary for his book "Truth-Conditional Pragmatics." Recanati focuses on context in linguistics, the philosophy of language and semantics. Other topics include contextualism, the minimalist theory and the book "Literal Meaning" by Recanati.

In this article the French philosopher François Recanati provides a summary for his book "Truth-Conditional Pragmatics." Recanati focuses on context in linguistics, the philosophy of language and semantics. Other topics include contextualism, the minimalist theory and the book "Literal Meaning" by Recanati.

The study of language acquisition within the Chomskyan tradition has moved from a stage in which the developmental path of languages in the mind of children was ignored to a stage in which theoreticians accept that their proposals must be compatible with developmental facts, yet without really explaining them. This article suggests that generative linguistics has now attained the degree of maturity required to surpass old idealizations and carry out the task of explaining how core properties of languages grow in the mind of infants, instead of presupposing them as directly given in the genetic makeup of the species. This transition from 'taking development into account' to 'taking development seriously' is a necessary step for generative linguistics to gain credibility as a biolinguistic approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]