Linguistics & Language with Dr. Alexis Wellwood

"Can you pass the salt?" You've probably never thought about the different levels of that question. The literal meaning is does you arm have the physical ability to pick up a salt shaker and hand it to someone. The pragmatic meaning is to physically complete the action of handing the salt to someone. Then throw in inflection and social situations and that simple question could be taken several different ways. Dr. Alexis Wellwood is an Associate Professor of Philosophy and Linguistics at the University of Southern California. She is a linguist, philosopher, and cognitive scientist, who recently published her first book, The Meaning of *More*, with Oxford University Press. Today on the Shape Shorts podcast, she is sharing with us her work in USC's Meaning Lab and her connections between children's and adults' understanding of the meaning of words and thoughts and the literal and pragmatic meaning of phrases.

Find Alexis on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/awellwood

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