Semantics circle: Inference complexity in grammar

Abstract

In this talk, I argue that several `belief state expressions’ exhibit sensitivity to inference complexity: they are licensed only if the attitude holder inferred the embedded proposition based on a non-trivial, that is, minimally complex inference. While I pick up on existing ideas concerning the structure of belief states in general, as well as the semantics of epistemic modals in particular, the proposal is novel in that it tries to provide an actual characterization of what it means for an inference to be non-trivial. Also, by proposing that complexity in this sense is relevant for the licensing of several unrelated expressions, the account gives rise to a novel natural class and suggests that inference complexity is a parameter that natural language makes use of in a regular way.

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