Speaker: Isabelle Charnavel (University of Geneva)

Title: Sloppy indexicals are not fake

When: Thursday 30 October 2025, 16:15 – 17:30

Zoom: https://universiteitleiden.zoom.us/j/63083409585?pwd=Oz5a0k884QOhRMxcgeEfDq8JWUvXPP.1 / Meeting ID: 630 8340 9585 / Passcode: S@&1f0vQ

Indexical binding in constructions illustrated in (1)-(2) is one of the crucial empirical arguments questioning the Kaplanian hypothesis that indexicals rigidly depend on context.

(1) Only I did my homework. (i.e., nobody else did their homework) (Heim 1991)

(2) I am the only one around here who will admit that I could be wrong. (i.e., nobody else will admit that they could be wrong) (Partee 1989)

The goal of the talk is to propose an analysis of such cases that maintains contextual dependency as a fundamental property of indexicals. The analysis, which is mainly based on French data, requires re-examining the role of binding, focus, agreement and presuppositions in these constructions.