Abstract

This chapter argues for a form of partiality in semantics. In particular, it argues that semantics, narrowly construed as part of our linguistic competence, is only a partial determinant of truth‐conditional content. Likewise, truth‐conditional semantic theories in linguistics function as partial theories of content. It offers an account of where and how this partiality arises, which focuses on how lexical meaning combines elements of distinctively linguistic competence with elements from our broader cognitive resources. This account shows how we can accommodate some partiality in semantic theories without falling into skepticism about semantics or its place in linguistic theory. Along the way, the chapter reexamines the roles disquotation and model theory play in semantic theories. It argues that disquotation plays an ineliminable role, but that this shows us a way in which semantic theories are explanatorily partial.