Autore
Di Bona, Elvira

Titolo
On Hearing Meanings. Reflections on the Method of Contrast, Adaptational Effects, and Semantic Satiation
Periodico
Rivista di filosofia
Anno: 2020 - Fascicolo: 2 - Pagina iniziale: 215 - Pagina finale: 237

The phenomenon of semantic satiation has been put forward recentlyas a way of showing that we can hear meanings or semanticproperties, which are high-level properties expressed in a languagewe understand. Arguments in support of this claim stem from thefact that semantic satiation is a form of sensory adaptation; sensoryadaptation has already been used successfully to show that we canperceive high-level properties, so, in theory, semantic satiation canalso be used to show that we can hear meanings or semantic properties.In this paper, I assess cases of phenomenological contrastin the literature that purport to show that we can perceive meaning.I argue that only the contrast case designed specifically aboutsemantic satiation can successfully decide whether the before-afterdifference is perceptual. I also focus on auditory adaptation to genderedvoices, which is a perceptual phenomenon, and compare itto semantic satiation. I argue that semantic satiation due to excessiveexposure to a spoken word cannot be considered a perceptualphenomenon, since it differs from auditory adaptation to genderedvoice in many respects. My conclusion is that semantic satiationcannot be used to show that we can hear meaning. Therefore, we need other cases to prove that semantic properties expressed in alanguage we understand can enter the content of auditory perception.



SICI: 0035-6239(2020)2<215:OHMROT>2.0.ZU;2-S
Testo completo: https://www.rivisteweb.it/download/article/10.1413/97571
Testo completo alternativo: https://www.rivisteweb.it/doi/10.1413/97571

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