Colloque - Discourse Files - Barbu Revencu : Stand-For Relations between Objects and Discourse Referents in Early Development

Épisode de Philosophie du langage et de l'esprit - François Recanati par Collège de France · 31 mars 2026 · 1 h 13 min

François Recanati

Philosophie du langage et de l'esprit

Collège de France

Année 2024-2025

Colloque - Discourse Files

Stand-For Relations between Objects and Discourse Referents in Early Development

Barbu Revencu

Postdoctorant, Collège de France

Résumé

From static diagrams to dynamic animations, humans routinely convey information through depictions—representational stimuli in which visual objects are arranged in spatiotemporal configurations for communicative ends. First, I will argue that depictions recruit two representational layers: one that tracks object symbols in space, and one that represents the entities under discussion through discourse referents. The two layers are linked by an assignment function that provides pointers from the symbols to their corresponding discourse referents. This link constitutes a stand-for relation, which allows interpreters to gather information about the discourse referents from the object symbols. Second, I will present empirical evidence that stand-for relations are available in early human development. By 15 months, infants can interpret geometric shapes as symbols of familiar animals and objects: Pointing to a triangle and calling it "a duck" is enough for infants to interpret the triangle as a symbol of a duck. Infants use these stand-for relations to interpret how shapes move and interact, while recognizing that these relations do not extend outside the current communicative context. Finally, I will argue that positing stand-for relations in early ontogeny provides a better explanation of pretend play than alternative accounts.

Barbu Revencu

Barbu Revencu is a postdoctoral researcher at Collège de France in the ERC Mental Files project to François Recanati. His work investigates the cognitive mechanisms underlying depictions: representational stimuli, ranging from diagrams to animations, in which visual objects function as symbols and are arranged in spatial configurations for communicative ends.

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La chaire Philosophie du langage et de l'esprit héberge l'enseignement du titulaire, le Pr Recanati, ainsi que les colloques, séminaires et journées d'étude de la chaire, et les conférences des professeurs invités. Les domaines couverts par cet enseignement et ces manifestations relèvent de la…

Philosophie du langage et de l'esprit - François Recanati

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