傳統語意理論咸接受語句意義與說話者意義的區分，認為語句意義是由字詞本義或是社群約定俗成的意義及語法規則來決定，其內容通常是獨立於語言行為及脈絡。而說話者意義則是通常超出語句意義的範圍，需要背景知識或是脈絡資訊來決定說話者意圖的內容。脈絡主義(contextualism)提出多方論證反駁，認為脈絡因素影響說話者所傳達的意思，影響範圍遠大於所謂的約定俗成意義。所以，用一個語句來傳達一個想法時，語句所傳達的內容(what is said)不應該只由語句中個別字詞的約定俗成意義和語構法則來決定。極小主義(minimalism)則主張維持語言中各語詞意義的獨立性格，認為是語句或語詞本身的語意規則要求脈絡的資訊來滿足某些語意的完整性，但不代表所有的脈絡影響因子皆須納入語意範疇。在此爭辯中的根本膠著點在於Recanati所提出的可及性原則(the Availability Principle)：語意內容必須是語言使用者直覺理會到的；語言使用者的心理證據需被語言理論的建構所考量。脈絡主義者認為傳統的語意分析將因忽略此點而無法成功說明我們對語言的理解。極小主義者之一的Borg則提出論證反駁可及原則，主張語言使用者的心理意圖或心理證據不是建構語意理論需要關心的。本計畫旨在釐清雙方對於可及原則的認知，並進一步論證語意理論應滿足可及原則的要求，反映語言使用者的直覺理解。
What is said by an utterance of the sentence in a traditional view is the proposition expressed by the sentence, depending on the meanings of words uttered and the rules for their combination. Yet, contextualists proffer kinds of cases, including enrichment, loose use, and transfer, to show that what one intuitively knows about an utterance is different from what traditional semantics analyzes. This is what the availability principle, proffered by Recanati, requires that “what is said must be analyzed in conformity to the intuitions shared by those who fully understand the utterance in a normal conversation setting”(Recanati, 2004: 14). Minimalist, in particular Borg, rebuts such approach to a semantic theory. They explore the relationship between the semantic theory and psychological evidence and show that minimalism can avoid the challenge from the availability principle. The aim of this project is to clarify what the availability principle requires and argue that a semantic theory should concern with the language users’ intuitive cognition about linguistic terms; that is, a semantic theory should satisfy what the availability principle requires.
