Pragmatics
Semantics
Philosophy of Language
Current Projects
My research project, “The assumption of truth in the construction of meaning,” empirically examines the relationship between “meaning” and “truth”, focusing on how “trust” modulates this relationship. Drawing on insights from linguistics, philosophy of language, and cognitive psychology, I investigate the construction of meaning as a dynamic process, highlighting the active role of truth in it.
Curriculum Vitae
Appointments
- 2025–2026: Fulbright postdoctoral fellow, Yale University, Connecticut, USA (PI: Professor Joshua Knobe)
- 2024–2025: Postdoctoral Associate, Department of Linguistics & Sagol School of Neuroscience, Tel Aviv University, Israel (PI: Professor Einat Shetreet)
Fellowships and Grants (selection)
- 2025: The Societas Linguistica Europaea (SLE) Junior Researcher/Early Career Researcher research grant
- 2020–2023: The Sarah and Dr. David Orgler Scholarship for outstanding doctoral students
- 2011–2013: Morningstar scholarship, from Isadore and Bertha Gudelsky Family Foundation Scholars in Israel Program Endowment
Prizes (selection)
- 2025: The Israel Young Academy interdisciplinary writing retreat for outstanding doctoral and postdoctoral researchers (ACADEMICS)
- 2022: The North American Summer School for Logic, Language & Information (NASSLLI) Travel Award
- 2018: The Ignatz Bubis Excellence Award from the Ignatz Bubis Foundation
- 2020: The Ignatz Bubis Excellence Award from the Ignatz Bubis Foundation
Education
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2017–2023: Ph.D. (Linguistics), School of Philosophy, Linguistics and Science Studies, Tel-Aviv University.
- Dissertation title: Predicating Truth: An empirical investigation
- Advisors: Professor Mira Ariel and Professor Orna Peleg (Started Oct. 2017 ● Submitted Jun. 2023 ● Approved Apr. 2024)
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2013–2016: Master’s thesis, Cognitive studies of language, Tel-Aviv University.
- Thesis title: The case of literally true propositions with false implicatures
- Advisors: Professor Mira Ariel and Professor Orna Peleg
- 2011–2013: Master of Arts, The Joseph and Rebecca Meyerhoff Center for Jewish Studies, University of Maryland
- 2007–2010: Bachelor of Arts, Department of Hebrew and Semitic Languages, Bar Ilan University (Magna Cum laude)
Publications
Chapters in books
- Orr, S. (2025). Truth Evaluators: A different point of view on the lying/misleading distinction. In A. Wiegmann (Ed.), Lying, Fake News, and Bullshit (pp. 117–136). Bloomsbury.
- Orr, S., Ariel, M., & Peleg, O. (2017). The case of literally true propositions with false implicatures. In I. Chiluwa (Ed.), Deception and Deceptive Communication: Motivations, Recognition Techniques and Behavioral Control (pp. 67–107). Nova Science Publishers.
Peer-reviewed articles
- Orr, S., Kronmüller, E., & Shetreet, E. (2026). Hedging the truth: The evaluation of truth under deceptive (un)certainty. Journal of Pragmatics, 259, 86–100.
- Wiegmann, A., Reins, L., Mizumoto, M., Erut, A., Li, Q., & Orr, S. (2025). Are the concepts of truth and lying shared across cultures? American Psychologist.
- Orr, S., Ariel, M., & Shetreet, E. (2024). Scales and inferences. Language and Cognition, 16(4), 1899–1924.
- Orr, S., & Ariel, M. (2021). Predicating Truth: An empirically based analysis. Journal of Pragmatics, 185, 131–145.
Presentations (selection)
- 2025: Orr Shirly, Ben Weissman, and Einat Shetreet, “Deception with GCIs”. The 11th Experimental Pragmatics Conference (XPrag 2025), Cambridge, UK. (Poster)
- 2025: Orr Shirly, Edmundo Kronmüller, and Einat Shetreet, “Truth in Context: A step closer to understanding the ordinary concept of lying”. The 11th Israeli Conference on Cognition Research (ISCOP), Akko, Israel. (Talk)
- 2024: Orr Shirly, “The Patterns of Deception: The lying/misleading distinction from the perspective of truth evaluators”. 57th Annual Meeting of the Societas Linguistica Europaea (SLE 2024), Helsinki, Finland. (Talk)
- 2024: Orr Shirly, “The lying/misleading distinction from the viewpoint of truth evaluators”. Experiments in Linguistic Meaning 3 (ELM3), University of Pennsylvania, USA. (Short-online-talk)