Formal Semantics of Natural Language

A volume of studies in natural language semantics which brings together work by philosophers, logicians and linguists.

Edward L. Keenan (Author)

9780521111119, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 7 May 2009

492 pages
22.9 x 15.2 x 2.8 cm, 0.72 kg

A volume of studies in natural language semantics which brings together work by philosophers, logicians and linguists. The main topics treated are: quantification and reference in natural language; the relations between formal logic, programming languages and natural language; pragmatics and discourse meaning; surface syntax and logical meaning. The volume derives from a colloquium organised in 1973 by the Kings College Research Centre, Cambridge and the papers have been edited for publication by Professor Keenan. It is hoped that the collection will make available some of the best work in this fast-moving field and will stimulate further progress by juxtaposing the different approaches and interests represented here.

Introduction
Part I. Quantification in natural language: 1. Adverbs of quantification David Lewis
2. Deletion and variable binding Barbara Hall Partee
3. A semantics for superficial and embedded questions in natural language R. D. Hull
4. Sortal quantification J. E. J. Altham and Neil W. Tennant
Part II. Reference and Cross Reference: 5. Deixis as the source of reference John Lyons
6. Referential constraints on lexical items Pieter Seuren
7. On generics Osten Dahl
8. Quantifiers, definite descriptions and reference Colin Biggs
Part III. Intensional Logic and Syntactic Theory: 9. Two theories about adjectives J. A. W. Kamp
10. Partial interpretations Franz Von Kutschera
11. Subcategorisation of adnominal and adverbial modifiers Renate Bartsch
12. Should generative semantics be related to intensional logic? Carl H. Heidrich
13. Transformational semantics Arnim von Strechow
Part IV. Questioning Model Theoretic Semantics: 14. Model theoretic semantics and natural language Nicholas Jardine
15. Model theory and linguistics Timothy C. Potts
Part V. Pragmatics and Sentences in Context: 16. Pragmatics in natural logic George Lakoff
17. Changing the context Stephen Isard
18. Conditions of the use of sentences and a semantic representation of topic and focus Petr Sgall
19. Topics, sentence accent, ellipsis: a proposal for their formal treatment Theo Vennemann
20. Preference semantics Yorick Wilks
Part VI. Semantics and Surface Syntax: 21. Arguments for assigning tense meanings after certain syntactic transformations apply Joseph Emonds
22. Towards a formal treatment of the phenomenon of aspect Catherine Fuchs and Jacques Rouault
23. On the relations between syntax and semantics Maurice Gross
24. Logical expressive power and syntactic variation in natural language Edward L. Keenan
25. Clausematiness John R. Ross.

Subject Areas: Linguistics [CF]