Semantics with Assignment Variables

ISBN-13: 9781108799126 / Angielski / Miękka / 2023 / 279 str.

Alex Silk

Opis

This pioneering study combines insights from philosophy and linguistics to develop a novel framework for theorizing about linguistic meaning and the role of context in interpretation. A key innovation is to introduce explicit representations of context - assignment variables - in the syntax and semantics of natural language. The proposed theory systematizes a spectrum of 'shifting' phenomena in which the context relevant for interpreting certain expressions depends on features of the linguistic environment. Central applications include local and non-local contextual dependencies with quantifiers, attitude ascriptions, conditionals, questions, and relativization. The result is an innovative philosophically informed compositional semantics compatible with the truth-conditional paradigm. At the forefront of contemporary interdisciplinary research into meaning and communication, Semantics with Assignment Variables is essential reading for researchers and students in a diverse range of fields.

Spis treści

Preface; 1. Introduction; Part I: 2. Preliminaries; 3. Standardizing Quantification; 4. Attitude Ascriptions; Part II: 5. Relative Causes (I); 6. Quantifiers; 7. Noun Phases; Part III: 8. Conditionals; 9. Interrogatives; 10. Taking Stock.