Formal Semantics and Pragmatics for Natural Languages

Formal Semantics and Pragmatics for Natural Languages PDF Author: Franz Guenthner
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 9400997752
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 380

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Book Description
The essays in this collection are the outgrowth of a workshop, held in June 1976, on formal approaches to the semantics and pragmatics of natural languages. They document in an astoundingly uniform way the develop ments in the formal analysis of natural languages since the late sixties. The avowed aim of the' workshop was in fact to assess the progress made in the application of formal methods to semantics, to confront different approaches to essentially the same problems on the one hand, and, on the other, to show the way in relating semantic and pragmatic explanations of linguistic phenomena. Several of these papers can in fact be regarded as attempts to close the 'semiotic circle' by bringing together the syntactic, semantic and pragmatic properties of certain constructions in an explanatory framework thereby making it more than obvious that these three components of an integrated linguistic theory cannot be as neatly separated as one would have liked to believe. In other words, not only can we not elaborate a syntactic description of (a fragment of) a language and then proceed to the semantics (as Montague pointed out already forcefully in 1968), we cannot hope to achieve an adequate integrated syntax and semantics without paying heed to the pragmatic aspects of the constructions involved. The behavior of polarity items, 'quantifiers' like any, conditionals or even logical particles like and and or in non-indicative sentences is clear-cut evidence for the need to let each component of the grammar inform the other.

Formal Semantics and Pragmatics for Natural Languages

Formal Semantics and Pragmatics for Natural Languages PDF Author: Franz Guenthner
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 9400997752
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 380

Get Book Here

Book Description
The essays in this collection are the outgrowth of a workshop, held in June 1976, on formal approaches to the semantics and pragmatics of natural languages. They document in an astoundingly uniform way the develop ments in the formal analysis of natural languages since the late sixties. The avowed aim of the' workshop was in fact to assess the progress made in the application of formal methods to semantics, to confront different approaches to essentially the same problems on the one hand, and, on the other, to show the way in relating semantic and pragmatic explanations of linguistic phenomena. Several of these papers can in fact be regarded as attempts to close the 'semiotic circle' by bringing together the syntactic, semantic and pragmatic properties of certain constructions in an explanatory framework thereby making it more than obvious that these three components of an integrated linguistic theory cannot be as neatly separated as one would have liked to believe. In other words, not only can we not elaborate a syntactic description of (a fragment of) a language and then proceed to the semantics (as Montague pointed out already forcefully in 1968), we cannot hope to achieve an adequate integrated syntax and semantics without paying heed to the pragmatic aspects of the constructions involved. The behavior of polarity items, 'quantifiers' like any, conditionals or even logical particles like and and or in non-indicative sentences is clear-cut evidence for the need to let each component of the grammar inform the other.

Mathematical Aspects Of Natural And Formal Languages

Mathematical Aspects Of Natural And Formal Languages PDF Author: Gheorghe Paun
Publisher: World Scientific
ISBN: 9814518158
Category : Computers
Languages : en
Pages : 502

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Book Description
This book contains original reviews by well-known workers in the field of mathematical linguistics and formal language theory, written in honour of Professor Solomon Marcus on the occasion of his 70th birthday.Some of the papers deal with contextual grammars, a class of generative devices introduced by Marcus, motivated by descriptive linguistics. Others are devoted to grammar systems, a very modern branch of formal language theory. Automata theory and the algebraic approach to computer science are other well-represented areas. While the contributions are mathematically oriented, practical issues such as cryptography, grammatical inference and natural language processing are also discussed.

The Formal Complexity of Natural Language

The Formal Complexity of Natural Language PDF Author: W.J. Savitch
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 9400934017
Category : Computers
Languages : en
Pages : 462

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Book Description
Ever since Chomsky laid the framework for a mathematically formal theory of syntax, two classes of formal models have held wide appeal. The finite state model offered simplicity. At the opposite extreme numerous very powerful models, most notable transformational grammar, offered generality. As soon as this mathematical framework was laid, devastating arguments were given by Chomsky and others indicating that the finite state model was woefully inadequate for the syntax of natural language. In response, the completely general transformational grammar model was advanced as a suitable vehicle for capturing the description of natural language syntax. While transformational grammar seems likely to be adequate to the task, many researchers have advanced the argument that it is "too adequate. " A now classic result of Peters and Ritchie shows that the model of transformational grammar given in Chomsky's Aspects [IJ is powerful indeed. So powerful as to allow it to describe any recursively enumerable set. In other words it can describe the syntax of any language that is describable by any algorithmic process whatsoever. This situation led many researchers to reasses the claim that natural languages are included in the class of transformational grammar languages. The conclu sion that many reached is that the claim is void of content, since, in their view, it says little more than that natural language syntax is doable algo rithmically and, in the framework of modern linguistics, psychology or neuroscience, that is axiomatic.

Languages: From Formal to Natural

Languages: From Formal to Natural PDF Author: Orna Grumberg
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 3642017487
Category : Mathematics
Languages : en
Pages : 254

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Book Description
This Festschrift volume, published in honor of Nissim Francez on the occasion of his 65th birthday, contains 15 papers, written by friends and colleagues, many of whom congregated at a celebratory symposium held on May 2009, in Haifa, Israel.

Introduction to Switching and Automata Theory

Introduction to Switching and Automata Theory PDF Author: Michael A. Harrison
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Sequential machine theory
Languages : en
Pages : 542

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Book Description


The Formal Analysis of Natural Languages

The Formal Analysis of Natural Languages PDF Author: Maurice Gross
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Language and languages
Languages : en
Pages : 388

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Book Description


Elements of Formal Semantics

Elements of Formal Semantics PDF Author: Yoad Winter
Publisher: Edinburgh University Press
ISBN: 0748677771
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 272

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Book Description
Introducing some of the foundational concepts, principles and techniques in the formal semantics of natural language, Elements of Formal Semantics outlines the mathematical principles that underlie linguistic meaning. Making use of a wide range of concrete English examples, the book presents the most useful tools and concepts of formal semantics in an accessible style and includes a variety of practical exercises so that readers can learn to utilise these tools effectively. For readers with an elementary background in set theory and linguistics or with an interest in mathematical modelling, this fascinating study is an ideal introduction to natural language semantics. Designed as a quick yet thorough introduction to one of the most vibrant areas of research in modern linguistics today this volume reveals the beauty and elegance of the mathematical study of meaning.

Natural Language Semantics

Natural Language Semantics PDF Author: Brendan S. Gillon
Publisher: MIT Press
ISBN: 0262039206
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 731

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Book Description
An introduction to natural language semantics that offers an overview of the empirical domain and an explanation of the mathematical concepts that underpin the discipline. This textbook offers a comprehensive introduction to the fundamentals of those approaches to natural language semantics that use the insights of logic. Many other texts on the subject focus on presenting a particular theory of natural language semantics. This text instead offers an overview of the empirical domain (drawn largely from standard descriptive grammars of English) as well as the mathematical tools that are applied to it. Readers are shown where the concepts of logic apply, where they fail to apply, and where they might apply, if suitably adjusted. The presentation of logic is completely self-contained, with concepts of logic used in the book presented in all the necessary detail. This includes propositional logic, first order predicate logic, generalized quantifier theory, and the Lambek and Lambda calculi. The chapters on logic are paired with chapters on English grammar. For example, the chapter on propositional logic is paired with a chapter on the grammar of coordination and subordination of English clauses; the chapter on predicate logic is paired with a chapter on the grammar of simple, independent English clauses; and so on. The book includes more than five hundred exercises, not only for the mathematical concepts introduced, but also for their application to the analysis of natural language. The latter exercises include some aimed at helping the reader to understand how to formulate and test hypotheses.

Formal Approaches and Natural Language in Medieval Logic

Formal Approaches and Natural Language in Medieval Logic PDF Author: Laurent Cesalli
Publisher: Brepols
ISBN: 9782503567358
Category : Logic, Medieval
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
Is medieval logic formal? And if yes, in what sense? There are striking affinities between medieval and contemporary theories of language. Authors from the two periods share formal ambitions and maintain complex, and at time uneasy, relations with natural language. However, modern scholars became careful not to overlook the specificities of theories developed more than five hundred years apart, in particular with respect to their 'formal' character. In 1972, Alfonso Maieru noted that the efforts of medieval logicians to identify logical structures in language formal enough to become objects of scientific consideration. He also stressed that the language investigated is a historical one, Latin, so that one can legitimately wonder to which extent ... one is allowed to speak of 'formal logic' in the middle ages. In other words, medieval logic is characterized by a tension between 'formalist ambitions' and constraints proper to natural language. Today, our knowledge of the field has considerably expanded, calling for a new assessment of the question.

Quantification in Natural Languages

Quantification in Natural Languages PDF Author: Emmon Bach
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 9401728178
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 760

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Book Description
This volume of papers grew out of a research project on "Cross-Linguistic Quantification" originated by Emmon Bach, Angelika Kratzer and Barbara Partee in 1987 at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, and supported by National Science Foundation Grant BNS 871999. The publication also reflects directly or indirectly several other related activ ities. Bach, Kratzer, and Partee organized a two-evening symposium on cross-linguistic quantification at the 1988 Annual Meeting of the Linguistic Society of America in New Orleans (held without financial support) in order to bring the project to the attention of the linguistic community and solicit ideas and feedback from colleagues who might share our concern for developing a broader typological basis for research in semantics and a better integration of descriptive and theoretical work in the area of quantification in particular. The same trio organized a six-week workshop and open lecture series and related one-day confer ence on the same topic at the 1989 LSA Linguistic Institute at the University of Arizona in Tucson, supported by a supplementary grant, NSF grant BNS-8811250, and Partee offered a seminar on the same topic as part of the Institute course offerings. Eloise Jelinek, who served as a consultant on the principal grant and was a participant in the LSA symposium and the Arizona workshops, joined the group of editors for this volume in 1989.