Author: Mark Steedman
Publisher: MIT Press
ISBN: 0262017075
Category : Computers
Languages : en
Pages : 325
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Book Description
A novel view of the syntax and semantics of quantifier scope that argues for a "combinatory" theory of natural language syntax. In Taking Scope, Mark Steedman considers the syntax and semantics of quantifier scope in interaction with negation, polarity, coordination, and pronominal binding, among other constructions. The semantics is "surface compositional," in that there is a direct correspondence between syntactic types and operations of composition and types and compositions at the level of logical form. In that sense, the semantics is in the "natural logic" tradition of Aristotle, Leibniz, Frege, Russell, and others who sought to define a psychologically real logic directly reflecting natural language grammar. The book reunites the generative-transformational tradition initiated by Chomsky--which views the formal syntactic component as entirely autonomous---with the older, strongly lexicalist, construction-based tradition, which has sought to define a more lingistically transparent theory of meaning representation. Steedman offers a logical formalism that relates directly to the surface form of language and to the process of inference and proof that it must support. Such a natural logic, although formal by definition, should be allowed to grow organically from attested language phenomena rather than be axiomatized a priori in terms of any standard logic. Steedman also considers the application of natural semantic interpretations to practical natural language processing tasks, emphasizing throughout the elimination of traditional quantifiers from semantic formalism in favor of devices such as Skolem terms and structure-sharing among representations in processing.
Author: Shalom Lappin
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
ISBN: 1119046823
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 771
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Book Description
The second edition of The Handbook of Contemporary Semantic Theory presents a comprehensive introduction to cutting-edge research in contemporary theoretical and computational semantics. Features completely new content from the first edition of The Handbook of Contemporary Semantic Theory Features contributions by leading semanticists, who introduce core areas of contemporary semantic research, while discussing current research Suitable for graduate students for courses in semantic theory and for advanced researchers as an introduction to current theoretical work
Author: Ivano Caponigro
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1107276691
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 377
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Book Description
In recent years, the study of formal semantics and formal pragmatics has grown tremendously, showing that core aspects of language meaning can be explained by a few principles. These principles are grounded in the logic that is behind - and tightly intertwined with - the grammar of human language. In this book, some of the most prominent figures in linguistics, including Noam Chomsky and Barbara H. Partee, offer new insights into the nature of linguistic meaning and pave the way for the further development of formal semantics and formal pragmatics. Each chapter investigates various dimensions in which the logical nature of human language manifests itself within a language and/or across languages. Phenomena like bare plurals, free choice items, scalar implicatures, intervention effects, and logical operators are investigated in depth and at times cross-linguistically and/or experimentally. This volume will be of interest to scholars working within the fields of semantics, pragmatics, language acquisition and psycholinguistics.
Author: Harry van der Hulst
Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing Company
ISBN: 9027265534
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 267
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Book Description
This volume contains a selection of papers from the 12th International Conference on the Structure of Hungarian (Leiden, 2015). The contributions cover a wide range of topics and their significance in generative theorizing. The papers about morphosyntax focus on the formation of comparative clauses, the behavior of particle verbs, scope taking in deverbal nominal constructions, measure constructions, classifier constructions, the mass/count distinction as well as focus and quantifier scope. The papers about phonology investigate coexisting patterns of variation in vowel harmony, the representational account of vowel harmony and the nature of heteromorphemic vowel sequences. While the focus of the volume is on Hungarian, comparison is made with several other languages, such as English, German and Portuguese among others. The broad range of topics discussed in this volume will appeal both to scholars working on Hungarian and to a general audience of generative linguists.
Author: Stephen Crain
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 0521858097
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 307
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Book Description
An investigation into the underlying logic of human languages which looks at how children acquire English and Mandarin.
Author: Raffaella Zanuttini
Publisher: Georgetown University Press
ISBN: 9781589013056
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 262
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Book Description
Presenting cutting-edge research in syntax and semantics, this important volume furthers theoretical claims in generative linguistics and represents a significant addition to present scholarship in the field. Leading scholars present crosslinguistic studies dealing with clausal architecture, negation, and tense and aspect, and the issue of whether a statistical model can by itself capture the richness of human linguistic abilities. Taken together, these contributions elegantly show how theoretical tools can propel our understanding of language beyond pretheoretical descriptions, especially when combined with the insight and skills of linguists who can analyze difficult and complex data. Crosslinguistic Research in Syntax and Semantics covers a range of topics currently at the center of lively debate in the linguistic literature, such as the structure of the left periphery of the clause, the proper treatment of negative polarity items, and the role of statistical learning in building a model of linguistic competence. The ten original contributions offer an excellent balance of novel empirical description and theoretical analysis, applied to a wide range of languages, including Dutch, German, Irish English, Italian, Malagasy, Malay, and a number of medieval Romance languages. Scholars and students of semantics, syntax, and linguistic theory will find it to be a valuable resource for ongoing scholarship and advanced study.
Author: Kees Hengeveld
Publisher: Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG
ISBN: 3110517426
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 308
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Book Description
This book brings together a series of contributions to the study of grammaticalization of tense, aspect, and modality from a functional perspective. All contributions share the aim to uncover the functional motivations behind the processes of grammaticalization under discussion, but they do so from different points of view.
Author: Chris Barker
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0199575029
Category : Computers
Languages : en
Pages : 251
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Book Description
The continuation of an expression is a portion of its surrounding context. This book proposes and defends the continuation hypothesis: that the meaning of a natural language expression can depend on its own continuation (it can denote a function on its surrounding context).
Author: Christina Tortora
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 019803122X
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 270
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Book Description
This volume collects original theoretical work on the syntax and morphology of Italian and a wide range of Italian dialects. It contains contributions by such leading figures as Cecilia Poletto, Guglielmo Cinque, and Richard Kayne, and examines topics such as the syntax of "ne", the internal structure of personal pronouns, the syntax/morphology interface, and functional projections at the clausal level.
Author: Marga Reimer
Publisher: Clarendon Press
ISBN: 9780199270521
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 676
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Book Description
In 1905, Bertrand Russell published 'On Denoting' in which he proposed and defended a quantificational account of definite descriptions. Forty-five years later, in 'On Referring', Peter Strawson claimed that Russell was mistaken: definite descriptions do not function as quantifiers but (paradigmatically) as referring expressions. Ever since, scores of theorists have attempted to adjudicate this debate. Others have gone beyond the question of the proper analysis of definite descriptions, focusing instead on the complex relations between definites, indefinites, and pronouns. These relations are often examined with attention to the phenomena of scope and anaphora. This collection assembles nineteen new papers on definite descriptions and related topics. The contributors include both philosophers and linguists, many of whom have been active participants in the various debates concerning descriptions. The volume contains a brief general introduction and is divided into six sections, each of which is accompanied by a detailed introduction of its own. Several of the sections concern issues associated with the Russell/Strawson debate. These include the sections on incomplete descriptions, the referential/attributive distinction, and presupposition and truth value gaps. There is also a section on the representation of definites and indefinites in semantic theory, containing papers that reject certain core assumptions of the Russellian paradigm. Linguists interested in definites have traditionally been concerned with how such expressions interact with other expressions, including pronouns and indefinites. They have explored, and continue to explore, these interactions through the complex phenomena of scope and anaphora. In the section dealing with anaphoric pronouns and descriptions, indefinites and dynamic syntax/semantics, five linguists propose and defend their views on these and related issues. Finally, there is a section that concerns the relation between proper names and descriptions and, more particularly, the idea that some names, those introduced into the language by description, are semantically equivalent to definite descriptions.
