Semantics with Assignment Variables

By Alex Silk

Book Overview

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.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1108799124
• ISBN13: 9781108799126
• Release Date: August 2023
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Length: 280 Pages
• Weight: 0.83 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 6.0" x 9.0"