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From Utterances to Speech Acts

By Mikhail Kissine

"Kissine offers a new theory of speech acts which is philosophically sophisticated and builds on work in cognitive science, formal semantics, and linguistic typology. This highly readable, brilliant essay is a major contribution to the field."

--François Recanati, Institut Jean-Nicod


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Book Information

   

Title: Introduction to Natural Language Semantics
Written By: Henriƫtte de Swart
Description:

Semantics is defined as the study of meaning expressed by elements of a language or combinations thereof. Utterances are not just noices or scribbles, they are used to convey information, they are linked with kinds of events, with states of mind, etc. Speaker and hearer use language to communicate. This introduction is concerned with the semantics of natural languages. The text examines what issues semantics, as a theory of meaning, should address; determining what the meanings of words of the language are and how to semantically combine elements of a language to build up complex meanings. Logical langauges are then developed as formal metalanguages to natural language. Subsequent chapters address propositional logic, the syntax and semantics of (first-order) predicate logic as an extension of propositional logic, and Generalized uantifier Theory. Going beyond extenstional theory, de Swart relativizes the interpretation of expressions to times to account for verbal tense, time adverbials and temporal connectives and introduces possible worlds to model intensions, modal adverbs and modal auxiliaries. This broad overview of natural language semantics should cover most of the points addressed in an introductory course. Numerous exercises punctuate each chapter and an example exam based on the materials presented is included, making this volume a perfect textbook and resource for any undergraduate or graduate-level introductory course in semantics.

Publication Year: 1998
Publisher: CSLI Publications
Review: Read the review
BibTex: View BibTex record
Linguistic Field(s): Semantics

Versions:
Format: Paperback
ISBN: 1575861380
ISBN-13: N/A
Pages: 258pp

 
 
Format: Hardback
ISBN: 1575861399
ISBN-13: N/A
Pages: 258pp