Review: |
EDITORS: Maienborn, Claudia, Klaus von Heusinger & Paul H. Portner TITLE: Semantics SUBTITLE: An International Handbook of Natural Language Meaning, Volume 1 SERIES TITLE: Handbooks of Linguistics and Communication Science / [HSK] 33/1 PUBLISHER: De Gruyter Mouton YEAR: 2011
Sylvia L. Reed, Department of Linguistics, University of Arizona
SUMMARY ''Semantics: An International Handbook of Natural Language Meaning, Volume 1'' is the first volume of a three-volume handbook of semantics. This volume contains the following sections: I. Foundations of semantics, II. History of semantics, III. Methods in semantic research, IV. Lexical semantics, V. Ambiguity and vagueness, VI. Cognitively oriented approaches to semantics, VII. Theories of sentence semantics, and VIII. Theories of discourse semantics. The stated goals are to ''discuss the foundations and methodology of semantics,'' ''introduce important theoretical frameworks and theoretical issues,'' ''cover a wide variety of specific topics and phenomena of natural language meaning,'' and ''explore the relationship between semantics and other fields, both within linguistics and outside'' (vii).
Seven chapters on the foundations of semantics comprise the first section: ''Meaning in linguistics'' (chapter 1, Claudia Maienborn, Klaus von Heusinger, and Paul Portner), ''Meaning, intentionality and communication'' (chapter 2, Pierre Jacob), ''(Frege on) Sense and reference'' (chapter 3, Mark Textor), ''Reference: Foundational issues'' (chapter 4, Barbara Abbott), ''Meaning in Language Use'' (chapter 5, Georgia Green), ''Compositionality'' (chapter 6, Peter Pagin and Dag Westerståhl), and ''Lexical decomposition: Foundational Issues'' (chapter 7, Stefan Engelberg).
Maienborn, von Heusinger, and Portner introduce the main concepts, methods, and goals of modern semantics by discussing three central issues: truth conditions, compositionality, and context and discourse. They distinguish linguistic semantics from other approaches to meaning, and show how these features are instantiated in the three central issues they address. Jacob examines early contributions to questions of communication and pragmatics. He addresses the lasting effect of Brentano (1874), and mentions several later approaches to intentionality. He also discusses early theories of speech acts/pragmatics, and examines Grice's (1957 and forward) movement towards an inferential model of communication and a discussion of truth-conditional pragmatics. Textor takes the reader through Frege's motivation for the distinction between sense and reference, and the various approaches in Frege’s works. He also discusses what this distinction means for predicates and sentences, and traces the path from Frege's ideas to significant contributions in modern semantics. Abbot takes into consideration several issues central to the theory of reference. She reviews direct reference theory and its failures, Frege's (1892) concepts of sense and reference, and Russell's (1905) theory of definite descriptions. She also considers objections to Russell's theory of definite descriptions, Kaplan's (1989) theory of demonstratives and indexicals, and Kripke's (1972) return to Mill's nondescriptional theory of proper names. Green moves to discuss the use of language, reviewing some major concepts in foundational pragmatics: Bar-Hillel's (1954) work on indexicals and Grice (1957, 1975). She then discusses some implications of Grice's theory for our understanding of word meaning, and closes with work on disambiguation and on the modeling of pragmatic information. Pagin and Westerståhl first give historical background for the principle of compositionality, then present an algebra for composition in syntax and semantics. They describe arguments for and against compositionality in natural language, and lastly consider possible problems for compositionality and propose some solutions. Engelberg covers the basic motivations behind decomposition, and then reviews the major phenomena that decomposition is said to explain. He gives a brief history of interest in and study of decomposition, followed by a collection of areas of empirical weakness. Finally, he looks at several major theoretical issues surrounding decomposition.
The next section contains four chapters on the history of semantics: ''Meaning in pre-19th century thought'' (chapter 8, Stephan Meier-Oeser), ''The emergence of linguistic semantics in the 19th and early 20th century'' (chapter 9, Brigitte Nerlich), ''The influence of logic on semantics'' (chapter 10, Albert Newen and Bernhard Schröder), and ''Formal semantics and representationalism'' (chapter 11, Ruth Kempson). Meier-Oeser considers theories of meaning in the western tradition from antiquity to the 19th century, including the contributions of Plato, Aristotle, the Stoics, Augustinus, Boethius, Abelard, Bacon, Hobbes, the Port-Royal Grammarians, Locke, Leibniz, and Condillac. He also discusses several major concepts of meaning and how they have been approached, including the 'significatio', the proposition, suppositions, speculative grammar, comprehension vs. extension, and symbolic knowledge. Nerlich traces the beginnings of linguistic semantics from the 19th through the early 20th century. She gives a picture of the emergence of the study of semantics from its roots in Germany, France, and Great Britain. She discusses, in turn, the traditions of semantics in each: in Germany especially Reisig, Steinthal, and Paul; in France Bréal, Littré, and Darmesteter; and in Britain Locke, Trench, Tooke, Stewart, and Smart. Newen and Schröder examine the importance of logic to the development of modern linguistic semantics, and of semantics to the tools of logic. Their discussion includes descriptions of the main contributions of pre-Fregeans Aristotle, Leibniz, and Abelard; of Frege's predicate logic, Russell's work on types and definite descriptions, Carnap's ideas about possible worlds, and Quine's contributions to our understanding of propositional attitudes. They then discuss type theory, generalized quantifiers, intensions and types, and anaphora and Dynamic Predicate Logic. Kempson reviews the development of semantics during and after the shift to a concern for formally characterizing the grammars of natural language. She surveys the changing goals and understandings of representationalist accounts. She introduces some concepts of logic that formal semantics was built upon. She describes the responses to the issues of context dependence presented by dynamic semantics, then the contributions of proof theory to semanticists' efforts. Finally she presents some tools from Dynamic Syntax and shows how they may be used to represent and understand meaning building in language.
The next section, ''Methods in semantic research,'' includes four chapters: ''Varieties of semantic evidence'' (chapter 12, Manfred Krifka), ''Methods in cross-linguistic semantics (chapter 13, Lisa Matthewson), ''Formal methods in semantics'' (chapter 14, Alice G.B. ter Meulen, and ''The application of experimental methods in semantics'' (chapter 15, Oliver Bott, Sam Featherston, Janina Radó, and Britta Stolterfoht). Krifka treats the types of evidence semanticists have for meanings in language -- how meaning is reflected in observable ways. Krifka first discusses a few ideas of (whether and) how we know that meaning exists, and how we can access and discuss it. He explores techniques for eliciting and dealing with meaning in semantic fieldwork (widely construed), then reviews some major behavioral effects found in semantic processing, and a few known effects on physiology brought out by such processing. Finally, he briefly discusses methods that use corpora.Matthewson takes up studying semantics cross-linguistically, with emphasis on discovering semantic universals and parameters. She discusses major strategies for obtaining semantic data. Next she considers what it means to be a semantic universal for typologists and semanticists, and the examines the concept of abstractness in universals. Then she looks at how to find semantic universals and surveys some proposed universals. She concludes with discussion of (restrictions on) variation in cross-linguistic semantics. Ter Meulen surveys ways in which formal methods have been used to understand meaning in natural language. She discusses first order logic, proofs and the components of formal systems, semantic models and validity, and possibilities for combining proof-theoretic and model-theoretic analyses. She then looks at some examples of formal methods that have been applied to the study of linguistic semantics, followed by examples of semantic methods developed for first order logic. Bott, Featherston, Radó, and Stolterfoht argue that experimental methods and evidence gathered from them can inform our understanding of meaning and our theories about it. The authors first discuss the major ''stumbling blocks'' to experimental work in semantics, and illustrate several experimental methods with questions about quantifier scope. They conclude that semantics can benefit greatly from further experimental evidence.
The next section contains seven chapters focusing on lexical semantics: ''Semantic features and primes'' (chapter 16, Manfred Bierwisch), ''Frameworks of lexical decomposition of verbs'' (chapter 17, Stefan Engelberg), ''Thematic roles'' (chapter 18, Anthony R. Davis), ''Lexical Conceptual Structure'' (chapter 19, Beth Levin and Malka Rappaport Hovav), ''Idioms and collocations'' (chapter 20, Christiane Fellbaum), ''Sense relations'' (chapter 21, Ronnie Cann), and ''Dual oppositions in lexical meaning'' (chapter 22, Sebastian Löbner). Bierwisch's chapter on semantic features and primes distinguishes three types of primes. He begins with background assumptions behind the concepts, then discusses possible forms for semantic features. He discusses the types that we must have for primitives, and discusses the interpretation and interpretability of various kinds of features. Engelberg traces the development of theories of lexical decomposition through various frameworks, considering their origins, basic ideas, explanatory power, and impact. He reviews Generative Semantics, Dowty's theory of Montague Semantics (Dowty 1972) and Jackendoff's (1983) 'Conceptual Semantics'. Then he looks at Lexical Conceptual Structure decompositions before turning to a discussion of the Event Structure Theory of Pustejovsky (1988), Two-level-Semantics (the work of Bierwisch, Lang, and Wunderlich), and Natural Semantic Metalanguage (Wierzbicka and Goddard). Finally he turns to Hale & Keyser's (1993) Lexical Relational Structures, and lastly Distributed Morphology (Halle & Marantz 1993). Davis' chapter on thematic roles considers the way thematic roles have been defined in model-theoretic semantics. He discusses the idea of 'thematic role uniqueness' and the debate about how broad or fine-grained thematic roles should be. He also reviews inventories and hierarchies proposed for thematic roles, presents examples of analyses using structures or features, and considers approaches to argument realization. Levin and Rappaport Hovav discuss Lexical Conceptual Structure, describing how LCSs came into linguistic theory and the components of LCSs. They examine the issue of deciding on semantic primitives, and illustrate arguments for particular (sets of) primitives. They also discuss more recent lines of research on event structure that assume subevents in decompositions of predicates. Fellbaum discusses several issues surrounding idioms and collocations, bringing in corpus data from English and German. She draws a distinction between 'collocation', 'collocations', and 'idioms', and then discusses various properties of idioms. Then she briefly discusses idioms as constructions, how idioms change diachronically, and what we have learned about idioms through psycholinguistic research. Cann examines the major sense relations and their connections to theories of word meaning. He distinguishes between paradigmatic relations and syntagmatic relations, and defines and discusses hyponomy, synonymy, antonymy, and meronymy. Then he looks at syntagmatic relations, found in idioms and grammatical but nonsensical sentences, and considers how these relations lead to better understanding of word meaning. He concludes that while sense relations are ''good descriptive devices'' (477), their relation to word meaning is far from clear. Löbner considers various two-way oppositions found in studies of lexical meaning, introducing ''duality groups'' or ''squares'' and showing that their members are lexicalized very asymmetrically. He then argues that this asymmetry can be understood if we take these squares to be examples of 'phase quantification'.
The next section addresses questions of ambiguity and vagueness with ''Ambiguity and vagueness: An overview'' (chapter 23, Christopher Kennedy), ''Semantic underspecification'' (chapter 24, Markus Egg), ''Mismatches and coercion'' (chapter 25, Henriëtte de Swart), and ''Metaphors and metonymies'' (chapter 26, Andrea Tyler and Hiroshi Takahashi). Kennedy introduces the topics of the section, making clear that ambiguity and vagueness are distinct empirically and in how they can be analyzed. He reviews varieties of and tests for ambiguity, and discusses several famous interactions between ambiguity and semantic theory. He then considers some challenges for our understanding of vagueness and describes four major approaches to vagueness. Egg reviews the types of ambiguity that are treatable with an underspecification analysis, and looks at several types of formal approaches to semantic underspecification. He considers several motivations for formalisms that use semantic underspecification, for underspecification and the syntax-semantics interface, and for the processing of underspecified representations in computational linguistics and psycholinguistics. De Swart examines type mismatches; of the three major explanations for how they are resolved (type raising, type shifting, and type coercion), she focuses on type coercion. After introducing enriched type theories, she discusses how type coercion works and what we know about comprehension type coercion. Then she looks at a particular set of instances of coercion involving aspect, and analyzes them in Discourse Representation Theory (DRT). Tyler and Takahashi close the section with a look at metaphor and metonymy. They first discuss traditional approaches to metaphor and figurative language, then present several pragmatic accounts of metaphor, beginning with Grice's take on the topics (1969/1989, 1975). They examine relevance-theoretic accounts, and psycholinguistic, cognitive, and conceptual accounts of metaphor and figurative language. The authors also briefly consider metonymy on its own, contrasting the traditional take with approaches from cognitive semantics that establish a separate analysis for it.
Section VI has six chapters on cognitively oriented approaches to semantics: ''Cognitive semantics: An overview'' (chapter 27, Leonard Talmy), ''Prototype theory'' (chapter 28, John R. Taylor), ''Frame Semantics'' (chapter 29, Jean Mark Gawron), ''Conceptual Semantics'' (chapter 30, Ray Jackendoff), ''Two-level Semantics: Semantic Form and Conceptual Structure'' (chapter 31, Ewald Lang and Claudia Maienborn), and ''Word meaning and world knowledge'' (chapter 32, Jerry R. Hobbs). Talmy introduces cognitive semantics by first contrasting the general approach of cognitive linguistics with formal/generative and psychological approaches. He examines the semantics of grammar, and looks at three ''schematic systems'' or conceptual structures made up of closed-class conceptual categories. He then presents three 'conceptual organizations' and discusses interactions among semantic structures. Taylor reviews prototype theory, discussing prototype effects found in linguistic and psychological research. He considers levels of categorization and the 'basic level', as well as categories in cultural contexts, prototypes vs. categories, and objections to prototypes. He briefly discusses how words relate to the things they describe, and gives an example of a place where prototype theory has been advantageous: the study of polysemy. Gawron reviews Frame Semantics, considering two properties of word meanings that make it difficult to systematically account for word meanings. Rather than focusing on one part of these meanings like many generative accounts, Frame Semantics (Fillmore 1975) considers linguistic meaning from the perspective of understanding a text. Gawron reviews its motivations and theoretical tools, and compares frames to relations and lexical fields. He works through word senses and their ability to evoke more than one frame, and concludes with lexicography and the use of frames in understanding discourse. Jackendoff discusses the framework of Conceptual Semantics ((Jackendoff 1983), Pinker (1989)). He cites two 'theoretical commitments' of Conceptual Semantics and reviews the framework's commitment to mentalism, then compares it briefly to other frameworks. He introduces the concepts of Conceptual Structure and Spatial Structure. and discusses issues of compositionality and Conceptual Semantics' recent version, 'Enriched Composition'. Lang and Maienborn's chapter focuses on 'Two-level Semantics', which makes use of two levels of representation: the Semantic Form (SF) and the Conceptual Structure (CS). The authors give Two-level Semantics' basic assumptions and discuss some of the aims and limitations of the framework, demonstrating how it deals with polysemy, compositionality, and inferences in spatial cognition. The section closes with Hobb on word meaning and world knowledge in relation to cognitive semantics. Hobb's approach is to formalize conceptual frameworks and then use these formalizations to define words. He presents several core 'abstract theories' and examines how to link word meaning to these theories. He also considers the senses of words found in two sources, WordNet and FrameNet.
Section VII examines three theories of sentence semantics in ''Model-theoretic semantics'' (chapter 33, Thomas Ede Zimmerman), ''Event semantics'' (chapter 34, Claudia Maienborn), and ''Situation semantics and the ontology of natural language'' (chapter 35, Jonathan Ginzburg). Zimmerman provides an overview of model-theoretic semantics. He discusses truth-conditional semantics for background and motivation before turning to possible worlds semantics. He considers the basics of Logical Space or possible worlds (extensions, characteristic functions, the concepts of vastness and detail, and intensions). He then discusses model-theoretic semantics from a more specifically mathematical/set-theoretic perspective, and makes a few notes about variants of model-theoretic semantics. Maienborn reviews major topics in event semantics, from Davidson (1967) to Neo-Davidsonianism to Kratzer (1995). She first discusses the basic ideas of and motivations behind Davidson's account, as well as the ontological status of events. Then she turns to the 'Neo-Davidsonian paradigm' and examines the possibility of a decompositional approach to event semantics, before turning the stage-level/individual-level distinction and the status of states in event semantics. Ginzburg takes up Situation Semantics, beginning with Barwise & Perry (1983) and what it means to have a situation-based ontology. He then turns to empirical motivations for bringing situations into semantic theory before looking at the introduction of propositions into situation semantics. He considers some recent work attempting to extend the approach to account for a larger set of data than the original proposals, and other work that aims to integrate type-theoretical notions, using tools from Type Theory with Records (TTR).
The final section examines four theories of discourse semantics in ''Situation semantics: From indexicality to metacommunicative interaction'' (chapter 36, Jonathan Ginzburg), ''Discourse Representation Theory'' (chapter 37, Hans Camp and Uwe Reyle), ''Dynamic semantics'' (chapter 38, Paul Dekker), and ''Rhetorical relations'' (chapter 39, Henk Zeevat). Ginzburg begins with a second contribution about Situation Semantics, this time focusing on interpretation of the utterance rather than of the sentence. He focuses on Barwise and Perry's work, laying out their desiderata for semantics, and discusses empirical data from spoken language that suggest the benefits of a semantics focused on utterances and dialogue as a whole. He also reviews three frameworks used in Situation Semantics: Discourse Representation Theory (DRT), PTT, and KoS. Kamp and Reyle review DRT. They discuss its origins in the analysis of tense in French, and work through a problem that was part of DRT's empirical motivation. They show how Discourse Representation Structures (DRSs) are built and how they work, then describe issues surrounding presupposition and binding. They also discuss the status of the lexicon in the theory, direct reference, and several extensions and implementations of DRT. Dekker introduces dynamic semantics, its theoretical background and empirical motivations, then briefly looks at DRT. He describes the workings of Dynamic Predicate Logic (Groenendijk & Stokhof 1991) and considers its approaches to binding and truth and entailment. He then reviews three subject areas that are typical in dynamic approaches. Last is Zeevat's chapter on rhetorical relations, including Rhetorical Structure Theory, the Linguistic Discourse Model, Interpretation by Abduction, and Structured Discourse Representation Theory. He looks at why we should study rhetorical relations in the first place, which rhetorical relations we should assume, and what rhetorical relations relate. He then looks at several applications of rhetorical relations, closing with a discussion of directions for the study of rhetorical relations.
EVALUATION This handbook is an excellent, broad collection of new papers on the history and current state of semantics. The editors lay out several overall goals in the preface. First, they aim to ''discuss the foundations and methodology of semantics'' (vii). This they certainly do, with three sections (15 chapters) on the foundations, history, and methods of semantics. Their next goal is to ''introduce important theoretical frameworks and theoretical issues'' (vii). This goal is clearly met in Volume 1, as a number of frameworks and theories, as well as major theoretical issues, are addressed. For many theories and frameworks that are not explicitly discussed, authors provide references to major works in the area. The editors also aim to ''cover a wide variety of specific topics and phenomena of natural language meaning'' (vii). Judging from the listed contents of Volume 2, this goal will be addressed primarily there. However, several major phenomena are also addressed in this volume. Finally, the editors aim to ''explore the relationship between semantics and other fields, both within linguistics and outside'' (vii). This will certainly be addressed in Volume 3, but it is also accomplished to some extent here, as a number of authors reference important work in related fields.
This volume would be a valuable resource for several audiences. Especially combined with its sister volumes, it would be particularly useful as a reference for both emerging and established semanticists, as it covers many essential topics all in one place, and incorporates various theoretical orientations, frameworks, etc. The authors assume that their readers have some knowledge of linguistics and meaning, but each chapter stands on its own in terms of providing the necessary background and details of the topic and theoretical approach. The volume as a whole has great breadth of coverage, but individual chapters also display significant depth and insight into their focused topics. Because of this, the volume would be excellent for a researcher to have on hand for those times when she is beginning a new direction of research and is in search of more literature on the topic, or needs to review a topic, framework, or theory she does not usually investigate. The volume would also be valuable for instructors of semantics-related material, either within linguistics or in a related field such as philosophy or cognitive science.
The volume is intuitively and helpfully organized. Each chapter begins with a list of contents and an abstract. Chapters are divided into sections depending on subject matter, and most are clearly and helpfully organized. Many chapters also reference other works in the same volume or one of the other two volumes. The volume as a whole is fairly coherent. Chapters vary as to whether they have a concluding section, but this is generally not an issue since each chapter begins with an abstract. The references sections at the end of each chapter are well populated and useful. The volume's extensive coverage is a positive trait, but the lack of an index makes it less useful for individuals pursuing a particular phenomenon or subtopic. This does not detract greatly from the usefulness of the volume, however.
The breadth of content is impressive. A number of major frameworks and theories are represented, and many others are well-referenced. The inclusion of foundational and historical chapters is appreciated, as this information is often not readily available in concise form. It is also useful to have summaries of major theories in lexical, formal generative, cognitively-oriented, and discourse-oriented semantics brought together in one place; many chapters mention related work in pragmatics. Several chapters helpfully raise questions for further research or point out areas that still need to be addressed. Several bits of content are repeated across chapters, and numerous classic examples are seen multiple times. This is perhaps more or less positive depending on how the volume is used. For example, if one is reading it all together, having the same basic information about Frege and Montague in multiple places is not necessarily helpful. However, if a single chapter is referenced, it is good to have this information wherever it is necessary. Likewise, the classic examples of the morning star and the evening star, or the ''ham sandwich'' at the restaurant, are good to repeat if the reader will only be looking at one or two chapters that use the examples; however, it might be useful to include a bit more innovation in the examples (perhaps the new examples could be included after reference to the classics).
One already useful area, the section on methods, might be expanded upon by the time of the next edition. As more semantic research is done in field and experimental situations, there will be even more to say about these topics. Another place for expansion would be the amount of cross-linguistic data, as this is often a good starting point for expansion of research.
Another area for improvement is the notable number of typos: missing punctuation marks, conspicuously misspelled words, and places where a needed word is missing altogether. A few mistakes of this nature might be expected in nearly 1000 pages, but they are numerous.
Overall, this is a fine collection of work combining past and present perspectives on semantics and its intellectual neighbors, as well as suggesting new lines of research. It would be a valuable addition to the library of any semanticist or meaning theorist.
REFERENCES
Bar-Hillel, Yehoshua 1954. Indexical expressions. Mind 63, 359-379.
Barwise, Jon & John Perry 1983. Situations and Attitudes. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press.
Brentano, Frantz 1874/1911/1973. Psychology from an Empirical Standpoint. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul.
Davidson, Donald 1967. The logical form of action sentences. In: N. Rescher (ed.). Essays in Honor of Carl G. Hempel. Dordrecht: Reidel, 216-234. Reprinted in: D. Davidson (ed.). Essays on Actions and Events. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1980, 163-180.
Dowty, David R. 1972. Studies in the Logic of Verb Aspect and Time Reference in English. Ph.D. dissertation. University of Texas, Austin.
Fillmore, Charles J. 1975. An alternative to checklist theories of meaning. In: C. Cogen et al. (eds.). Proceedings of the First Annual Meeting of the Berkeley Linguistics Society. Berkeley, CA: Berkeley Linguistics Society, 123-131.
Frege, Gottlob 1892. Über Sinn und Bedeutung. Zeitschrift für Philosophie und philosophische Kritik, 25-50. English Translation in: P. Geach & M. Black (eds.). Translations from the Philosophical Writings of Gottlob Frege. Oxford: Blackwell, 1980, 56-78.
Grice, H. Paul 1957. Meaning. Philosophical Review 66, 377-388.
Grice, H. Paul 1969. Utterer's meaning and intentions. Philosophical Review 78, 147-177. Reprinted in: H.P. Grice. Studies in the Way of Words. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1989, 86-116.
Grice, H. Paul 1975. Logic and conversation. In: P. Cole & J.L. Morgan (eds.). Syntax and Semantics 3: Speech Acts. New York: Academic Press, 41-58.
Groenendijk, Jeroen & Martin Stokhof 1991. Dynamic Predicate Logic. Linguistics & Philosophy 14, 39-100.
Hale, Ken & Samuel Jay Keyser 1993. On argument structure and the syntactic expression of lexical relations.
Halle, Morris & Alec Marantz 1993. Distributed Morphology and the pieces of inflection. In: K. Hale & S.J. Keyser (eds.). The View from Building 20. Essays in Honor of Sylvain Bromberger. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press, 111-176.
Jackendoff, Ray 1983. Semantics and Cognition. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press.
Kaplan, David 1989. Demonstratives: An essay on the semantics, logic, metaphysics, and epistemology of demonstratives and other indexicals. In: J. Almog, J. Perry & H. Wettstein (eds.). Themes from Kaplan. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 481-563.
Krazter, Angelika 1995. Stage-level and individual-level predicates. In: G.N. Carlson & F.J. Peletier (eds.). The Generic Book. Chicago, IL: The University of Chicago Press, 125-175.
Kripke, Saul 1979. A puzzle about belief. In: A. Margalit (ed.). Meaning and Use. Dordrecht: Reidel, 139-183.
Pinker, Stephen 1989. Learnability and Cognition. The Acquisition of Argument Structure. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press.
Pustejovsky, James 1988. The geometry of events. In: C. Tenny (ed.). Studies in Generative Approaches to Aspect. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press, 19-39.
Russell, Bertrand 1905. On denoting. Mind 14, 479-493.
ABOUT THE REVIEWER
|
|
ABOUT THE REVIEWER:
Sylvia Reed recently completed her Ph.D. in linguistics at the University
of Arizona. Her dissertation focuses on the semantics of grammatical
aspect, drawing data primarily from Scottish Gaelic. Her main research
interests lie in the semantics and morphosyntax of aspect, tense, mood, and
modality; language description and documentation; and theoretical and
experimental morphology. |
|
|