Introduction to Semantics (eBook)

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Thomas Ede Zimmermann, Goethe University Frankfurt; Wolfgang Sternefeld, University of Tübingen.

Preface 5
1 Literal Meaning 11
1 Hidden Sense 11
2 Irony and Implicature 14
3 The Way You Say It 16
4 Difficult Sentences 18
2 Lexical Semantics 22
1 What’s in a Word? 22
2 Homonymy and Polysemy 25
3 Sense Relations 28
4 Semantic Networks 30
3 Structural Ambiguity 35
1 Some Elementary Examples 35
2 Scope and Syntactic Domains 44
3 Syntactic Domains and Reconstruction 48
4 Logical Form 56
4.1 The LF Scope Principle 56
4.2 Quantifier Raising 58
4.3 Opaque and Transparent Readings 61
4.4 More Hidden Structure* 63
Summary 65
4 Introducing Extensions 68
1 Frege’s Principle 68
2 A Farewell to Psychologism 69
3 Extensions for Words and Phrases 72
3.1 Referential Expressions 72
3.2 Common Nouns 74
3.3 Functional Nouns 76
3.4 Verbs and Verb Phrases 80
4 Truth Values as Extensions of Sentences 82
5 Thematic Roles 85
5 Composing Extensions 93
1 Truth Tables 94
2 Referential Subjects and Objects 98
3 Sets and Set-Theoretic Notation 103
4 Referential Arguments and Functional Nouns 108
5 Analyzing Structural Ambiguities 114
5.1 Logical Connectives: and and or 114
5.2 Nominal Modification 118
5.3 Calculating an Attachment Ambiguity 121
5.4 Plural NPs* 123
6 Quantifiers 125
1 Determiners and Quantifiers 125
2 Names as Quantifiers 132
3 Type-Driven Interpretation 135
4 Quantifying DPs in Object Position* 139
4.1 Solution 1: Quantifier Raising 140
4.2 Solution 2: In Situ Interpretation 143
4.3 Discussion 145
5 The Verb to be 146
7 Propositions 148
1 Intensional Contexts 148
2 Cases and Propositions 149
3 Logical Space 153
4 Propositional Logic as the Logic of Propositions 155
4.1 Venn Diagrams and Truth Tables 155
4.2 Logical Connectives Revisited 160
4.3 Material Implication and Valid Inferences 165
5 Limits and Limitations of Propositional Logic 171
5.1 Beyond Truth Functionality 171
5.2 Exclusive or 175
5.3 Non-Clausal Connectives 178
8 Intensions 180
1 From Propositions to Intensions 180
2 Composing Intensions 183
3 Intensions and Sense Relations 187
4 Compositional vs. Lexical Semantics 191
5 Hintikka’s Attitudes 198
6 From Intension to Extension and Back Again 203
7 Tense, Time, and Logic* 209
9 Presuppositions 215
1 The Definite Article 215
2 More on Entailments and Truth Value Gaps 221
3 Presupposition and Assertion 228
4 Presupposition and Discourse 230
5 Accommodation 235
6 Presupposition Projection* 238
10 Compositional Variable Binding* 242
1 The Problem 242
2 Assignments 243
3 Interpreting Variable Binding 249
4 Compositionality 250
5 Predicate Logic 254
5.1 Basic Definitions 254
5.2 Some Variants and Alternatives 257
5.3 Predicate Logic and Compositionality 258
5.4 Validity, Logical Equivalence, and Entailment 259
6 The Lambda Operator 263
6.1 Predicate Logic with Lambda Terms 263
6.2 Beyond Predicate Logic 268
Solutions to the Exercises 272
References 289
Index 297