Informal Lectures on Formal Semantics

Download or read book Informal Lectures on Formal Semantics written by Emmon Bach and published by SUNY Press. This book was released on 1989-05-22 with total page 168 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book is an introduction to the current developments in model-theoretic semantics, which has become an essential part of the work in theoretical linguistics over the last decade. The author examines the model structure of Montague’s theory and then presents elaborations on this basic model that have been of particular importance in the last few years: generalized quantifiers, the introduction of more structure in the domain of individuals, properties as primitive elements in the model, situations and similar ‘smaller’ worldlike entities. Nothing is presupposed about knowledge of the mathematical and logical tools used in formal semantics, and Bach presents the informal with a minimum of formalism.