Since the early work of Montague, Boolean semantics and its subfield of                  generalized quantifier theory have become the model-theoretic foundation for the                  study of meaning in natural languages. This book uses this framework to develop a                  new semantic theory of central linguistic phenomena involving coordination,                  plurality, and scope. The proposed theory makes use of the standard Boolean                  interpretation of conjunction, a choice-function account of indefinites, and a novel                  semantics of plurals that is not based on the distributive/collective distinction.                  The key to unifying these mechanisms is a version of Montagovian semantics that is                  augmented by flexibility principles: semantic operations that have no counterpart in                  phonology.This is the first book to cover these areas in a way that is both                  linguistically comprehensive and formally explicit. On one hand, it addresses                  questions of primarily linguistic concern: the semantic functions of words like and                  and or in different languages, the interpretation of indefinites and their scope,                  and the semantic typology of noun phrases and predicates. On the other hand, it                  addresses formal questions that are motivated by the treatment of these linguistic                  problems: the use of Boolean algebras in linguistics, the proper formalization of                  choice functions within generalized quantifier theory, and the extension of this                  theory to the domain of plurality. While primarily intended for readers with a                  background in theoretical linguistics, the book will also be of interest to                  researchers and advanced students in logic, computational linguistics, philosophy of                  language, and artificial intelligence.

Flexibility Principles in Boolean Semantics: The Interpretation of Coordination, Plurality, and Scope in Natural Language (Current Studies in Linguistics)

Flexibility Principles in Boolean Semantics: The Interpretation of Coordination, Plurality, and Scope in Natural Language (Current Studies in Linguistics) PDF

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