What is Meaning?
Fundamentals of Formal Semantics
Fundamentals of Linguistics

1. Edition December 2004
248 Pages, Hardcover
Wiley & Sons Ltd
What is Meaning? Fundamentals of Formal Semantics is a
concise introduction to the field of semantics as it is actually
practiced. Through simple examples, pictures, and metaphors, Paul
Portner presents the field's key ideas about how language
works.
* Explains the fundamental ideas and some of the most significant
results of modern semantic theory
* Combines foundational discussion with simplified analyses of
complex phenomena to provide readers with a sense of the
fascination to be found in the details of the human language
* Includes exercises and thought-provoking questions to
facilitate learning
2. Putting a meaning together from pieces.
3. More about predicates.
4. Modifiers.
5. Complexities of referring expressions.
6. Quantifiers.
7. Extensional vs. intensional contexts.
8. Tense, aspect, and modality.
9. Propositional attitudes.
10. The pragmatics of what's given.
11. The pragmatics of Inference.
12. Formal Semantics Today.
Appendix: Answers to selected exercises.
References.
Index