What is Meaning?

Fundamentals of Formal Semantics

Portner, Paul H.

Fundamentals of Linguistics

1. Edition December 2004
246 Pages, Softcover
Wiley & Sons Ltd

ISBN: 978-1-4051-0918-5

John Wiley & Sons

Short Description

Further versions

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

1. The Fundamental Question.

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

"An excellent book for advanced undergraduates and beginning graduate students. Portner's approachable, yet serious, presentation gives the reader a firm understanding of the breadth and depth of the science of natural language meaning." Kai von Fintel, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Paul H. Portner is Associate Professor of Linguistics and Director of the Interdisciplinary Program in Cognitive Science at Georgetown University. He is co-editor of Formal Semantics: The Essential Readings (with Barbara H. Partee, Blackwell, 2002) as well as the author of numerous articles on topics such as mood and modality, tense and aspect, and the syntax/semantics interface.