Philosophy of Syntax (eBook)

Foundational Topics

Mieszko Talasiewicz (Autor)

eBook Download: PDF

2009
VI, 189 Seiten
Springer Netherlands (Verlag)
978-90-481-3288-1 (ISBN)

Infos

Since 1970-ties in the theory of syntax of natural language quite a number of competing, incommensurable theoretic frameworks have emerged. Today the lack of a leading paradigm and kaleidoscope of perspectives deprives our general understanding of syntax and its relation to semantics and pragmatics. The present book is an attempt to reestablish the most fundamental ideas and intuitions of syntactic well-formedness within a new general account. The account is not supposed to compete with any of today's syntactic frameworks, but to provide a deeper understanding of why these frameworks succeed or fail when they do and to show a new way for cooperation between logicians and linguists which may lead in future to a unified, yet more specific account.

---

Abstract In the chapter some preliminary methodological issues are discussed, including the demarcation between logic and linguistics and the shortcomings of empirical base of the theory of syntax. An epistemological approach to language is sketched out and a need for the proper balance between logical aspects of natural language and vernacular usage is claimed crucial for any reliable theory of syntax and - mantics. Learnability and efficiency are presented as the most important c- straints to be imposed upon a logical analysis of language. Keywords Linguistics, Logic, Methodology, Natural Language 1. 1 Epistemological Background of the Problem of Syntax Among central questions of epistemology two are the most fundamental: how language is related to the reality that we talk about in this language, and how one can rationally learn what this reality is like. Let us label these questions resp- tively 'the question of reference' and 'the question of method'. Certainly these two are very closely interconnected. Perhaps some solution to the problem of r- erence would solve the problem of method: the way in which language refers to reality would tell us how to verify the sentences of this language. But in general it can be otherwise. Equally imaginable is the case that we know what (e. g. which possible states of affairs) our sentences refer to but we do not know (scil. we c- not rationally justify our belief in this respect), whether they are true (scil.

Inhalt

CONTENTS 6
1 INTRODUCTION 8
1.1 Epistemological Background of the Problem of Syntax 8
1.2 Language of Logic and Language of Linguistics 9
1.2.1 The ‘Haughtiness’ of Logic 12
1.2.2 The ‘Pretentiousness’ of Linguistics 14
1.3 Towards a General Perspective 19
2 SYNTAX 24
2.1 The Functoriality Principle 24
2.1.1 Three Levels of FP 25
2.1.2 Terminology 27
2.1.3 Preliminary Characteristic of FP Levels 28
2.1.4 Definition of Semantic Category 31
2.2 Fundamental Intuitons: Postulates and Controversies 32
2.2.1 Interchangeability Principle 32
2.2.2 Division into Basic and Non-basic Categories 40
2.2.3 Syntax-Semantics Interface 45
2.2.4 Atomicity Principle, Categories and Types 57
2.3 Some Consequences of the Functoriality Principle 64
2.3.1 Functoriality and Compositionality 64
2.3.2 Intralinguistic Definition of Syntactic Operations 66
3 SEMANTICS 74
3.1 Some Technical and Logical Problems with Ostension 74
3.2 Names 78
3.2.1 The Definition of Ostensive Meaning 79
3.2.3 Public Language and Private Language 84
3.2.4 Compound Names: Natural Kinds and Appearance Concepts 86
3.2.5 Analycity and Quasi-Ostension 91
3.3 Sentences 95
3.3.1 Standard Theory of Situations 97
3.3.2 Ostensive Meaning of a Sentence 102
3.3.3 Non Ostensive Meaning of a Sentence 104
3.3.4 Meanings Versus Semantic Correlates 107
3.3.5 Situations and Truth-Conditions: Boolean Compounds and Quantification 112
3.3.7 Nominalization: Events Versus Propositions 115
3.3.8 Hints for Analysis of Intensional Contexts 121
4 CATEGORIAL ANALYSIS 123
4.1 Problem of Logical Form (LF) 123
4.1.1 Logical Form and Stratification of Syntactic Structures 123
4.1.2 Logical Form and Traditional Grammar 125
4.1.3 Natural Technical Language: Normal Contexts 127
4.2 Principles of Analysis 130
4.2.1 Paraphrase Acceptability Criteria 130
4.2.2 Categorical and Facultative Rules 131
4.2.3 Syntactic Ambiguity: Amphiboly and Alternation 135
4.3 Details of Categorial Analysis 142
4.3.1 Notation and Technical Assumptions 142
4.3.2 Examples 157
5 CONCLUSION 172
REFERENCES 182
NAME INDEX 187
SUBJECT INDEX 190

Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 12.11.2009
• Reihe/Serie: Trends in Logic
• Reihe/Serie: Trends in Logic
• Zusatzinfo: VI, 189 p.
• Verlagsort: Dordrecht
• Sprache: englisch
• Themenwelt: Geisteswissenschaften ► Philosophie ► Erkenntnistheorie / Wissenschaftstheorie
• Themenwelt: Geisteswissenschaften ► Philosophie ► Logik
• Themenwelt: Geisteswissenschaften ► Philosophie ► Sprachphilosophie
• Themenwelt: Geisteswissenschaften ► Sprach- / Literaturwissenschaft ► Sprachwissenschaft
• Themenwelt: Sozialwissenschaften
• Schlagworte: categorial analysis • categorial grammar • Gottlob Frege • Index • language • logical form • natural language • Pragmatics • present • Semantic • Semantics • situation semantics • syntactic • Syntax • theory of syntax
• ISBN-10: 90-481-3288-6 / 9048132886
• ISBN-13: 978-90-481-3288-1 / 9789048132881