Our MIT Press Book
KNOWLEDGE OF MEANING–AN INTRODUCTION TO SEMANTIC THEORY
Current textbooks in formal semantics are all versions of or introductions to the same paradigm in semantic theory: Montague Grammar. Knowledge of Meaning is based on different assumptions and a different history. It provides the only introduction to truth-theoretic semantics for natural languages, fully integrating semantic theory into the modern Chomskyan program in linguistic theory and connecting linguistic semantics to research elsewhere in cognitive psychology and philosophy. As such, it better fits into a modern graduate or undergraduate program in linguistics, cognitive science, or philosophy. Furthermore, since the technical tools it employs are much simpler Knowledge of Meaning can be taught by someone who is not primarily a semanticist.
“…no one in recent decades has written a book of this magnitude about the semantics of natural language. Certainly nothing available today matches this volume in depth, precision, and coherence.”
—Zoltan Szabo, in The Philosophical Review (January 1997)
Contents
Preface.
Acknowledgements.
The Nature of Semantic Theory.
Knowledge of Meaning and Theories of Truth.
Meaning and Structure. Verbs and Predication. Proper Nouns and Reference.
Pronouns and Demonstratives.
Quantification. Quantifiers and Quantifier Properties.
Definite Descriptions.
Anaphora.
Clausal Complements and Attitude Reports.
Events.
States, and Times.
Meaning and Knowledge.
Notes.
References.
Author Index.
Subject Index.
About the Authors
LARSON, RICHARD
King’s College, London.
SEGAL, GABRIEL
King’s College, London.
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