Continuations and Natural Language

Chris Barker (Professor and Chair in Linguistics, Professor and Chair in Linguistics, New York University),Chung-chieh Shan (Professor, School of Informatics and Computing, Professor, School of Informatics and Computing, Indiana University)

Continuations and Natural Language
Format
Hardback
Publisher
Oxford University Press
Country
United Kingdom
Published
29 November 2014
Pages
252
ISBN
9780199575015

Continuations and Natural Language

Chris Barker (Professor and Chair in Linguistics, Professor and Chair in Linguistics, New York University),Chung-chieh Shan (Professor, School of Informatics and Computing, Professor, School of Informatics and Computing, Indiana University)

This book takes concepts developed by researchers in theoretical computer science and adapts and applies them to the study of natural language meaning. Summarizing more than a decade of research, Chris Barker and Chung-chieh Shan put forward the Continuation Hypothesis: that the meaning of a natural language expression can depend on its own continuation. In Part I, the authors develop a continuation-based theory of scope and quantificational binding and provide an explanation for order sensitivity in scope-related phenomena such as scope ambiguity, crossover, superiority, reconstruction, negative polarity licensing, dynamic anaphora, and donkey anaphora. Part II outlines an innovative substructural logic for reasoning about continuations and proposes an analysis of the compositional semantics of adjectives such as ‘same’ in terms of parasitic and recursive scope. It also shows that certain cases of ellipsis should be treated as anaphora to a continuation, leading to a new explanation for a subtype of sluicing known as sprouting.The book makes a significant contribution to work on scope, reference, quantification, and other central aspects of semantics and will appeal to semanticists in linguistics and philosophy at graduate level and above.

This item is not currently in-stock. It can be ordered online and is expected to ship in approx 2 weeks

Our stock data is updated periodically, and availability may change throughout the day for in-demand items. Please call the relevant shop for the most current stock information. Prices are subject to change without notice.

Sign in or become a Readings Member to add this title to a wishlist.