Springer Modern Perspectives in Type-Theoretical Semantics: 98 (Studies in Linguistics and Philosophy, 98)

This book is a collective volume that reports the state of the art in the applications of type theory to linguistic semantics. The volume fills a 20 year gap from the last published book on the issue and aspires to bring researchers closer to cutting edge alternatives in formal semantics research. It consists of unpublished work by some key researchers on various issues related to the type theoretical study of formal semantics and further exemplifies the advantages of using modern type theoretical approaches to linguistic semantics. Themes that are covered include modern developments of type theories in formal semantics, foundational issues in linguistic semantics like anaphora, modality and plurals, innovational interdisciplinary research like the introduction of probability theory to type theories as well as computational implementations of type theoretical approaches. This volume will be of great interest to formal semanticists that are looking for alternative ways to study linguistic semantics, but will also be of interest to theoretical computer scientists and mathematicians that are interested in the applications of type theory. Review “The papers of this collection illustrate how grammar-as-logic paradigms can be extended to match the rich expressivity of natural language, making use of Martin-Lӧf’s Type Theory, with its dramatically liberal concept of dependent typing. The authors vividly  demonstrate  the excitement of this research frontier, taking different sides in controversies such as:  whether the underlying form of explanation  should be semantic (model-theoretic) or syntactic (proof-theoretic);  how to model the shifting nature of lexical content within a formal grammar;  in what way such explanations should reflect the dynamics of language in use; with  due care  taken to  provide the  background needed for  the general reader to get a sense of   why these disputes remain of  foundational importance.  This volume is thus a must both for anyone interested in following current disputes in formal/computational linguistics, and for advanced linguistics students.” (Ruth Kempson, Emeritus Professor of Linguistics, King’s College London, UK) From the Back Cover This book is a collective volume that reports the state of the art in the applications of type theory to linguistic semantics. The volume fills a 20 year gap from the last published book on the issue and aspires to bring researchers closer to cutting edge alternatives in formal semantics research. It consists of unpublished work by some key researchers on various issues related to the type theoretical study of formal semantics and further exemplifies the advantages of using modern type theoretical approaches to linguistic semantics. Themes that are covered include modern developments of type theories in formal semantics, foundational issues in linguistic semantics like anaphora, modality and plurals, innovational interdisciplinary research like the introduction of probability theory to type theories as well as computational implementations of type theoretical approaches. This volume will be of great interest to formal semanticists that are looking for alternative ways to study linguistic semantics, but will also be of interest to theoretical computer scientists and mathematicians that are interested in the applications of type theory.