
Logics of Conversation
Cambridge University Press
Published on 30. June 2005
Book
Paperback/Softback
552 pages
978-0-521-65951-2 (ISBN)
Description
People often mean more than they say. Grammar on its own is typically insufficient for determining the full meaning of an utterance; the assumption that the discourse is coherent or 'makes sense' has an important role to play in determining meaning as well. Logics of Conversation presents a dynamic semantic framework called Segmented Discourse Representation Theory, or SDRT, where this interaction between discourse coherence and discourse interpretation is explored in a logically precise manner. Combining ideas from dynamic semantics, commonsense reasoning and speech act theory, SDRT uses its analysis of rhetorical relations to capture intuitively compelling implicatures. It provides a computable method for constructing these logical forms and is one of the most formally precise and linguistically grounded accounts of discourse interpretation currently available. The book will be of interest to researchers and students in linguistics and in philosophy of language.
Reviews / Votes
'This study presents a dynamic semantic framework called Segmented Discourse Representation Theory ... where the interaction between discourse coherence and discourse interpretation is explored in a logically precise manner.' Studia LogicaMore details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
Cambridge
United Kingdom
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Illustrations
Worked examples or Exercises
Dimensions
Height: 244 mm
Width: 170 mm
Thickness: 30 mm
Weight
941 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-521-65951-2 (9780521659512)
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Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions

Nicholas Asher | Alex Lascarides
Logics of Conversation
Book
06/2003
Cambridge University Press
€68.09
Article exhausted; check for reprint
Previous edition

Nicholas Asher | Alex Lascarides
Logics of Conversation
Book
06/2003
Cambridge University Press
€68.09
Article exhausted; check for reprint
Persons
Nicholas Asher is Professor of Philosophy and of Linguistics at the University of Texas at Austin. His research interests include formal semantics and pragmatics, discourse processing and various topics in philosophical logic. He has published over eighty articles and is the author of Reference to Abstract Objects in Discourse (1993). Alex Lascarides is Reader in the Division of Informatics at the University of Edinburgh. Her research interests include theoretical and computational linguistics, particularly semantics, pragmatics and discourse processing. She has published over forty research articles.
Content
Preface; Acknowledgements; 1. Motivations; 2. Semantic models of discourse interpretation; 3. Pragmatic models of discourse interpretation; 4. The logical form of discourse; 5. Building logical forms for discourse; 6. The lexicon and discourse structure; 7. Discourse relations for dialogue; 8. Disputes in dialogue; 9. Cognitive modelling; 10. Some concluding remarks: A. Objections and replies; B. Notation index; C. The semantics of DRT; D. Glossary of discourse relations; E. Summary of discourse update; F. Some proofs in the glue logic; References; Indexes.