Language and Logics
An Introduction to the Logical Foundations of Language
Published on 8. July 2015
Book
Paperback/Softback
328 pages
978-0-7486-9163-0 (ISBN)
Description
Taking linguistics students beyond the classical forms often taught in introductory courses, Language and Logics offers a comprehensive introduction to the wide variety of useful non-classical logics that are commonly used in research.
Including a brief review of classical logic and its major assumptions, this textbook provides a guided tour of modal, many valued and substructural logics. The textbook starts from simple and intuitive concepts, clearly explaining the logics of language for linguistics students who have little previous knowledge of logic or mathematics. Issues are presented and discussed clearly before going on to introduce symbolic notation.
While not avoiding technical detail, the book focuses throughout on helping students develop an intuitive understanding of the field, with particular attention to conceptual questions and to the tailoring of logical systems to thinking about different applications in linguistics and beyond. This is an ideal introductory volume for advanced undergraduates and beginning postgraduate students in linguistics, and for those specializing in semantics.
Including a brief review of classical logic and its major assumptions, this textbook provides a guided tour of modal, many valued and substructural logics. The textbook starts from simple and intuitive concepts, clearly explaining the logics of language for linguistics students who have little previous knowledge of logic or mathematics. Issues are presented and discussed clearly before going on to introduce symbolic notation.
While not avoiding technical detail, the book focuses throughout on helping students develop an intuitive understanding of the field, with particular attention to conceptual questions and to the tailoring of logical systems to thinking about different applications in linguistics and beyond. This is an ideal introductory volume for advanced undergraduates and beginning postgraduate students in linguistics, and for those specializing in semantics.
Reviews / Votes
Logical methods in the study of language have tended to be the preserve of research level literature. In this book Howard Gregory opens the field to the interested student in a steady progression which is both precise and comprehensive, providing a valuable road-map to logical linguistics -- Glyn Morrill, Universitat Politecnica de Catalunya Language and Logics is probably the most comprehensive textbook in Logics and Linguistics to date. One of the many undoubted merits of the book is that the range of logical topics is wide enough to cover all a linguistic student needs to know about logic(s). This book takes the reader well beyond elementary logic... Presents a wealth of logical material in a clear way. -- Christian Bassac, Universite de Lyon2 * Cercles * To sum up, this book is a suitable source for undergraduates (and not only in linguistics) to get a general picture about the field of modern non-classical logics, which can serve as a background for further more advanced readings. The last part of the book is the most relevant to the linguistic issues, handling such topics as substructural logics and categorical grammar. The chapter about combinatorial logic is of especial importance, since it in effect summaries and coordinates the material from the previous chapters. -- Yaroslav Shramko, Kryvyi Rih * Zentralblatt Math *More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
Edinburgh
United Kingdom
Target group
College/higher education
Illustrations
24 black and white line art
Dimensions
Height: 234 mm
Width: 156 mm
Weight
506 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-7486-9163-0 (9780748691630)
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Schweitzer Classification
Person
Howard Gregory obtained his PhD in linguistics from the School of Oriental and African Studies in London, specializing in the interdisciplinary area of Language, Logic and Information. He was Lecturer in the Department of English Linguistics at the University of Goettingen from 2002-2009 and has taught in several countries in Europe and Asia. His research interests include grammatical relations, comparative linguistics, logic programming, ellipsis and dialogue modelling, and linguistic applications of relevance logic.
Content
This series covers core topics that form substantial and identifiable parts of Linguistics degree courses as taught in the later years of undergraduate study. Each volume provides an in-depth introduction to a particular linguistic subdiscipline, while also engaging with recent research on the subject.
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