Elements of Formal Semantics

Reviews / Votes

Elements of Formal Semantics has several notable assets: it is formally careful and deliberate, as thorough as any logic textbook; it has a lot of varied and well-thought-out exercises (including practice exercises with solutions); a Conclusions chapter containing references on a number of phenomena (adjectives, definiteness, plurality, tense and aspect) students can extend the formal foundation to; and, at the end of each chapter, a Further Reading section that cites innovative, contemporary research articles as well as historical sources and other textbooks. As a result, it is a very versatile book, useful as a primary textbook, as a secondary textbook for more advanced or formally inclined students, or as a source of supplementary formal definitions and exercises. -- Jessica Rett, UCLA * Glossa * One of the major pros of this book is its wealth of exercises, many of which are supplied with solutions, at the end of each chapter. Some are technical and others are more advanced, and many of these are singled out as introducing new notions not addressed in the text. -- Journal of Logic Language and Information * Kjell Johan Saebo, University of Oslo * Winter presents the semantics of language in a manner that practically shows that logic originates in language, and is not just applied to language. Due to this manner of presentation, the current book can be treated as a modern continuation of the book by van Fraassen [Formal Semantics and Logic, 1971]. Therefore, the current book is and will be interesting to students of logic, especially undergraduates in mathematical logic, alongside the students and researchers in linguistics who, probably, were the book's intended audience. -- Ioachim Mihai Drugus * MathSciNet * An excellent introduction to the subject, both as a textbook and as background reading for students who find themselves exposed to more advanced parts of semantics. I haven't seen the foundations of formal semantics explained more clearly, more cleanly and more elegantly anywhere before. Professor Hans Kamp, University of Stuttgart -- Professor Hans Kamp