Interpreted Languages and Compositionality
1st Edition
Published on 6. August 2011
X, 214 pages
978-94-007-2108-1 (ISBN)
Description
This book argues that languages are composed of sets of 'signs', rather than 'strings'. This notion, first posited by de Saussure in the early 20th century, has for decades been neglected by linguists, particularly following Chomsky's heavy critiques of the 1950s. Yet since the emergence of formal semantics in the 1970s, the issue of compositionality has gained traction in the theoretical debate, becoming a selling point for linguistic theories.Yet the concept of 'compositionality' itself remains ill-defined, an issue this book addresses. Positioning compositionality as a cornerstone in linguistic theory, it argues that, contrary to widely held beliefs, there exist non-compositional languages, which shows that the concept of compositionality has empirical content. The author asserts that the existence of syntactic structure can flow from the fact that a compositional grammar cannot be delivered without prior agreement on the syntactic structure of the constituents.
More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
Dordrecht
Netherlands
Publishing group
Springer Netherland
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Product notice
Reflowable
Illustrations
X, 214 p.
File size
2,03 MB
ISBN-13
978-94-007-2108-1 (9789400721081)
DOI
10.1007/978-94-007-2108-1
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Marcus Kracht
Interpreted Languages and Compositionality
Book
08/2011
Springer
€106.99
Shipment within 15-20 days
Content
Synopsis .- String Languages .- Compositionality .- Meanings .- Examples .- Conclusion .- Useful Mathematical Concepts and Notation .- Symbols .- Index .- Bibliography.
