Structures and Categories for the Representation of Meaning [Paperback]

Logical method of representing the meanings of linguistic expressions, independent of any particular language. First published in 1994.Timothy Potts offers a way of representing the meanings of linguistic expressions independent of any particular language and which allows them to be manipulated in accordance with rules related to their meanings which could be implemented on a computer. A two-dimensional notation is developed for this purpose. First published in 1994.Timothy Potts offers a way of representing the meanings of linguistic expressions independent of any particular language and which allows them to be manipulated in accordance with rules related to their meanings which could be implemented on a computer. A two-dimensional notation is developed for this purpose. First published in 1994.This book develops a way of representing the meanings of linguistic expressions independent of any particular language, allowing them to be manipulated in accordance with rules related to their meanings that could be implemented on a computer. Beginning with a survey of the contributions of linguistics, logic, and computer science to the representation problem, it presents a system of graphs organized by scope relations in which linguistic constituents are sub-graphs whose configuration is determined by their categories.Preface; Acknowledgements; 1. Linguistics: strings; 2. Logic: trees; 3. Computer science: graphs; 4. Categorial graphs; 5. Basic categories: count nouns; 6. Basic categories: pointers; 7. Quantifiers, pronouns and identity; Epilogue; Bibliography; Index. This book fascinates... Philosophical Review