This series offers a dynamic forum for original research into the nature of meaning in natural language, bridging contemporary semantics and pragmatics. It encourages scholarly work that engages with both historical and current lines of inquiry, making complex ideas accessible to a broad academic audience. The collection targets specialists in linguistics, philosophy, and cognitive science, as well as related fields. A key feature is the grounding of theoretical arguments in extensive examples, drawing primarily from English but also incorporating diverse languages.
This book explores linguistic and philosophical issues presented by sentences expressing personal taste, such as Roller coasters are fun, and examines how truth-theoretic semantics can account for expressions of this type. It provides a detailed and explicit formal grammar paired with semantic analysis and pragmatic theory.
Focusing on the interplay between syntax and human reasoning, Gennaro Chierchia explores polarity sensitive and free choice items to deepen our understanding of language. He offers a new perspective on the semantics of focus and scope, as well as the pragmatics of implicature, positioning these elements within a recursive semantic framework. This investigation sheds light on the complexities of language processing and the cognitive mechanisms behind it.