Chung-chieh Shan

Title: Chung-chieh Shan

Research Question: How can we create a variable-free treatment of dynamic semantics?

Methodology: The author proposes a variable-free treatment of dynamic semantics. This involves denoting sets of what they traditionally denote in Montague grammar, and assigning types to noun phrases. Nondeterminism is added to any Montague grammar by replacing each semantic type with a transformed type.

Results: The new theory presented here achieves a compositional treatment of dynamic anaphora that does not involve assignment functions, and separates the combinatorics of variable-free semantics from the particular linguistic phenomena it treats. It also makes new empirical predictions, such as the "donkey puzzle" effect.

Implications: The integration of variable-free semantics and dynamic semantics gives rise to interactions that make new empirical predictions. This could potentially lead to new insights into linguistic phenomena and the way we process and understand language.

Link to Article: https://arxiv.org/abs/0205027v1 Authors: arXiv ID: 0205027v1