Overview
This book explores how grammatical structure is related to meaning. The meaning of a phrase clearly depends on its constituent words and how they are combined. But how does structure contribute to meaning in natural language? Does combining adjectives with nouns (as in 'brown dog') differ semantically from combining verbs with adverbs (as in 'barked loudly')? What is the significance of combining verbs with names and quantificational expressions (as in 'Fido chased every cat')? In addressing such questions, Paul Pietroski develops a novel conception of linguistic meaning according to which the semantic contribution of combining expressions is simple and uniform across constructions. Drawing on work at the heart of contemporary debates in linguistics and philosophy, the author argues that Donald Davidson's treatment of action sentences as event descriptions should be viewed as an instructive special case of a more general semantic theory. The unified theory covers a wide range of examples, including sentences that involve quantification, plurality, descriptions of complex causal processes, and verbs that take sentential complements. Professor Pietroski also provides fresh ways of thinking about much discussed semantic generalizations that seem to reflect innately determined aspects of human languages.Designed to be accessible to anyone with a basic knowledge of elementary logic, Events and Semantic Architecture will interest a wide range of scholars in linguistics, philosophy, and cognitive science.
Full Product Details
Author: Paul M. Pietroski (University of Maryland)
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Imprint: Oxford University Press
Dimensions:
Width: 16.20cm
, Height: 2.20cm
, Length: 24.10cm
Weight: 0.549kg
ISBN: 9780199244300
ISBN 10: 0199244308
Pages: 280
Publication Date: 11 November 2004
Audience:
Professional and scholarly
,
Professional & Vocational
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active
Availability: To order
Stock availability from the supplier is unknown. We will order it for you and ship this item to you once it is received by us.
Reviews
Conjunctivism is an attractive and interesting view -- a solid understanding of it will surely be mandatory for anyone interested in the rigorous study of meaning in human languages. Pietroski addresses head on some of the really difficult issues. Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews
Pietroski's book offers a fascinating view of how natural language semantics may be organised...His thesis is a no doubt a bold one, but also highly interesting. We can only look forward with excitment to the forthcoming book. Terje Lohndal, Oslo Studies in Language Conjunctivism is an attractive and interesting view -- a solid understanding of it will surely be mandatory for anyone interested in the rigorous study of meaning in human languages. Pietroski addresses head on some of the really difficult issues. Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews
Author Information
Paul Pietroski is Professor of Philosophy and Professor of Linguistics at the University of Maryland. He is the author of Causing Actions and many articles concerning the semantics of natural language.
