Course title:
Interpreted Languages
and Compositionality
Teacher
Marcus Kracht
E-mail: marcus.kracht@uni-bielefeld.de
Postal Address: Universitaet Bielefeld, Fakultaet
LiLi,
Postfach 10 01 31, D-33501 Bielefeld,
Germany
Homepage: http://wwwhomes.uni-bielefeld.de/mkracht
The level
is intermediate to advanced, depending on the level of the audience. I require
some knowledge of semantics (say, an introduction to Montague Semantics or
formal semantics). (Beginners, intermediate, advanced, or specify required
previous knowledge)
In this
course I shall develop a formal theory of languages as systems of signs not
just strings. I shall begin by rehearsing the basic notions from formal
language theory and then move to a theory of what I call interpreted languages.
Interpreted languages are sets of signs. Grammars for these languages are
grammars that generate signs from signs. After studying these concepts and the
ramifications I shall then introduce the notion of compositionality and
autonomy. I will show that there is indeed a difference between weak and strong
generative capacity. At the end I will reflect on the boundary between syntax
and semantics.
[There is
a reader on the website Lectures on Interpreted Languages and
Compositionality, see the link below.
Section numbers refer to that reader.]
Formal
languages: basic notions. Roughly Sections 1.1, 1.2, 1.3
Interpreted languages, Definition
and examples. Section 2.2.
Wednesday:
Compositionality and Autonomy. Sections 2.1,
2.3.
Thursday:
Weak and Strong Generative
Capacity, Section 2.5.
Friday:
Notes on Semantics. Synopsis of
Chapter 3.
Background
and preparatory readings:
The 2 Volumes by LTF Gamut (Logic, Language and Meaning) provide a very
good basis, so does Dowty, Wall & Peters (Introduction
to Montague Semantics).
Course readings:
There is a reader
containing all material for the course (and more). The link is http://wwwhomes.uni-bielefeld.de/mkracht/html/compositionality/index-en.html Download
the reader.
Further readings: