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@@ -3,18 +3,87 @@ layout: linguistics
title: linguistics/semantics
---
-# notes on semantics
+# semantics and pragmatics
+
+>! These notes are **incomplete**! Proceed with caution, or better yet, not at all.
Semantics is the study of **meaning**.
-How do we know what sentences are true and which are false?<br>
+How do we know what sentences are *true* and which are *false*?<br>
What does it *mean* for a sentence to be true?<br>
-What conditions must hold for a sentence to be true?
-
-Formal semantics attempts to answer those questions by providing a *framework* for determining what *conditions* must hold for a sentence to be true.
-
-This framework is [first-order/predicate logic](../math/logic) and the [simply-typed lambda calculus](../plt/lambda-calculus). On top of this, we often build set theory, relying on *characteristic functions* of the lambda calculus as denotations of *set membership*.
-
+What *conditions* must hold for a sentence to be true?
+
+<br>
+
+<details>
+<summary>table of contents</summary>
+
+- History
+- Prerequisites
+- Basic Principles
+ - Compositionality
+ - Substitution
+ - Predicate Logic & The Lambda Calculus
+- Denotational Semantics
+ - Entities and Functions
+ - Quantification
+ - Reference
+ - Numbers and Plurality
+ - Event Semantics
+ - Situation Semantics
+- Possible Worlds
+ - Necessity and Possibility
+ - Knowledge and Belief
+ - Command, Request, and Obligation
+ - Drawing Distinctions
+ - Tense and Aspect
+- Beyond Truth
+ - Intuitionistic Logic
+ - Questions
+ - Utterances
+- Pragmatics
+ - Impliciture
+ - Presupposition
+ - Performative Acts
+- Lexical Semantics
+
+</details>
+
+
+## History
+
+> the dirty secret of semantics is that 2/3rds of it was created by philosophers
+> and the remaining third is angelika kratzer
+>
+> -- partialorder
+
+Modern approaches to semantics largely fell out of historical work in logic...
+- c.i. lewis
+- paul grice
+- richard montague
+- irene heim
+- angelika kratzer
+- judith butler
+
+## Prerequisites
+
+Formal semantics builds atop a bevy of concepts in formal logic.
+Comfortability with the following concepts will be assumed:
+- object languages and meta languages
+- zeroth-order/propositional logic
+- first-order/predicate logic
+- the lambda calculus
+- simple types
+- logical models
+- modal logic
+ - possible worlds
+ - accessibility relations
+- second-order/higher-order logic
+- intuitionistic logic
+
+If this is not the case, there are a variety of wonderful resources for learning such topics. I am partial to *An Introduction to Non-Standard Logics* myself, and think it gives a good, syntactic motivation for possible worlds and accessibility relations. I have heard praise for *Boxes and Diamonds* (which is free and open!) but have yet to look at it myself. Wikipedia is also a wonderful reference. Best of all, however, is finding yourself a friend who is a nerd about logic! (thanks alex)
+
+$$∧ ∨ + × ⊕ ↑ ↓ ∼ ¬ ⇁ → ⇒ ⊃ ⊐ ⥽ > ⊢ ⊨$$
## Basic Principles
@@ -39,7 +108,7 @@ With basic logic and the lambda calculus under our belt, we may simply get strai
### Entities and Functions
> *I am Alice.* <br>
-> *Alice is bad.* <br>
+> *Alice is pretty.* <br>
> *The blue pigeon flew away.*
- Noun: $⟨e,t⟩ ↝ λx.Noun(x)$