Lucas Champollion & Kristina Liefke
Inter-Theoretical Relations in Linguistics
Intertheoretic Relations in Linguistics: Montague's model of the syntax-semantics relation
Kristina Liefke (MCMP/LMU)
Abstract: Intertheoretic relations are an important topic in the philosophy of science. However, since their classical discussion by Ernest Nagel, such relations have mostly been restricted to relations between pairs of theories in the natural sciences. In this talk, I present a model of a new type of intertheoretic relation, called *Montague Reduction*, which
is inspired by Montague's framework for the analysis and interpretation of natural language syntax. To motivate the adoption of this new model, I show that this model extends the scope of application of the Nagelian (or related) models, and that it shares the epistemological advantages of the Nagelian model. The latter is achieved in a Bayesian framework.
This talk is based on joint work with Stephan Hartmann: Montague Reduction, Confirmation, and the Syntax-Semantics Relation.
Compositional Semantics and Event Semantics: a Case Study in Inter-Theoretic Relations
Lucas Champollion (NYU)
- Handout for the talk (PDF)
- Companion file for the talk, to be opened with the lambda calculator
Additional Reading:
- Companion paper: The interaction of compositional semantics and event semantics (journal submission, under review at Linguistics & Philosophy)
- Lecture notes for ESSLLI course Integrating Montague semantics and event semantics (as a refresher on the motivations of compositional formal semantics and of event semantics)