Sorting the world : on the relevance of the kind/object-distinction to referential semantics / Olav Mueller-Reichau.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Mueller-Reichau, Olav.

Series:

Linguistics & Philosophy

Linguistics & philosophy ; v. 4

Linguistics & Philosophy ; 4

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Semantics (Philosophy).

Physical Description:

1 online resource (169 p.)

Place of Publication:

Frankfurt : Ontos Verlag, 2011.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

The basic hypothesis of this book is that linguistic reference to kinds should be seen as reference to sortal concepts, i.e. cognitive categories for identifying and classifying objects. Viewed that way, kinds serve as the interface between the conceptual system and the grammatical system. Kind-level predicates differ as to whether they presuppose (e.g. to be extinct) or entail (e.g. to invent) the existence of objects, with crucial consequences for the interpretation of indefinite argument noun phrases. Moreover, object reference always involves underlying kind reference, but kind reference does not always involve object reference. This asymmetry, once recognized, proves useful in solving otherwise puzzling problems in semantic composition.

Contents:

Frontmatter

Contents

Chapter 1: Genericity - the standard view

Chapter 2: Kinds as sortal concepts - from a cognitive perspective

Chapter 3: Kinds as ontological primitives - from a semantic perspective

Chapter 4: Spatiotemporal localisation - type-token theories of genericity

Chapter 5: Indefinite reference to kinds - the pumpkin crusher puzzle

Chapter 6: Lexical classes of predicates - normal and Carlsonian kind-level predicates

Chapter 7 Overt and covert articles - a kind-based DRT approach to the semantics of noun phrases

References

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references.

ISBN:

3-86838-113-9

3-11-032358-3

OCLC:

851972122