What is Meaning?

Paul H. Portner is Associate Professor of Linguistics and Director of the Interdisciplinary Program in Cognitive Science at Georgetown University. He is co-editor of Formal Semantics: The Essential Readings (with Barbara H. Partee, Blackwell, 2002) as well as the author of numerous articles on topics such as mood and modality, tense and aspect, and the syntax/semantics interface.

“An excellent book for advanced undergraduates and beginning graduate students. Portner’s approachable, yet serious, presentation gives the reader a firm understanding of the breadth and depth of the science of natural language meaning.” Kai von Fintel, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

• Acknowledgments x1 The Fundamental Question 11.1 What is a Meaning? 31.2 Meanings are Out in the World 111.3 We should Think of the Meaning of Sentences in Terms of Truth-Conditions 122 Putting a Meaning Together from Pieces 282.1 Names Refer 292.2 Incomplete Propositions 302.3 Prediction is Saturation 312.4 Compositionality 332.5 Syntax and Semantics 343 More about Predicates 403.1 Other Types of Predicates: Adjectives, Predicate Nominals 403.2 Transitive Verbs 443.3 Relative Clauses 453.4 Topicalization 483.5 Sub-atomic Semantics 493.6 Modeling Properties with Sets and Functions 544 Modifiers 614.1 Adjective + N Combination 614.2 More Issues with Adjectives 654.3 Relative Clauses as Modifier 684.4 Adverbs 694.5 The Form of Meanings and their World-describing Content 745 Complexities of Referring Expressions 785.1 Definite NPs 785.2 Some Subtleties 805.3 A Bit about Indefinite NPs 835.4 Theories of Reference 845.5 Plurals and Mass Terms 955.6 Kinds 995.7 Pronouns and Anaphora 1026 Quantifiers 1126.1 Generalized Quantifiers: Predicate of Predicates, or Sets of Sets 1136.2 NP Conjunction 1206.3 Negative Polarity Items 1226.4 Quantifiers in Object Position 1277 Extensional vs. Intensional Contexts 1328 Tense, Aspect, and Modality 1378.1 Tense 1388.2 Aspect 1468.3 Modality 1549 Propositional Attitudes 1619.1 A Possible Worlds Semantics for Belief and Desire 1629.2 Logical Consequences of the Modal Analysis of Propositional Attitude Verbs 1649.3 Two foundational Problems: Coreferential Terms and Logical Truths 1669.4 Structure and Meaning 1709.5 Or, Have We Reached the Limits of Semantics? 17410 The Pragmatics of What’s Given 17610.1 Indexicality and Deixis 17710.2 Presupposition 17810.3 Speech Acts 19010.4 Focus and Topic 19511 The Pragmatics of Inference 19911.1 Properties Implicature 20312 Formal Semantics Today 20612.1 Diversity within Formal Semantics 20612.2 Relationships with Other Varieties of Semantics 21312.3 Relationships with Other Fields 214Appendix: Answers to Selected Exercises 218References 223Index 230