Maria Aloni - Böcker

The study of questions and answers is challenging for various fields of theoretical linguistics, logic, analytical philosophy, and more recently computer science. Research into questions and answers addresses old and raises new and important questions about the semantics / pragmatics interface and about the dynamics of interpretation. This book brings together current work on the topic as it has been developed in Amsterdam, and congenial academic sites, over the past 15 years. Amsterdam is one of the breeding grounds for the formal study of logic and language, for dynamic semantics, and for the study of questions and answers. It covers the major issues of pragmatic/semantic investigation, including logical relations, context dependence, information structure, and more. It illustrates how semantic/pragmatic stance can be used for problems in other areas of linguistic theorising.

Formal semantics - the scientific study of meaning in natural language - is one of the most fundamental and long-established areas of linguistics. This Handbook offers a comprehensive, yet compact guide to the field, bringing together research from a wide range of world-leading experts. Chapters include coverage of the historical context and foundation of contemporary formal semantics, a survey of the variety of formal/logical approaches to linguistic meaning and an overview of the major areas of research within current semantic theory, broadly conceived. The Handbook also explores the interfaces between semantics and neighbouring disciplines, including research in cognition and computation. This work will be essential reading for students and researchers working in linguistics, philosophy, psychology and computer science.

Formal semantics - the scientific study of meaning in natural language - is one of the most fundamental and long-established areas of linguistics. This Handbook offers a comprehensive, yet compact guide to the field, bringing together research from a wide range of world-leading experts. Chapters include coverage of the historical context and foundation of contemporary formal semantics, a survey of the variety of formal/logical approaches to linguistic meaning and an overview of the major areas of research within current semantic theory, broadly conceived. The Handbook also explores the interfaces between semantics and neighbouring disciplines, including research in cognition and computation. This work will be essential reading for students and researchers working in linguistics, philosophy, psychology and computer science.

The 2009 edition of the Amsterdam Colloquium was the 17th in a series which started in 1976. The Amsterdam Colloquia aim at bringing together linguists, philosophers, logicians and computer scientists who share an interest in the f- mal study of the semantics and pragmatics of natural and formal languages. Originally an initiative of the Department of Philosophy, the colloquium is now organized by the Institute for Logic, Language and Computation (illc)ofthe University of Amsterdam. These proceedings contain revised extended abstracts of most of the articles presented at the 17th Amsterdam Colloquium. The ?rst section containsextended abstractsof the talks givenby the invited speakers of the general program. The second, third and fourth sections contain invited and submitted contributions to the three thematic workshops that were hosted by the colloquium: the workshoponImplicature and Grammar organized by Maria Aloni and Katrin Schulz; the workshop on Natural Logic organized by Jan van Eijck; and the workshop on Vagueness, organized by Robert van Rooij and Frank Veltman. The ?nal section consists of the submitted contributions to the general program.For the organization of the 17th Amsterdam Colloquium ?nancial support was received from: the Royal Dutch Academy of Sciences (knaw); the Institute for Logic, Language and Computation (illc); thenwo-funded project 'Ind- inites and Beyond: Evolutionary pragmatics and typological semantics' (co- dinator: Maria Aloni); the nwo-funded project 'Vagueness - and how to be precise enough' (coordinators: Robert van Rooij and Frank Veltman); and the Municipality of Amsterdam. This support is gratefully acknowledged.