Three processes in natural language interpretation
Tim Fernando · Cambridge University Press eBooks · 2017
. To address complications involving ambiguity, presupposition and implicature, three processes underlying natural language interpretation are isolated: translation, entailment and attunement. A meta-language integrating these processes is outlined, elaborating on a proof-theoretic approach to presupposition. To appear: Festschrift for Solomon Feferman (ASL Lecture Notes series) x1. Introduction. However outrageous Montague's slogan "English as a formal language" [24] may sound, the pressure to push the claim as far as it can go is, for many, irresistible. Basic to Montague's understanding of a formal language is the possibility of a model-theoretic interpretation --- of obvious interest in various applications (e.g. databases) that employ models. But formulas of predicate logic (first-order or higher-order, modal or otherwise) differ significantly from English sentences marked with ambiguity and presupposition. Consider, for instance, (s) If Sylvester gets holds of a canary, the...