Language in Action: Categories, Lambdas and Dynamic Logic

From Book News, Inc.
First published by Elsevier Science in 1991, this study demonstrates the viability of mathematical research into the foundations of categorial grammar, a topic at the border between logic and linguistics. It presents the categorial processing of syntax and semantics as a central component in a more general dynamic logic of information flow, in tune with computational developments in artificial intelligence and cognitive science. Annotation copyright Book News, Inc. Portland, Or.


From the Logical Point of View
At present the research programme presented in van Benthem's monograph is intensively developed by logicians, mathematicians, and specialists in computer science and linguistics. "Language in Action" conveniently reports in detail and in a compact form the results hitherto obtained. Certainly it becomes the standard reference in the area.


Book Description
Hardbound. This monograph began life as a series of papers documenting five years of research into the logical foundations of Categorial Grammar, a grammatical paradigm which has close analogies with Lambda Calculus and Type Theory. The technical theory presented here stems from the interface between Logic and Linguistics and, in particular, the theory of generalized quantification. A categorical framework with lambda calculus-oriented semantics is a convenient vehicle for generalizing semantic insights (obtained in various corners of natural language) into one coherent theory. The book aims to demonstrate to fellow logicians that the resulting applied lambda calculus has intrinsic logical interest. In the final analysis, the idea is not just to `break the syntactic code' of natural languages but to understand the cognitive functioning of the human mind.


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Language in Action demonstrates the viability of mathematical research into the foundations of categorial grammar, a topic at the border between logic and linguistics. Since its initial publication, it has become the classic work in the foundations of categorial grammar. A new addendum to this paperback edition updates the open research problems and records relevant results through pointers to the literature. Van Benthem presents the categorial processing of syntax and semantics as a central component in a more general dynamic logic of information flow, in tune with computational developments in artificial intelligence and cognitive science. Using the paradigm of categorial grammar, he describes the substructural logics driving the dynamics of natural language syntax and semantics. This is a general type-theoretic approach that lends itself easily to proof-theoretic and semantic studies in tandem with standard logic. The emphasis is on a broad landscape of substructural categorial logics and their proof-theoretical and semantic peculiarities. This provides a systematic theory for natural language understanding, admitting of significant mathematical results. Moreover, the theory makes possible dynamic interpretations that view natural languages as programming formalisms for various cognitive activities.


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