future of semantics

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1、TheFutureofSemantics?MartinStokhof∗thJanuaryThepaperbyFritzHamm,HansKampandMichielvanLambalgen(inwhatfollowsabbreviatedas‘’)isaveryrichone.Notonlydoesitcontainawealthofempiricalandformalinsightsconcerningtheanalysisoftenseandaspect,planningandcau

2、sality,andotherphenomena,italsocontainssomepenetratingremarksconcerningthescopeandmethodofsemantictheory.ItisthelatteraspectofthepaperthatIwanttomakeafewcommentsoninwhatfollows.ThestateofartIfwelookatthedevelopmentofformalsemanticsofnaturallanguage(‘seman

3、tics’inwhatfollowsifnoconfusionarises)overthelastthreedecadesorso,weseeanumberofchanges,inbothmethodsandscope,thatbothbecauseoftheirsheervarietyandbecauseofthelackofunanimityamongworkingsemanticistsgiveusreasontopauseandreflectonthenatureofthediscipline.Of

4、course,theideaofscienceasalinearlyprogressingenterprisegettingcloserandclosertothetruthaboutitssubjectmatterhaslongbeenexposedforwhatitinfactis:amyth.Wehavecometoacknowledgethatsciencedevelopsinvariousways,withsuddenandunforeseenturnsinbothconceptualappar

5、atusaswellasempiricalorientation.Someofthehottopicsoftodaywerefringephenomenaofapaststage,theconceptualdifferencesbetweensucceedingtheoriesaresometimesveryfundamental,andsomeofthemethods,bothformalandexperimental,bywhichscientistspursuetheirgoals,changepro

6、foundlyaswell.Onemightbeinclinedtothinkthatwhatweobservedabovesimplyshowsthatsemanticsisnoexception.Butevenifwegrantthatitissubjecttothesamelawsasotherdisciplines,thedevelopmentofsemanticsandthestateitisintodayarenotfullyexplainedbythat.Asadisciplineseman

7、ticsisveryfragmented,therearemanydifferenttheoreticalorientations,andverydivergentnotionsofmeaningthatdefinethevariousframeworks.Wehaveawidevarietyofapproaches:cognitivesemantics,intensionalreferentialsemantics,extensionalreferentialsemantics,variousformsof

8、dynamicsemantics,inferentialism,wideandnarrowcontenttheories,holisticandatomistictheories,frameworksbasedongametheoryandoptimalitytheory,and∗ILLC/DepartmentofPhilosophy,UniversiteitvanAmsterdam.ThankstoMichielvanLam