Descriptions in Context |
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| Author:
| Condoravdi, Cleo A. |
| Series title: | Routledge Library Editions: Semantics and Semiology Ser. |
| ISBN: | 978-1-315-52189-3 |
| Publication Date: | Nov 2016 |
| Publisher: | Taylor & Francis Group
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| Imprint: | Routledge |
| Book Format: | Digital (delivered electronically) |
| List Price: | USD $48.95 |
Book Description:
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First published in 1997, this book focuses on the semantics of definite and indefinite descriptions -- taking the presuppositional theory of definiteness and indefiniteness proposed by Heim as a starting point. It seeks to show that there exists a special type of indefinites that have an interpretation commonly associated with definites. It further argues that the felicity conditions associated with indefinite NP's can vary and develops a more fine-grained theory of novelty within...
More Description
First published in 1997, this book focuses on the semantics of definite and indefinite descriptions -- taking the presuppositional theory of definiteness and indefiniteness proposed by Heim as a starting point. It seeks to show that there exists a special type of indefinites that have an interpretation commonly associated with definites. It further argues that the felicity conditions associated with indefinite NP's can vary and develops a more fine-grained theory of novelty within the framework of File Change Semantics. More generally, this work can be seen as providing an empirical argument in favour of a dynamic theory of meaning and against the more traditional truth-conditional theory.