Formal semantics

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Formal semantics deals with the exact meaning of terms in artificial or natural languages . The meaning in existing languages ​​can be examined as well as the meaning in newly created languages ​​can be determined. In contrast to semantics in the general sense, as it is mainly used in philosophy and linguistics , formal semantics works with purely formal, logical-mathematical methods.

Formal semantics are practiced in logic , computer science and linguistics . Because of the importance of exact theories of meaning for the three disciplines mentioned and because of different focuses and objectives - partly also because of different methods - each of these sciences today has its own sub-area, which is called formal semantics. The formal semantics in logic, those in computer science and the formal semantics in linguistics are, however, intertwined in many ways and often rely on each other or on the results of the other.

Modern formal semantics has its origins in the work of Alfred Tarski , Richard Montague , Alonzo Church, and others.

Formal semantics in logic and computer science

In logic , semantics deals with the exact meaning of terms in languages. In computer science , it should express the semantics of a computer program syntactically and thus make mathematical proofs accessible.

Formal semantics in linguistics

In general linguistics which is formal semantics , a semantics , which is operated by means of logic and mathematics. The meaning of sentences in a natural language is recorded with the help of a formal metalanguage. Building on the compositionality principle of Gottlob Frege , research is conducted into what the individual parts of a sentence contribute to its overall meaning. The interaction of the individual components of the sentence is achieved through a formalization of the natural language with the help of montage grammars and similar methods.

The formal semantics are compatible with various syntactic models such as the minimalist program , the category grammar or the functional grammar .

In formal semantics, lambda abstraction is used "to generate predicates from a formula, to represent individuals as generalized quantifiers and to formalize the semantics of quantifiers and determinants." The opposite of lambda abstraction is lambda conversion.

literature

  • Johannes Heinrichs : Language, Vol. 2: The dimension of meaning (semantics) (Philosophical semiotics; Vol. 2). Edition Steno, Munich 2008. ISBN 978-954-449-351-6 .
  • Irene Heim and Angelika Kratzer: Semantics in Generative Grammar (Blackwell's Textbooks in Linguistics; Vol. 13). Blackwell, Oxford 1998, ISBN 0-631-19713-3 .
  • Horst Lohnstein: Formal semantics and natural language. Introductory textbook . Westdeutscher Verlag, Opladen 1996. ISBN 3-531-12818-3 .
  • Monika Schwarz , Jeanette Chur: Introduction , pages 115–191. In: Diess .: Semantics. A work book (fool study books). 5th edition Gunter Narr, Tübingen 2007. ISBN 978-3-8233-6296-8 .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Monika Schwarz , Jeanette Chur: Semantics. A work book , p. 156.