Fred Landman Boeken

Structures for Semantics offers an advanced course in logical and mathematical techniques and structures that are used in semantics, in relation to their semantic applications. The book helps students with a background in semantics to develop their skills of formalization and it makes research in semantics accessible. Workers in other disciplines will use it to discover more about the role of formal modelling in current semantic research, and about semantics itself. Following a chapter on logic and set theory there are three parts of chapters: two pairs of chapters on partial order and equivalence relations in relation to semantic analyses of tense, partial information and vagueness; two chapters on methods for creating ordered structures in relation to intervals, events, and the semantics of change; two chapters on lattices and Boolean algebras in relation to types for noun phrases and verbs, and the semantics of plurals and mass nouns. For upper-level undergraduate students and graduate students in semantics: theoretical linguists, logicians, philosophers of language, computer scientists interested in natural language semantics.

The book captures a series of lectures delivered by a Lady Davis Fellow at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, focusing on the research of plurality within an event-based theory. It aims to explore the architecture of event arguments and thematic roles, moving beyond a standard seminar format to engage more deeply with the subject. The lectures also address Terry Parsons' recent work, generating significant interest among attendees in the discussion of events and roles in linguistic theory.

The book introduces Iceberg semantics, a novel Boolean framework that enhances the interpretation of mass and count nouns. It likens the meaning of noun phrases to an iceberg, where the interpretation emerges from a foundational base and rests on its Boolean part set. This approach maintains the benefits of classical Boolean semantics for count nouns while offering a superior method for analyzing mass nouns, suggesting significant advancements in the understanding of noun phrase semantics.