Description: Formal semantics - the scientific study of meaning in natural language - is one of the most fundamental and long-established areas of linguistics. This Handbook offers a comprehensive, yet compact guide to the field, bringing together research from a wide range of world-leading experts. Chapters include coverage of the historical context and foundation of contemporary formal semantics, a survey of the variety of formal/logical approaches to linguistic meaning and an overview of the major areas of research within current semantic theory, broadly conceived. The Handbook also explores the interfaces between semantics and neighbouring disciplines, including research in cognition and computation. This work will be essential reading for students and researchers working in linguistics, philosophy, psychology and computer science.
Brief description: Maria Aloni is Assistant Professor at the Institute for Logic, Language and Computation (ILLC) at the University of Amsterdam. In 2001, she received her PhD from the same university. Her primary research interests lie in the area of formal semantics and pragmatics and philosophical logic. She is the author of several papers on quantification, cross-word identification, disjunction, modality, imperatives, conversational implicatures, and more.
Review Quotes: 'After half a century of intensive research, formal semantics has become a mature discipline taught in most linguistics departments. The Amsterdam people were among the pioneers, and they offer us what is most needed today: a comprehensive handbook covering the entire field, each chapter of which is written by a world expert. A must read for anyone interested in language.' Francois Recanati, Institut Jean Nicod, Paris