Logics and Languages

Originally published in 1973, this book shows that methods developed for the semantics of systems of formal logic can be successfully applied to problems about the semantics of natural languages; and, moreover, that such methods can take account of features of natural language which have often been thought incapable of formal treatment, such as vagueness, context dependence and metaphorical meaning. Parts 1 and 2 set out a class of formal languages and their semantics. Parts 3 and 4 show that these formal languages are rich enought to be used in the precise description of natural languages. Appendices describe some of the concepts discussed in the text.

M. J. Cresswell

Part 1: Propositional Languages 1. Syntax and Semantics of Propositional Languages 2. Propositional Logics 3. The Metaphysics of Propositions 4. The Structure of Propositions Part 2: Categorial Languages 5. Pure Categorial Languages 6. Abstraction and --categorial Languages 7. The Metaphysics of Categorial Languages 8. Pragmatics Part 3: English as a Categorial Language 9. Some Parts of Speech 10. More Parts of Speech 11. Counter-dependence in English Part 4: English As A Natural Language 12. Words and Morphenes 13. Obtaining Natural Languages 14. Meaning and Use. Appendix I: Some Background Notions Appendix II: A Uniqueness Theorem