Logic, Language, and Meaning, Volume 1 - by L T F Gamut (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

Although the two volumes of Logic, Language, and Meaning can be used independently of one another, together they provide a comprehensive overview of modern logic as it is used as a tool in the analysis of natural language. Both volumes provide exercises and their solutions.

Volume 1, Introduction to Logic, begins with a historical overview and then offers a thorough introduction to standard propositional and first-order predicate logic. It provides both a syntactic and a semantic approach to inference and validity, and discusses their relationship. Although language and meaning receive special attention, this introduction is also accessible to those with a more general interest in logic.

In addition, the volume contains a survey of such topics as definite descriptions, restricted quantification, second-order logic, and many-valued logic. The pragmatic approach to non-truthconditional and conventional implicatures are also discussed. Finally, the relation between logic and formal syntax is treated, and the notions of rewrite rule, automation, grammatical complexity, and language hierarchy are explained.

From the Back Cover

This volume contains a survey of such topics as definite descriptions, restricted quantification, second-order logic, and many-valued logic. The pragmatic approach to non-truthconditional and conventional implicatures are also discussed. Finally, the relation between logic and formal syntax is treated, and the notions of rewrite rule, automaton, grammatical complexity, and language hierarchy are explained.

About the Author

L. T. F. Gamut is a collective pseudonym for J. F. A. K. van Benthem, professor of mathematical logic; J. A. G. Groenendijk, associate professor of philosophy and computational linguistics; D. H. J. de Jongh, associate professor of mathematics and philosophy; M. J. B. Stokhof, associate professor of philosophy and computational linguistics, all at the University of Amsterdam, and H. J. Verkuyl, professor of linguistics at the University of Utrecht.