The Syntax and Semantics of English Mood

What is a ‘meaning’ of a natural language expression, and how is it encoded in the natural surface structure? The literature on formal semantics has provided various answers to this question. Consider the following four principles: (i) The meaning of a complex expression is a function of the meaning of its basic constituents and their mode of composition. (ii) The meaning of a logical operator is specified in terms of its meta-language definition. (iii) The meaning of a constant is defined in terms of the model-theoretic object(s) it denotes. (iv) The meaning of a declarative sentence (proposition) consists in the truth-conditions of the sentence. Principle (i) is our version of the so-called Fregean principle. (ii) reflects the so-called T-condition of Tarski (1935, 1944). (iii) is inherent in the model-theoretic approach as persued, for example, by Montague (1974). And (iv) has been formulated in this particular way by Davidson (1967).

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