Towards a Computational Semantics

In ordinary model-theoretic semantics, set-theoretic denotations are assigned to linguistic expressions without regard to computational complexity. Yet, there is a reasonable prima facie case for the assumption that at least basic items in natural language correspond to simple procedures, that are easy to learn. What is needed to investigate such ideas is a way of thinking ‘procedurally’ about the usual semantic denotations. In line with our earlier paper van Benthem 1984b, the basic notion here is that of an automaton, as developed extensively in mathematical linguistics (see Hopcroft & Ullman 1979). Thus, one of the main supports of formal syntax is enlisted in the service of semantics.

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