Four semantic layers of common nouns

Synthese 175 (1):47 - 68 (2010)
  Copy   BIBTEX

Abstract

This article proposes a four-layer semantic structure for common nouns. Each layer matches up with a semantic entity of a certain type in Montague’s intensional semantics. It is argued that a common noun denotes a sense and a concept, which are functions. For any given context, the sense of a term determines its extensions and the concept denoted by the term specifies its intensions. Intensions are treated as sets of senses. The membership relation between a sense and an intension is a soft kind and is expressed in the form of a generic sentence. Such a layered structure explains various “degrees of publicity” of a language. The result we present clarifies the confusions existing in the ordinary understanding of “sense,” “intension,” and “concept.” It also has promising applications in interpreting metaphors and revealing the relationship between generics and metaphors.

Links

PhilArchive



    Upload a copy of this work     Papers currently archived: 90,616

External links

Setup an account with your affiliations in order to access resources via your University's proxy server

Through your library

Similar books and articles

The Metasyntactic Interpretation of Two-Dimensionalism.Gregory Bochner - 2013 - Philosophical Studies 163 (3):611-626.
Language and ontology in early chinese thought.Chris Fraser - 2007 - Philosophy East and West 57 (4):420-456.
Common Sense.Michael De Medeiros - 2009 - Weigl Publishers.
Sociology and common sense.David Thomas - 1978 - Inquiry: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Philosophy 21 (1-4):1 – 32.
Does semantics run the psyche?Radu J. Bogdan - 1989 - Philosophy and Phenomenological Research 49 (June):687-700.

Analytics

Added to PP
2009-04-27

Downloads
89 (#175,831)

6 months
6 (#203,358)

Historical graph of downloads
How can I increase my downloads?

Author's Profile

Beihai Zhou
Peking University

Citations of this work

No citations found.

Add more citations

References found in this work

Uber Sinn und Bedeutung.Gottlob Frege - 1892 - Zeitschrift für Philosophie Und Philosophische Kritik 100 (1):25-50.
The Frege reader.Gottlob Frege & Michael Beaney (eds.) - 1997 - Cambridge, Mass.: Blackwell.
Posthumous Writings.Gottlob Frege (ed.) - 1979 - Blackwell.
Universal grammar.Richard Montague - 1970 - Theoria 36 (3):373--398.
The Proper Treatment of Quantification in Ordinary English.Richard Montague - 1974 - In Richmond H. Thomason (ed.), Formal Philosophy. Yale University Press.

View all 18 references / Add more references