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Iterating semantic automata

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Abstract

The semantic automata framework, developed originally in the 1980s, provides computational interpretations of generalized quantifiers. While recent experimental results have associated structural features of these automata with neuroanatomical demands in processing sentences with quantifiers, the theoretical framework has remained largely unexplored. In this paper, after presenting some classic results on semantic automata in a modern style, we present the first application of semantic automata to polyadic quantification, exhibiting automata for iterated quantifiers. We also discuss the role of semantic automata in linguistic theory and offer new empirical predictions for sentence processing with embedded quantifiers.

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  1. Department of Philosophy, Stanford University, 450 Serra Mall, Stanford, CA, 94305, USA

    Shane Steinert-Threlkeld & Thomas F. Icard III

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  1. Shane Steinert-Threlkeld
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  2. Thomas F. Icard III
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Correspondence to Shane Steinert-Threlkeld.

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Steinert-Threlkeld, S., Icard, T.F. Iterating semantic automata. Linguist and Philos 36, 151–173 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10988-013-9132-6

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