Abstract

This dissertation is primarily concerned with a semantical treatment of the definite article in English. The first chapter is a somewhat general discussion of semantics with particular emphasis on the contrast between formal-language semantics and natural-language semantics. Five metasemantical concepts are defined and then used to show this contrast. In chapter two, previous treatments of the semantics of definite descriptions and other uses of the definite article by the philosophers Russell, Strawson, Donnellan, and Montague are critically discussed. Finally, in chapter three, a theoretical treatment in terms of game-theoretical semantics is given of various uses of the definite article. ;The treatment deals mainly with what is called herein the "anaphoric use." It is shown how what is called herein the "Russellian use," the classical "definite description" , is neatly accommodated within a more general account of the semantics of the definite article in English. That account is the foundation of a semantical-game rule for the anaphoric use, which when applied together with other such game rules to sentences containing the definite article, yields semantic interpretations for them. A different rule for the generic use of the definite article is given, and a "discourse-syntactic" method, independent of semantical games, is provided for distinguishing generic from anaphoric uses. Various other uses of the definite article are briefly considered, and unsolved problems are discussed. ;The main achievement of this work is its demonstration that the theoretical framework of GTS can smoothly accommodate the semantics of the definite article. The problems encountered for which no completely satisfactory solutions are given do not undermine the continuing promise of GTS as adequate to the tasks of natural-language semantics. Rather, they offer further challenges which only future detailed analyses will be able to meet