6533b837fe1ef96bd12a207f
RESEARCH PRODUCT
Semantic Complexity in Natural Language
subject
numerical determinerssemantic complexitybound-variable anaphoranoun-level negationfragments of languagerelative clausessyllogistic proof systemnatural languagedescription
This chapter presents the technical framework that the authors used to define fragments of natural languages and formulate questions as to their semantic complexity. It examines the study of the classical syllogistic and its extensions. It analyzes the semantic complexity of various salient fragments of English. It highlights that the language of argument, featuring transitive verbs, is in an objective sense inferentially no more complex than the language of classical syllogisms exemplified by argument, indeed, the analogous extension featuring ditransitive verbs involves only a modest increase in complexity. On the other hand, the language of argument, which adds relative clauses to the classical syllogistic, entails a greater complexity-theoretic cost, a pattern that is repeated in the presence of transitive or ditransitive verbs. The chapter finally investigates the effect of noun-level negation as well as numerical determiner phrases and talks about the bound-variable anaphora
| year | journal | country | edition | language |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015-01-01 |