Hot Topics in Chapter 3 | None | LING 130a: Semantics: Meaning and Language

Hot Topics in Chapter 3

There are several things to look out for in this chapter. We are introduced to the notion of Model-theoretic semantics.

  • As we introduce a structural and formal notion of meaning, we make a distinction between the syntactic well-formedness of an expression, and its denotation, or extension. This is some collection or combination of entities from the domain of discourse.
  • A denotation assignment function will tell us how to give specific values to expressions, first for propositional logic, then for first-order logic.
  • Definition of a Model: an ordered pair consisting of a domain of discourse, A, and the denotation assignment function, Fm mentioned above: <A,Fm>.