%0 Generic %D 2013 %T Alleged assassins: realist and constructivist semantics for modal modification %A Jespersen, Bjørn %A Primiero, Giuseppe %X

Modal modifiers such as Alleged oscillate between being subsective and being privative. If individual a is an alleged assassin (at some parameter of evaluation) then it is an open question whether a is an assassin (at that parameter). Standardly, modal modifiers are negatively defined, in terms of failed inferences or non-intersectivity or non-extensionality. Modal modifiers are in want of a positive definition and a worked-out logical semantics. This paper offers two positive definitions. The realist definition is elaborated within Tichý’s Transparent Intensional Logic (TIL) and builds upon Montague’s model-theoretic semantics for adjectives as representing mappings from properties to properties. The constructivist definition is based on an extension of Martin-Löf’s Constructive Type Theory (CTT) so as to accommodate partial verification. We show that, and why, “a is an alleged assassin” and “Allegedly, a is an assassin” are equivalent in TIL and synonymous in CTT.

%B Logic, Language, and Computation %S Lecture Notes in Computer Science %I Springer %V 7758 %P 94–114 %G eng %R 10.1007/978-3-642-36976-6_8 %0 Generic %D 2009 %T Two type-theoretical approaches to privative modification %A Primiero, Giuseppe %A Jespersen, Bjørn %E Nakakoji, Kumiyo %E Murakami, Yohei %E McCready, Eric %X

In this paper we apply two kinds of procedural semantics to the problem of privative modification. We do this for three reasons. The first reason is to launch a tough test case to gauge the degree of substantial agreement between a constructivist and a realist interpretation of a procedural semantics; the second is to extend Martin-Lof's Type Theory to privative modification, which is characteristic of natural language; the third reason is to sketch a positive characterization of privation.

%B New Frontiers in Artificial Intelligence: JSAI-isAI 2009 Workshops %I Springer Verlag %C Berlin, Heidelberg %P 239–258 %@ 4-915905-37-3 C3004 %G eng