M.J.B. Stokhof

Meaning in Motion

The paper sketches the place of dynamic semantics within a broader picture of developments in philosophical and linguistic theories of meaning. Some basic concepts of dynamic semantics are illustrated by means of a detailed analysis of anaphoric definite and indefinite descriptions, which are treated as contextually dependent quantificational expressions. It is shown how a dynamic view sheds new light on the contextual nature of interpretation, on the difference between monologue and dialogue, and on the interplay between direct and indirect information.

Two theories of dynamic semantics

The dynamic view on the semantics of natural language, though stemming already from the seventies, has developed into a widely studied subject in the second half of the eighties. At present, the unification of various dynamic theories constitutes an important issue. In this paper, two theories are compared, viz. update semantics, and dynamic predicate logic. In section 1 a general characterization of the idea of a dynamic semantics for natural language is given which subsumes these two theories. Sections 2 and 3 are devoted to short expositions of each of them. In the final section 4 a comparison is made.