Graded Modality
Regular price
€63.99
A01=Daniel Lassiter
Author_Daniel Lassiter
Category1=Non-Fiction
Category=CFG
Category=NL-CF
COP=United Kingdom
Discount=15
eq_bestseller
eq_dictionaries-language-reference
eq_isMigrated=2
eq_nobargain
eq_non-fiction
Format=BC
Format_Paperback
HMM=245
IMPN=Oxford University Press
ISBN13=9780198701354
Language_English
PA=Available
PD=20170727
POP=Oxford
Price_€20 to €50
PS=Active
PUB=Oxford University Press
SMM=16
SN=Oxford Studies in Semantics and Pragmatics
Subject=Linguistics
WG=526
WMM=171
Product details
- ISBN 9780198701354
- Format: Paperback
- Weight: 526g
- Dimensions: 171 x 245 x 16mm
- Publication Date: 01 Jun 2017
- Publisher: Oxford University Press
- Publication City/Country: Oxford, GB
- Product Form: Paperback
- Language: English
Secure
checkout
Fast Shipping
Easy returns
This book explores graded expressions of modality, a rich and underexplored source of insight into modal semantics. Studies on modal language to date have largely focussed on a small and non-representative subset of expressions, namely modal auxiliaries such as must, might, and ought. Here, Daniel Lassiter argues that we should expand the conversation to include gradable modals such as more likely than, quite possible, and very good. He provides an introduction to qualitative and degree semantics for graded meaning, using the Representational Theory of Measurement to expose the complementarity between these apparently opposed perspectives on gradation. The volume explores and expands the typology of scales among English adjectives and uses the result to shed light on the meanings of a variety of epistemic and deontic modals. It also demonstrates that modality is deeply intertwined with probability and expected value, connecting modal semantics with the cognitive science of uncertainty and choice.
Daniel Lassiter is Assistant Professor in the Department of Linguistics at Stanford University. His research combines formal tools and experimental methods from linguistics, philosophy, and computational cognitive science to work towards a unified theory of language understanding as a cognitive phenomenon. His work has appeared in journals including Natural Language Semantics, Journal of Semantics, and Cognition.
