Description

In this course, I will address the question of how words encode context. 
 More specifically, I examine the formal mechanisms  responsible for
argument and adjunct selection in language. I outline a theory of
lexically type-driven semantic selection and composition  that permits
restricted polymorphisms, while explaining the creative use of words in
novel contexts.  Building explicitly on Generative Lexicon's richer
notion of compositionality, I explore the type language and logic
necessary to model local context in natural language.  Words encode local
context as typing information. The compositional rules of the language
refer to these types. The operations possible during composition for
these
types are: selection, coercion, exploitation, and introduction. I present
analyses of many well-known grammatical constructions using combinations
of these mechanisms. I will explore the formal properties of the
languages
that are generated by inclusion of these selection mechanisms, and review
how cross-linguistic selection phenomena correlate with the model
presented here.