The paper presents a proof-theoretic semantics account of contextual domain restriction for quantified sentences in a fragment of English. First, the technique is exemplified in the more familiar first-order logic, and in its restricted quantification variant. Then, a proof-theoretic semantics for the NL fragment is reviewed, and extended to handling contextual domain restriction. The paper addresses both the descriptive facet of the problem, deriving meaning relative to a context, as well as the fundamental aspect, defining explicitly a context (suitable for quantifier domain restriction), and specifying what it is about such a context that brings about the variation of meaning due to it.The paper argues for the following principle: The context incorporation principle (CIP): For every quantified sentence S depending on a context c, there exists a sentence S', the meaning of which is independent of c, s.t. the contextually restricted meaning of S is equal to the? meaning of S'. Thus, the effect of a context can always be *internalized*. The current model-theoretic accounts of contextual domain restriction do not satisfy CIP, in that they imply intersection of some extension with an *arbitrary* subset of the domain, that need not be the denotation of any NL-expression.
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机译:本文提出了英语片段中定量句子的上下文域限制的证明理论语义说明。首先,该技术以更熟悉的一阶逻辑及其受限的量化变体为例。然后,对NL片段的证明理论语义进行了回顾,并扩展到处理上下文域限制。该论文既解决了问题的描述性方面,又推导了相对于上下文的意义,同时又解决了基本方面,明确定义了上下文(适用于量词域的限制),并说明了导致这种情况的上下文。本文提出以下原则:上下文合并原则(CIP):对于每个取决于上下文c的量化句子S,都存在一个句子S',其含义与c无关, ST S的上下文限制含义等于? S'的含义。因此,上下文的影响始终可以被“内部化”。当前关于上下文域限制的模型理论说明不满足CIP,因为它们暗示某些扩展与域的*任意*子集的交集,而不必是任何NL表达式的表示。
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