Comparative Semantics for Nordic Languages
A project funded by NOS-H (117517/541)
Participants
Göteborg:
Copenhagen Business School:
University of Oslo:
Project Description
Since its beginning around 1970 formal semantics has come to play an
increasingly dominating role within linguistic semantics in general,
and as a basis for computational linguistic applications in
particular. Even though the aim has been to study the semantics of
any natural language, most of the data considered has come from
English, and, with a few notable exceptions such as Bach, Jelinek,
Krazter and Partee (1995) and Bittner (1994) it
has not been an explicit goal to separate between what is common to a
class of languages and what is particular to English. We will
investigate
- to what degree
the machinery developed for English may be applied to the Nordic
languages, Danish, Norwegian and Swedish
- modifications and extensions that are necessary in order to
account for data in these languages
- regularities in the ways in which the three languages differ
from each other, i.e. to what degree can descriptions for one of the
languages be adapted in order to give an account of the other
languages.
In addition to gaining larger insight into these languages, the work
will be an important prerequisite for developing computational
semantic tools for Nordic languages.
The project focuses on three topics:
- definiteness and specificity
- s-passive and bli-passive
- tense, modal and aspect systems
Our research suggests that these topics are of particular
interest because they illustrate areas in which the Nordic languages
seem to differ from English and also areas in which the Nordic
languages differ subtly from each other.
Detailed description (postscript)
NORDSEM REPORTS
<engdahl@ling.gu.se>
Last modified: Tue Jul 2 15:20:10 MET DST 2002