Variable-Free Semantics for Negations with Prosodic Variation

Abstract

In several recent publications (Suppes, 1976; Suppes and Macken, 1978) I have argued for a variable-free semantics of quantifiers, attributive adjectives, possessives, and intensifying adverbs. This work is a specialization of my earlier efforts at developing context-free fragments of natural language (1973a, 1973b, 1974). It is also part of my rejection of first-order logic as the appropriate instrument for the analysis of natural language, but I shall not digress here to state in any detail my views on this matter. The central idea is that the syntax of first-order logic is too far removed from that of any natural language, to use it in a sensitive analysis of the meaning of ordinary utterances.

It is a pleasure to contribute this article to the volume dedicated to Jaakko Hintikka on the occasion of his fiftieth birthday. Hintikka has been my part-time colleague at Stanford for many years. I look back with pleasure at our numerous talks about a wide variety of philosophical topics, and especially at our joint seminars, which have ranged from Aristotle to inductive logic. The research reported here has been supported in part by National Science Foundation Grant No. SED77-09698.