Abstract
This paper investigates the connection between temporal logic and the semantics of some temporal expressions in English. Specifically, we show how the meanings of English temporal preposition-phrases can be expressed as modal operators in an interval-based temporal logic which we call ETL0. We show how cascaded temporal preposition phrases and temporal preposition phrases with complex complements can be translated into ETL0. Finally, we present a decision-procedure for ETL0 and establish its correctness. The main contribution of the paper is to provide a characterization, in terms familiar to modal logicians, of the expressive resources made available by an important class of temporal expressions in English.
The authors would like to thank Mr. Dominik Schoop for his comments on the manuscript. The authors also gratefully acknowledge the support of the EPSRC, grant number GR/L/07529.
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Pratt, I., Francez, N. (2000). A Decidable Temporal Logic for Temporal Prepositions. In: Barringer, H., Fisher, M., Gabbay, D., Gough, G. (eds) Advances in Temporal Logic. Applied Logic Series, vol 16. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-015-9586-5_13
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-015-9586-5_13
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