Semantics: Difference between revisions

No change in size ,  03:15, 19 July 2023
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Fix broken anaphora
(Explain presuppositions)
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There's a trick that we can use to write presuppositions alongside a semantic expression: by leveraging the mathematical notion of an expression being '''undefined'''. Just as <math>1 \div x</math> is undefined when <math>x = 0</math>, "the current king of France" should be undefined when France has no king. In semantic notation, we write this as <math>\text{bald}(\text{k})\text{, defined only if king}(\text{k}, \text{France}) </math>. This restricts the possible models to only those that set <math>\text{k}</math> to be a king of France.
There's a trick that we can use to write presuppositions alongside a semantic expression: by leveraging the mathematical notion of an expression being '''undefined'''. Just as <math>1 \div x</math> is undefined when <math>x = 0</math>, "the current king of France" should be undefined when France has no king. In semantic notation, we write this as <math>\text{bald}(\text{k})\text{, defined only if king}(\text{k}, \text{France}) </math>. This restricts the possible models to only those that set <math>\text{k}</math> to be a king of France.


Note that this <math>\text{defined only if}</math> clause can appear anywhere within an expression, not just at the top level. One example where it ''needs'' to be embedded in a sub-expression is in {{Derani|󱛃󱚺󱛂 󱚷󱛊󱚲 󱛘󱚶󱚴󱛍󱛃󱛙 󱛄󱛊󱚴 󱛘󱚳󱚺󱛎󱛃󱛙 󱛆󱛌󱛃|Gaq tú deo ké pao }}. This becomes: <math>\forall a : \text{deo}(a).\ \exists e.\ \tau(e) \subseteq \text{t}\ \land\ \text{gaq}(a, [\text{P}(a)\text{, defined only if }\text{pao}(\text{P}(a), a)])(e)</math>. Moving the <math>\text{defined only if}</math> clause to the top level wouldn't work, because it uses the variable <math>a</math>, which is only available inside the scope of the <math>\forall</math> function.
Note that this <math>\text{defined only if}</math> clause can appear anywhere within an expression, not just at the top level. One example where it ''needs'' to be embedded in a sub-expression is in {{Derani|󱛃󱚺󱛂 󱚷󱛊󱚲 󱛘󱚶󱚴󱛍󱛃󱛙 󱛄󱛊󱚴 󱛘󱚳󱚺󱛎󱛃󱛙 󱛌󱚺󱛂|Gaq tú deo ké pao âq}}. This becomes: <math>\forall a : \text{deo}(a).\ \exists e.\ \tau(e) \subseteq \text{t}\ \land\ \text{gaq}(a, [\text{P}(a)\text{, defined only if }\text{pao}(\text{P}(a), a)])(e)</math>. Moving the <math>\text{defined only if}</math> clause to the top level wouldn't work, because it uses the variable <math>a</math>, which is only available inside the scope of the <math>\forall</math> function.


== Propositions ==
== Propositions ==