Outline of a Semantic Theory of Kernel Sentences (Janua Linguarum. Series Maior)

All rights reserved PRINTED IN ROMANIA ## PREFACE TO THE ROMANIAN VERSION This book is the result of the contact I have had with some of Y. Bar-Hillel's works ; this contact has enabled me to view Carnap's works from the vantage point of the linguist. At the same time, this book is the result of a long contact with Rudolf Carnap's works ; my technique of constructing logic languages and the meta-language describing them, as well as many of my views concerning the relations between logical languages and natural languages and even concerning the theory of language itself originate in Carnap's works. This book also makes connection with J. J. Katz's transformational semantic theory, although it is viewed from the standpoint of a semanticist with a Carnapian background. The phrase "Elements of..." from the title of this book should be understood in two senses : a) that the aim of this work is not to develop a theory of a full natural language, but only of a part of such a language (the so-called kernel-sentences in Chomsky's sense); b) that this work is not aimed at developing all the theoretical aspects involved in the description of this sub-language. The title contains the phrase "of natural languages" only in order to make clear the fact that our attention is directed especially toward this class of languages. I am aware of the fact that a "semantic theory of natural languages" is but a particular instance of a "semantic theory of Language". I would like to acknowledge the important role of the many fruitful discussions I have had with my friend and colleague, Prof. Solomon Marcus, while I was working on this book; and I thank Mrs. Sanda Golopenfia-Eretescu (researcher in the Center for Phonetic and Dialectal Researches) for her consenting to read the manuscript of this work and for her valued comments. I ask these colleagues to find here the expression of my gratitude. ## E.V. Bucharest, August, 1969 ## CONTENTS Preface to the English version 7 Preface to the Romanian version 9 INTRODUCTION 15 § 1. Natural languages and formalized languages; structural analogies 15 § 2. Methodological consequences 17 § 3. The structure of the proposed semantic theory. Chapter I CRITICAL APPROACH TO THE TRANSFORMATIONAL SEMANTIC THEORY § 4. The meaning problem § 5. Object-language and meta-language § 6. The relations between semantics and syntax . § 7. Final remarks Chapter II THE BASIC FORM OF A SEMANTIC SYSTEM S 37 § 8. The lexicon of the system S 37 § 9. Formation rules § 10. Eules of designation § 11. Eules of truth § 12. Implication and equivalence § 13. L-Ooncepts § 14. Eules of inference § 15. Derivation and proof in 8 § 16. Primitive sentences in S § 17. Theorems concerning primitive sentences and transformation rules § 18. Some theorems in S § 19. Meaning postulates in S § 20. Extension and intension 12 OUTLINE OF A SEMANTIC THEORY OF KERNEL SENTENCES

Writing on the relationship between war and cinema has largely been dominated by an emphasis on optics and weaponised vision. However, as this analysis of the Hollywood war film will show, a wider sensory field is powerfully evoked in this genre. Contouring war cinema as representing a somatic experience of space, the study applies a term recently developed by Derek Gregory within the theoretical framework of Critical Geography. What he calls "corpography" implies a constant re-mapping of landscape through the soldier's body. These assumptions can be used as a connection between already established theories of cartographic film narration and ideas of (neo)phenomenological film experience, as they also entail the involvement of the spectator's body in sensuously grasping what is staged as a mediated experience of war. While cinematic codes of war have long been oriented almost exclusively to the visual, the notion of corpography can help to reframe the concept of film genre in terms of expressive movement patterns and genre memory, avoiding reverting to the usual taxonomies of generic texts.

PREFACE TO THE ENGLISH VERSION PREFACE TO THE ROMANIAN VERSION CONTENTS INTRODUCTION Chapter I. CRITICAL APPROACH TO THE TRANSFORMATIONAL SEMANTIC THEORY Chapter II. THE BASIC FORM OF A SEMANTIC SYSTEM S Chapter III. SYSTEM S IN RELATION TO KERNEL SENTENCES Chapter IV. TRANSLATION FROM NATURAL LANGUAGES INTO S Chapter V. MEANING POSTULATES IN S Chapter VI. POSSIBILITIES OF CHARACTERIZING L IN TERMS OF S Chapter VII. CLOSING REMARKS REFERENCES AUTHORS' INDEX