Dynamic Semantics
First published Mon Aug 23, 2010
Dynamic semantics is a perspective on natural language semantics that emphasises the growth of information in time. It is an approach to meaning representation where pieces of text or discourse are viewed as instructions to update an existing context with new information, with an updated context as result. In a slogan: meaning is context change potential.
Context plays a role in two distinct oppositions. The first opposition is the duality between context and that which modifies the context. Here the context is the information state, or, say, a suitable abstraction from the information state (compare the entry on semantic conceptions of information). The context modifier is the information received. The information cannot be received without the correct kind of presupposed information state. The proper analogues in predicate logic (compare the entries on classical logic and first-order model theory) are as follows. The information state is an assignment (environment) or a set of assignments. The information received is a set of assignments. The second opposition is the duality of context and content. Here the context is something like the storage capacity of the receiver. The content is the information stored. Thus, e.g., the context in this sense could be a set of discourse referents or files. The content would then be some set of assignments or, perhaps, world/assignment pairs on these referents.
Context plays a role in two distinct oppositions. The first opposition is the duality between context and that which modifies the context. Here the context is the information state, or, say, a suitable abstraction from the information state (compare the entry on semantic conceptions of information). The context modifier is the information received. The information cannot be received without the correct kind of presupposed information state. The proper analogues in predicate logic (compare the entries on classical logic and first-order model theory) are as follows. The information state is an assignment (environment) or a set of assignments. The information received is a set of assignments. The second opposition is the duality of context and content. Here the context is something like the storage capacity of the receiver. The content is the information stored. Thus, e.g., the context in this sense could be a set of discourse referents or files. The content would then be some set of assignments or, perhaps, world/assignment pairs on these referents.
3. Interpretation as a Process
Interpretation of declarative sentences can be viewed as a product or as a process. In the product perspective, one focusses on the notion of truth in a given situation. In the process perspective, interpretation of a proposition is viewed as an information updating step that allows us to replace a given state of knowledge by a new, more accurate knowledge state. Dynamic semantics focuses on interpretation as a process.
[Extracted from http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/dynamic-semantics/]
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