US-Czechoslovakia Joint Fund Research on Semantics of English and Czech

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This U.S.-Czechoslovakia Joint Fund award is for research on "Semantics of English and Czech" by Dr. Eva Hajicova of the Institute for Formal & Applied Linguistics, Charles University, Prague, in cooperation with Dr. Barbara H. Partee of the University of Massachusetts-Amherst. The researchers will focus on theoretical and descriptive issues in the comparative semantics of English and Czech, particularly the relation between formal semantic structure and informational structure. The collaboration builds on prior work by Hajicova and her colleagues in Prague on topic-focus articulation and functional sentence perspective, and by Partee and her colleagues in the U.S. on cross-linguistic semantics of quantification and related issues in formal semantics. One central issue to be investigated is the extent to which theoretical differences between the approaches to semantics developed in the two countries may partially reflect differences in those aspects of meaning and information structure that are grammaticized in English and Czech. Results would have important consequences for semantic theory and semantic typology, as well as practical benefits for both traditional and computational applications in the domains of translation, pedagogy, and information retrieval. This research in linguistics fulfills the program objective of advancing science by enabling leading experts in the United States and Czechoslovakia to combine complementary talents and pool research resources in areas of strong mutual interest and competence.