Mental Spaces Approach to Copular Sentences and Knowledge Use

我在心理空间理论的框架内研究了系列句。在现有的语义学理论中，系列句的处理尤其困难。一般认为，带有两个NP‘A be B’的系列句的意思是相等或集合理论上的成员。我指出，并列句有多种用法，比如：指认并列句，它把一个非指代NP赋值作为变量(例如，《源氏物语》的作者是村上春树)；表语并列句，它把一个额外的性质归因于已被指认的主语名词性短语所指的谓词(例如，‘村上西部是《源氏物语》的作者)；同一性陈述，这意味着在不同的知识领域中被独立识别的两个客体最终是相同的(例如，莎士比亚·培根)；“鳗鱼句子”，它直接结合了用于识别价值的参数和价值本身(例如，“我是鳗鱼。”)；元语言定义句子(例如，“金字塔是古埃及国王的坟墓。”)。我研究了这些用途的相互关系，部分研究将发表在芝加哥大学出版社即将出版的一本关于心理空间的书中。我还将我的研究扩展到重言式，并得出结论：系列句的语义决定了同言式应该有四种基本用法，其他各种用法应该解释为它们的派生用法。

I studied copular sentences within the framework of Mental Spaces Theory. The treatment of copular sentences is particularily difficult within the present theories of semantics. It is generally accepted that copular sentences with two NPs 'A be B' mean equality or set theoretical membership. I showed that copular sentences have various uses such as : identificational copular sentences which assign to a nonreferential NP which functions as a variable its value (ex.'The author of the tale of Genji is Murasakishikibu.') ; predicational copular sentences, which ascribe an additional propertydenoted by the predicate nominal to the referent of the subject NP which is already identified (ex.'Murasakishikibu is the author of the tale of Genji.') ; identity statements, which mean that two objects identified independently in different knowledge domains turn out to be the same (ex.'Shakespeare is Bacon.') ; 'eel-sentences', which combines directly a parameter for identifying the value and the very value itself (ex.'I am the eel.') ; metalinguistical definitional sentences (ex.'The pyramids are the tombs of the kings of the Ancient Egypt.'). I studied the interrelation of such uses and part of the research will be published in a book on Mental Spaces to be published by the University of Chicago Press. I also extented my research to tautology and came to the conclusion that the semantics of copular sentences predicts that there should be four fundamental uses for tautology and other various uses should be explained as derivative uses from them.