This is a project in linguistic semantics, the study of how meanings are interpreted from linguistic structures. A central question of linguistic semantics is whether meanings may be interpreted directly from `surface structures`, the patterns of language as it is actually used, or whether a more abstract linguistic level must be posited in order to capture significant generalizations of semantic interpretation. Evidence has been offered on both sides of this question. The present project adopts the position that meanings can be interpreted directly from surface structures, and proceeds to investigate some of the clear problems that that position raises, with the aim of resolving those problems in theoretically satisfactory ways. The investigator is attempting to construct a `variable-free semantics`, a semantic theory of language in which variables and assignment functions play no essential role. Success in this effort would be a significant advance in linguistic theory.
