States in flux : logics of change, dynamic semantics, and dialogue
Verbal communication is a complex process of negotiation towards a common goal, maximizing each participant's information about the world. Conversations typically involve dispute, correction, and agreement between their participants. How could a formal theory begin to describe such phenomena? In particular, how might a mathematical theory of utterance interpretation (a ~formal semantics~) handle the idea that language use systematically <I>changes </I>the beliefs of communicating agents? The contributions of this thesis, in the fields of logic and formal semantics, are largely constructive. The research is carried out within two main ~traditions~, the research programmes of ~Belief Revision~, or Theory Change, and Dynamic Semantics (and to a lesser extent, Paraconsistent Logic). These theories are integrated, and applied in a formal model of dialogue. Thus, the objective of the thesis is to examine a marriage between ~logic's~ of Theory Change (which describe rational modifications to theories in the light of new information) and systems of Dynamic Semantics (which describe an agent's processing of incoming linguistic information). This venture involves providing a semantics for Theory Change, extending Theory
Lemon, Oliver
States in flux : logics of change, dynamic semantics, and dialogue. Verbal communication is a complex process of negotiation towards a common goal, maximizing each participant's information about the world. Conversations typically involve dispute, correction, and agreement between their participants. How could a formal theory begin to describe such phenomena? In particular, how might a mathematical theory of utterance interpretation (a ~formal semantics~) handle the idea that language use systematically <I>changes </I>the beliefs of communicating agents? The contributions of this thesis, in the fields of logic and formal semantics, are largely constructive. The research is carried out within two main ~traditions~, the research programmes of ~Belief Revision~, or Theory Change, and Dynamic Semantics (and to a lesser extent, Paraconsistent Logic). These theories are integrated, and applied in a formal model of dialogue. Thus, the objective of the thesis is to examine a marriage between ~logic's~ of Theory Change (which describe rational modifications to theories in the light of new information) and systems of Dynamic Semantics (which describe an agent's processing of incoming linguistic information). This venture involves providing a semantics for Theory Change, extending Theory
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