-The intensionality monad
-------------------------
-
-In the meantime, we'll see a linguistic application for monads:
-intensional function application. In Shan (2001) [Monads for natural
-language semantics](http://arxiv.org/abs/cs/0205026v1), Ken shows that
-making expressions sensitive to the world of evaluation is
-conceptually the same thing as making use of a *reader monad* (which
-we'll see again soon). This technique was beautifully re-invented
-by Ben-Avi and Winter (2007) in their paper [A modular
-approach to
-intensionality](http://parles.upf.es/glif/pub/sub11/individual/bena_wint.pdf),
-though without explicitly using monads.
-
-All of the code in the discussion below can be found here: [[intensionality-monad.ml]].
-To run it, download the file, start Ocaml, and say
-
- # #use "intensionality-monad.ml";;
-
-Note the extra `#` attached to the directive `use`.
-
-Here's the idea: since people can have different attitudes towards
-different propositions that happen to have the same truth value, we
-can't have sentences denoting simple truth values. Then if John
-believed that the earth was round, it would force him to believe
-Fermat's last theorem holds, since both propositions are equally true.
-The traditional solution is to allow sentences to denote a function
-from worlds to truth values, what Montague called an intension.
-So if `s` is the type of possible worlds, we have the following
-situation:
-
-
-<pre>
-Extensional types Intensional types Examples
--------------------------------------------------------------------
-
-S s->t s->t John left
-DP s->e s->e John
-VP s->e->t s->(s->e)->t left
-Vt s->e->e->t s->(s->e)->(s->e)->t saw
-Vs s->t->e->t s->(s->t)->(s->e)->t thought
-</pre>
-
-This system is modeled on the way Montague arranged his grammar.
-(There are significant simplifications: for instance, determiner
-phrases are thought of as corresponding to individuals rather than to
-generalized quantifiers.) If you're curious about the initial `s`'s
-in the extensional types, they're there because the behavior of these
-expressions depends on which world they're evaluated at. If you are
-in a situation in which you can hold the evaluation world constant,
-you can further simplify the extensional types. (Usually, the
-dependence of the extension of an expression on the evaluation world
-is hidden in a superscript, or built into the lexical interpretation
-function.)
-
-The main difference between the intensional types and the extensional
-types is that in the intensional types, the arguments are functions
-from worlds to extensions: intransitive verb phrases like "left" now
-take intensional concepts as arguments (type s->e) rather than plain
-individuals (type e), and attitude verbs like "think" now take
-propositions (type s->t) rather than truth values (type t).
-
-The intenstional types are more complicated than the intensional
-types. Wouldn't it be nice to keep the complicated types to just
-those attitude verbs that need to worry about intensions, and keep the
-rest of the grammar as extensional as possible? This desire is
-parallel to our earlier desire to limit the concern about division by
-zero to the division function, and let the other functions ignore
-division-by-zero problems as much as possible.
-
-So here's what we do:
-
-In Ocaml, we'll use integers to model possible worlds:
-
- type s = int;;
- type e = char;;
- type t = bool;;
-
-Characters (characters in the computational sense, i.e., letters like
-`'a'` and `'b'`, not Kaplanian characters) will model individuals, and
-Ocaml booleans will serve for truth values.
-
-<pre>
-type 'a intension = s -> 'a;;
-let unit x (w:s) = x;;
-
-let ann = unit 'a';;
-let bill = unit 'b';;
-let cam = unit 'c';;
-</pre>
-
-In our monad, the intension of an extensional type `'a` is `s -> 'a`,
-a function from worlds to extensions. Our unit will be the constant
-function (an instance of the K combinator) that returns the same
-individual at each world.
-
-Then `ann = unit 'a'` is a rigid designator: a constant function from
-worlds to individuals that returns `'a'` no matter which world is used
-as an argument.
-
-Let's test compliance with the left identity law:
-
-<pre>
-# let bind m f (w:s) = f (m w) w;;
-val bind : (s -> 'a) -> ('a -> s -> 'b) -> s -> 'b = <fun>
-# bind (unit 'a') unit 1;;
-- : char = 'a'
-</pre>
-
-We'll assume that this and the other laws always hold.
-
-We now build up some extensional meanings:
-
- let left w x = match (w,x) with (2,'c') -> false | _ -> true;;
-
-This function says that everyone always left, except for Cam in world
-2 (i.e., `left 2 'c' == false`).
-
-Then the way to evaluate an extensional sentence is to determine the
-extension of the verb phrase, and then apply that extension to the
-extension of the subject:
-
-<pre>
-let extapp fn arg w = fn w (arg w);;
-
-extapp left ann 1;;
-# - : bool = true
-
-extapp left cam 2;;
-# - : bool = false
-</pre>
-
-`extapp` stands for "extensional function application".
-So Ann left in world 1, but Cam didn't leave in world 2.
-
-A transitive predicate:
-
- let saw w x y = (w < 2) && (y < x);;
- extapp (extapp saw bill) ann 1;; (* true *)
- extapp (extapp saw bill) ann 2;; (* false *)
-
-In world 1, Ann saw Bill and Cam, and Bill saw Cam. No one saw anyone
-in world two.
-
-Good. Now for intensions:
-
- let intapp fn arg w = fn w arg;;
-
-The only difference between intensional application and extensional
-application is that we don't feed the evaluation world to the argument.
-(See Montague's rules of (intensional) functional application, T4 -- T10.)
-In other words, instead of taking an extension as an argument,
-Montague's predicates take a full-blown intension.
-
-But for so-called extensional predicates like "left" and "saw",
-the extra power is not used. We'd like to define intensional versions
-of these predicates that depend only on their extensional essence.
-Just as we used bind to define a version of addition that interacted
-with the option monad, we now use bind to intensionalize an
-extensional verb:
-
-<pre>
-let lift pred w arg = bind arg (fun x w -> pred w x) w;;
-
-intapp (lift left) ann 1;; (* true: Ann still left in world 1 *)
-intapp (lift left) cam 2;; (* false: Cam still didn't leave in world 2 *)
-</pre>
-
-Because `bind` unwraps the intensionality of the argument, when the
-lifted "left" receives an individual concept (e.g., `unit 'a'`) as
-argument, it's the extension of the individual concept (i.e., `'a'`)
-that gets fed to the basic extensional version of "left". (For those
-of you who know Montague's PTQ, this use of bind captures Montague's
-third meaning postulate.)
-
-Likewise for extensional transitive predicates like "saw":
-
-<pre>
-let lift2 pred w arg1 arg2 =
- bind arg1 (fun x -> bind arg2 (fun y w -> pred w x y)) w;;
-intapp (intapp (lift2 saw) bill) ann 1;; (* true: Ann saw Bill in world 1 *)
-intapp (intapp (lift2 saw) bill) ann 2;; (* false: No one saw anyone in world 2 *)
-</pre>
-
-Crucially, an intensional predicate does not use `bind` to consume its
-arguments. Attitude verbs like "thought" are intensional with respect
-to their sentential complement, but extensional with respect to their
-subject (as Montague noticed, almost all verbs in English are
-extensional with respect to their subject; a possible exception is "appear"):
-
-<pre>
-let think (w:s) (p:s->t) (x:e) =
- match (x, p 2) with ('a', false) -> false | _ -> p w;;
-</pre>
-
-Ann disbelieves any proposition that is false in world 2. Apparently,
-she firmly believes we're in world 2. Everyone else believes a
-proposition iff that proposition is true in the world of evaluation.
-
-<pre>
-intapp (lift (intapp think
- (intapp (lift left)
- (unit 'b'))))
- (unit 'a')
-1;; (* true *)
-</pre>
-
-So in world 1, Ann thinks that Bill left (because in world 2, Bill did leave).