X-Git-Url: http://lambda.jimpryor.net/git/gitweb.cgi?p=lambda.git;a=blobdiff_plain;f=topics%2F_week6_plexy.mdwn;h=79d081e312c78501bbba41f4d180f9d5721090c9;hp=caf3e69d0a02df7c33b681c0c5197e7c3d475b35;hb=62abed25f0f396cd548b833805f4219cbdf79533;hpb=629e27a98dad2c0c1bb4dbcc246c2d03693ef7c6 diff --git a/topics/_week6_plexy.mdwn b/topics/_week6_plexy.mdwn index caf3e69d..79d081e3 100644 --- a/topics/_week6_plexy.mdwn +++ b/topics/_week6_plexy.mdwn @@ -1,5 +1,5 @@ -Motivating types; motivating the Maybe monad -============================================ +Motivating types; our first glimpse of the Maybe monad +====================================================== In [[a long footnote discussing Russell|readings/kaplan-plexy.pdf]], Kaplan 1989:496 poses a problem for the interaction of structured @@ -47,8 +47,10 @@ meaning. more complicated expression that, he argues, refers to Plexy, but this nicety is not crucial to our discussion here.) +## Types to the rescue + Kaplan's solution is, in effect, to impose a type system on his -grammar in such a way that structured meanings cannot be confused with +grammar in such a way that complex structured meanings cannot be confused with the referent of a directly-referential term. He suggests that the meaning of a directly referential term always be marked by a special bit of structure that is unique to direct reference. More concretely, @@ -65,6 +67,8 @@ class of objects that a directly referential term can refer to, and the class of objects that can serve as the complex structure corresponding to a DP that is not directly referential. +## Motivating Maybe + Kaplan goes on to use this solution to attack a different problem, the problem of non-referring names. Russell supposed that if a name had no referent (e.g., *Santa*), a sentence containing that name would @@ -88,8 +92,8 @@ directly-referential expressions: {} if there is no object that E refers to, or else {P} if E refers to P -In later weeks, we will call this technique the Maybe monad. +In later weeks, we will call the general form of this technique the Maybe type, and the general strategy for deploying this type the Maybe monad. -Kaplan, D. 1989. "Demonstratives. InJ. Almog, J. Perry, & H. Wettstein +Kaplan, D. 1989. "Demonstratives. In J. Almog, J. Perry, & H. Wettstein (Eds.), Themes from Kaplan (pp. 481-563)."