title: Abstraction and natural language semantics.
abstract: According to the traditional view, a word prototypically denotes a class of objects sharing similar features, i.e. it results from an abstraction based on the detection of common properties in perceived entities. I explore here another idea: words result from abstraction of common premises in the rules governing our actions. I first argue that taking 'inference', instead of 'reference', as the basic issue in semantics does matter. I then discuss two phenomena that are, in my opinion, particularly difficult to analyse within the scope of traditional semantic theories: systematic polysemy and plurals. I conclude by a discussion of my approach, and by a summary of its main features.
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire d'Informatique de Paris-Nord, UMR 7030 du CNRS, Institut Galilée, Université Paris-Nord, 99 Avenue Jean-Baptiste Clément, F-93430 Villetaneuse, France. daniel.kayser@lipn.univ-paris13.fr
authors.forename: Daniel
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Kayser
mesh_terms: D003210:Concept Formation; D006801:Humans; D007802:Language; D012660:Semantics