Two dynamic strategies
The dynamics of interpretation may be placed in two natural locations: in constructing
syntactic representations (cf. DRT), or in performing semantic evaluation in models (cf.
DPL). We compare both strategies from a logical point of view. A tense-logical 'tree
calculus' establishes compatibility of the two forms of dynamics and compares their
logical operations and inference notions, that diverge in their intuitive thrust. But
temporal reasoning in natural language exhibits more complex interactions between
interpretation and inference. We construct a richer calculus for these (inspired by
DATs), changing the standard division of labour between syntax, semantics and
inference that persists in current dynamic logics. We conclude that representational
dynamics seems favored at least in its heuristic power.
Alice ter Meulen