La sémantique lexicale est d'abord inférentielle - article ; n°1 ; vol.113, pg 92-106

Langue française - Année 1997 - Volume 113 - Numéro 1 - Pages 92-106
D. KAYSER : La sémantique lexicale est d'abord inférentielle Lexical Semantics is concerned with the meaning of words ; but how to express a meaning ? In words ? With « atoms of meaning » ? With logical predicates ? With mathematical functions ? We discuss the weaknesses of these solutions, try to identify their causes and conclude that the problem is basically ill-defined. Actually, what matters are the inferences which are warranted by the use of a word in its context ; the existence of a referent in some universe of discourse is merely a possible by-product of these inferences. We finally explain that the inferential behaviour obeys general principles that can be represented in a logic, provided it is a nonmonotonic one.
15 pages
Source : Persée ; Ministère de la jeunesse, de l’éducation nationale et de la recherche, Direction de l’enseignement supérieur, Sous-direction des bibliothèques et de la documentation.