La nature de la forme sémantique d'une langue naturelle

Abstract

Knowledge of a language L provides a representational system that relates auditory patterns to conceptual structures of some sort in terms of which experience is organized. This relation requires linguistically determined structures to interact with conceptual structures in highly specific ways. The present paper argues that this interaction is to be explained by positing a level of Semantic Form SF that constitutes the interface between conceptual and linguistic knowledge. The status of SF will be discussed and some of its properties will be illustrated by means of problems arising from the interpretation of dimensional adjectives.