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« Partee-Borschev NSF Grant Meeting | Main | SNEWS»

Special Lecture on Infinities

Barbara Partee and Vladimir Borschev's Mathematical Methods for Linguists class is always open to guests; all are welcome. The schedule is posted here. The class meets on Tuesdays and Thursdays, 1:00-2:15, Herter 640

The topic for the next two meetings: infinities (perhaps infinitely many of them). Here are Barbara and Volodja's overview descriptions:

Lecture 5 (September 28)

Infinities, introduction. Finite vs. infinite. Denumerable, non-denumerable infinity. Diagonal arguments. (Partee, ter Meulen, and Wall, Chapter 4)

Lecture 6 (October 3)

What is the cardinality of a natural language?  Finite (occasionally suggested, challenging aspects of competence/performance distinction), denumerably infinite (the standard Chomskyan view), non-denumerably infinite (Langendoen and Postal), unspecified as between denumerably and non-denumerably infinite (Pullum)? The goal is not to settle the question, but rather to become literate about the debate and be able to follow the arguments and to identify the assumptions on which they rest. The related handout from Ling 409, Fall 2005, will be updated for October 3.

infty.jpg