Andrea Rocci and Margherita Luciani
4Semantics and verbal communication
Abstract: The present chapter considers the role of semantics in verbal communication, examining the way in which the information encoded in linguistic units contributes to construct the meaning of utterances and larger units of discourse. We introduce the key aspects of meaning construction, connecting the notions of predicate-argument structures, presuppositions and semantic frames. For this purpose, we employ an approach known as Congruity Theory. According to this approach, meaning compositionality can be seen as the application of predicate terms to argument terms, guided by the exigency of congruity. The restrictions on argument saturation imposed by predicates are ...
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