Higher-Order Objects in the Semantics of Natural Language
Friederike Moltmann
April 2025
 

The aim of this contribution is to clarify and further develop a view on which higher-order objects play a highly restricted role in the ontology of natural language. A sharp distinction is drawn between ontologically dependent objects (events, tropes, qualities, attitudinal objects etc.) and higher-order objects (properties, relations, propositions, etc.). Natural Language reflects an ontology of the former, rather than of the latter.
Format: [ pdf ]
Reference: lingbuzz/008945
(please use that when you cite this article)
Published in: To appear in Disputatio, special issue on Cian Dorr ‘Higher-Order Quantification and the Elimination of Abstract Objects’
keywords: properties, higher-order metaphysics type theory, tropes, qualities, special quantifiers, semantics
previous versions: v2 [April 2025]
v1 [April 2025]
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