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Catastrophe Theoretic Semantics: An elaboration and application of René Thom's theory
Wolfgang Wildgen
[Pragmatics & Beyond III:5] 1982
► pp. v–vi

Table of contents

Introduction3

1. Applied catastrophe theory: a short introduction7

1.1. A sketch of the mathematical basis7

1.2. Catastrophe conventions9

1.3. The finite set of typical paths in the elementary unfoldings10

1.4. An example: the standard cusp12

2. Semantics from a dynamic perspective19

2.1. Aspects of dynamic semiotics19

2.2. The type of semantics aimed at by our model construction22

2.3. Formal semantics on the basis of catastrophe theory: a comparison with logical semantics24

2.4. Principles of interpretation25

2.5. René Thom's list of semantic archetypes29

3. The heart of catastrophe theoretic semantics: the set of semantic archetypes35

3.1. The semantic archetypes derivable from the zero-unfolding35

3.2. The semantic archetypes derivable from the fold37

3.3. The semantic archetypes derivable from the cusp42

3.4. The semantic archetypes derivable from the swallowtail56

3.5. The semantic archetypes derivable from the butterfly62

3.6. Archetypes derivable from unfoldings with codimension > 4 and corank 181

3.7. Semantic archetypes derivable from the compactified umbilics85

4. Applications of catastrophe theoretic semantics93

4.1. Dynamic inferences93

4.2. Word semantics97

4.3. Linguistic vagueness99

4.4. Compositional processes104

4.5. Application in neurolinguistics104

5. Beyond catastrophe theoretic semantics107

5.1. Beyond semantics: towards a dynamic theory of language107

5.2. Beyond catastrophe theory111

Footnotes113

References115

Index123

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