From word to sentence: a pregroup analysis of the object pronoun \textit{who(m)} (Q1006463): Difference between revisions

\textit{Categorical grammar} dating back to \textit{K. Ajdukiewicz} [Erkenntnis 4, 100--138 (1934; JFM 60.0020.01); Erkenntnis 4, 100--138 (1934; JFM 60.0844.02); Studia philos., Leopolis, 1 (1935), 1--27 (1935; JFM 62.1050.03); Erkenntnis 5, 151--161 (1935; Zbl 0011.24208)] and \textit{Y. Bar-Hillel} [J. Symb. Log. 15, 1--16 (1950; Zbl 0036.00604); in: Language and information, selected essays, 19--37 (1964); (1950; Zbl 0158.25304)] is an attempt to describe the structure of a natural language by assigning types, formerly known as \textit{categories}, to the words of the language, these types living in an algebraic or logical system, as elements of the former or as terms of the latter while grammaticality of sentences being to be checked by computations on strings of types. Its underlying formal system was transformed by the present author [Am. Math. Mon. 65, 154--170 (1958; Zbl 0080.00702)] into what algebraists would call a \textit{residuated monoid}, or what he called the \textit{syntactic calculus}, a form of positive intuitionistic propositional logic in Gentzen's sequential calculus without Gentzen's three \textit{structural rules}, namely, contraction, weakening, and interchange. A newcomer of categorical grammar came from \textit{C. Casadio} [Grammars 4, No. 3, 167--185 (2001; Zbl 1005.03034)] who proposed to replace the syntactic calculus by classical non-commutative linear logic. This resulted in her coorporation with \textit{J. Lambek} [Stud. Log. 71, No. 3, 315--329 (2002; Zbl 1011.03016)]. In retrospect, the approach had been anticipated by certain ideas of Harris [Int. Comput. Center Bull. 5, 69--94 (1966)]. It was elaborated into a partially ordered algebraic system called a \textit{pregroup}, or, equivalently, into a logical system called \textit{compact biliner logic}. This new approach differed from the older one in having replaced two binary connectives of \textit{implication} by two unary operations of \textit{adjunction}, simultaneously replacing the two-dimensional proof-trees of type logical grammars by one-dimensional \ calculations. This paper concentrates on a pregroup analysis of the object pronoun \textit{who(m)} in English.