11.3.4 Context Change Potential Semantics for DRSs (Definition)

Formal definition of context change potential.

In clause 1, the interpretation of a DRS is a set of pairs of assignment functions, where the second assignment function differs from the first assignment function possibly only with respect to the discourse referents in the domain of the DRS. The second assignment function must satisfy all conditions appearing in the DRS.

The intuition behind Clause 1 can be explained by viewing the ways a DRS is able to change the discourse context: the first embedding of the pair represents the current context, the second the change to the current context taking the meaning of the DRS into account. Hence, in this way, DRSs are not interpreted solely in terms of truth conditions (the logical meaning) but also in terms of their context change potential (discourse meaning).

The clauses 2--6 define the interpretation of DRS-conditions, denoting sets of assingment functions. Clauses 2 and 3, for instance, interpret basic conditions as the set of assignment functions that satisfy the basic condition with respect to the model. Clause 4 handles implicational conditions, clause 5 disjunction, and clause 6 negation.