Natural Language Semantics and Computability

Abstract: This paper is a reflexion on the computability of natural language semantics. It does not contain a new model or new results in the formal semantics of natural language: it is rather a computational analysis of the logical models and algorithms currently used in natural language semantics, defined as the mapping of a statement to logical formulas - formulas, because a statement can be ambiguous. We argue that as long as possible world semantics is left out, one can compute the semantic representation(s) of a given statement, including aspects of lexical meaning. We also discuss the algorithmic complexity of this process.