Prof. dr. Yoad Winter

Professor

y.winter@uu.nl

The goal of my research is to create precise models that explain how language serves thought and communication. Grammar regulates signs like number (“car-s”), tense (“look-ed”), and adjective suffixes (“big/-er/-est”). By contrast, meanings involve abstract mental notions like counting, time, and comparison. My research deals with the connection between the two. As a theoretical linguist, I research this connection within

the paradigm of Formal Semantics. Since meaning is a highly abstract notion, my work focuses on empirical methods for testing semantic theories, both experimentally and by using very large language corpora. As a computer scientist by training, I also implement my theoretical research as computer algorithms for AI and using language resources for computational linguistics. More recently, I opened up a new line of research in linguistics that studies how meanings are related to grammar in the musical platform of African drum languages.