Prof. Dr. Yoad Winter
Prof. dr. Yoad Winter
Professor
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.