Explorations of the dynamic environment

In this thesis, concerning dynamic semantics, we investigate different techniques that are currently being used in the area. It turns out that one important feature that these techniques have in common is that they make information - that is of global relevance in the interpretation of some text - available locally. Thereby it becomes possible to give a step-by-step analysis of text interpretation. This general principle is illustrated in two specific cases: (i) the dynamic interpretation of variables and quantification, and (ii) a dynamic treatment of the (macro) structure of texts. In these examples it turns out that the combination of different kinds of information is a crucial factor in the development of dynamic semantics.