Published online by Cambridge University Press: 28 November 2008
Katz (1966) attempts to explicate the notion of analyticity on the basis of a theory of natural languages. This theory assumes that grammatical transformations do not affect semantic interpretations, which are performed on the underlying phrase markers. Hence, the interpretation of the conjunction of two co-ordinate clauses consists of the logical conjunction of their interpretations. The following two sentences have therefore identical interpretations:
1. The thief snatched the money and the clerk pressed the alarm.
2. The clerk pressed the alarm and the thief snatched the money.