situation semantics

An approach to the SEMANTIC analysis of LANGUAGES developed during the 1980s as an alternative to possible-worlds-based MODEL-THEORETIC SEMANTICS. It assumes a richer ontology than model-theoretic semantics, in that it treats properties, relations, etc. as primitive objects, rather than modelling them formally in terms of possible worlds. Sentences are analyzed as denoting not truth values but situations (sets of facts which consist of a location, a relation and a truth value). The approach has also placed heavy emphasis on the ways in which the interpretation of sentences depends on the CONTEXT.