A vector logic for intensional formal semantics
Abstract
Formal semantics and distributional semantics are distinct approaches to linguistic meaning: the former models meaning as reference via model-theoretic structures; the latter represents meaning as vectors in high-dimensional spaces shaped by usage. This paper proves that these frameworks are structurally compatible for intensional semantics. We establish that Kripke-style intensional models embed injectively into vector spaces, with semantic functions lifting to (multi)linear maps that preserve composition. The construction accommodates multiple index sorts (worlds, times, locations) via a compound index space, representing intensions as linear operators. Modal operators are derived algebraically: accessibility relations become linear operators, and modal conditions reduce to threshold checks on accumulated values. For uncountable index domains, we develop a measure-theoretic generalization in which necessity becomes truth almost everywhere and possibility becomes truth on a set of positive measure, a non-classical logic natural for continuous parameters.
Keywords
Cite
@article{arxiv.2602.02940,
title = {A vector logic for intensional formal semantics},
author = {Daniel Quigley},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2602.02940},
year = {2026}
}
Comments
25 pages; 68 sources