Alex Lascarides Explained

Alex Lascarides
Birth Name:	Alexandra Lascarides
Workplaces:	University of Edinburgh
Alma Mater:	Durham University (BSc) University of Edinburgh (MSc, PhD)
Doctoral Advisor:	Barry Richards
Fields:	Computational Linguistics Semantics Pragmatics
Thesis Title:	A formal semantic analysis of the progressive
Thesis Url:	https://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.234152
Thesis Year:	1988

Alexandra Lascarides is a linguist and chair in Semantics in the School of Informatics at the University of Edinburgh. Her research investigates computational linguistics and artificial intelligence.

Early life and education

Lascarides graduated from Durham University where she was a student of Van Mildert College, Durham with a first-class degree in mathematics.^{[1] [2]} She moved to the University of Edinburgh for her graduate studies, earning a master's degree in cognitive science in 1985. She stayed at Edinburgh for her doctoral research on semantic analysis.^[3]

Research and career

Her research investigates the semantics of communicative actions in conversation. She explored the science of conversation in the Logics of Conversation, and presented a framework known as Segmented Discourse Representation Theory to better understand linguistics and language.^[4]

Select publications

Lascarides’ publications include:

• Book: Asher, Nicholas . Logics of conversation . Lascarides . Alex . 2003 . Cambridge University Press . 0-521-65058-5 . Cambridge . 51607413.
• Lascarides . Alex . Asher . Nicholas . 1993-10-01 . Temporal interpretation, discourse relations and commonsense entailment . Linguistics and Philosophy . en . 16 . 5 . 437–493 . 10.1007/BF00986208 . 1573-0549.
• Asher . N . Lascarides . Alex . 1998-02-01 . Bridging . Journal of Semantics . en . 15 . 1 . 83–113 . 10.1093/jos/15.1.83 . 0167-5133.
• Asher . N . Lascarides . Alex . 1998-08-01 . The semantics and pragmatics of presupposition . Journal of Semantics . en . 15 . 3 . 239–300 . 10.1093/jos/15.3.239 . 0167-5133.

Awards and honours

In 2023 she was elected Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (FRSE).^[5]

References

1. Results of Final Examinations June 1984 . University of Durham Gazette 1983/84 . 1984 . II (Combined Series) . 96 . 1 May 2023.
2. Web site: Alex Lascarides . 2023-04-29 . University of Edinburgh Research Explorer . en.
3. Formal semantic analysis of the progressive . ed.ac.uk . . Lascarides . Alexandra . PhD . 1988 . University of Edinburgh . 1842/6736. 21008059 . free.
4. Web site: June 2015 . Logics of Conversation Computational linguistics . subscription . 2023-04-29 . Cambridge University Press . en . 9780521659512.
5. Web site: Professor Alex Lascarides . 2023-04-29 . rse.org.uk. . en-GB.