Proceedings of Sinn und Bedeutung
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Part-Whole-Modifiers and the *-Operator
Get PDFIn this paper, I present an analysis of German ‘ganz’ ( whole), which I see as evidence for the existence of the plural operator in the syntax as well as its ability to enter into scope relationships with other operators at LF. I also elaborate on more general ideas of ‘wholeness’ in natural language
Two types of habituals: Kiowa ingredients of a modular imperfective
Get PDFThis paper argues that the Kiowa language (kio) employs two distinct methods of building habituals, each with its own morphological representation. The free adverbial àn is a ‘distributive’ over events which gives a sense of plurality ‘strewn’ across the topic time, while the bound adverbial bo:+ is a durative expressing an event that lasts the entire topic time. Thesemethods of imperfectivity are proposed as complementary in the literature, but the Kiowa facts show that the components of the imperfective are modular
Conveying content questions without wh-words: evidence from Abaza
Get PDFWe argue that Abaza, a polysynthetic language from the Northwest Caucasian family, exhibits a syntax-semantics mapping that has not been observed in any other languages before. We show that Abaza lacks wh-words and, as a consequence, matrix and embedded wh- interrogative clauses, and conveys direct and indirect content question meaning by means of headless relative clauses. We propose a compositional semantic analysis of these headless relative clauses that assigns them the same meaning as concealed question DPs, i.e. individual concepts. When occurring as matrix clauses and conveying direct question meaning, these headless relative clauses require the relative verbal form to contain a clause typing affix from a specific set. We show that these affixes cannot be analyzed as “incorporated” or “cliticized” wh- words, but rather as operators turning individual concepts into questions, i.e., sets of propositions
Homogeneity and universal quanti?cation in embedded questions
Get PDFBased on experiments carried out in three languages (German, Dutch, Ulster English) we provide evidence for the claims that question-internal universal quanti?ers (who all) can be made at-issue and collapse homogeneity in embedded contexts. We show that these question quantifying particles can be accounted for in a domain restriction analysis (Brisson, 2003). Couched within the account of homogeneity provided in Kriz and Spector (2020), homogeneity removal follows as a result of these particles ?attening the alternatives which enter into the computation of homogeneity
Discourse anaphoricity and first-person indexicality in emoji resolution
Get PDFThis paper proposes a formal semantic classification of emoji-text combinations, focusing on two core sets of emoji: face emoji and activity emoji. Based on different data sources (introspective intuitions, naturalistic Twitter examples, and experimental evidence), we argue that activity emoji (case study I) are essentially event descriptions that serve as separate discourse units (similar to free adjuncts) and connect to the accompanying text by virtue of suitable discourse relations. By contrast, face emoji (case study II) are expressive elements that are anchored to an attitude holder and comment on a proposition provided by the accompanying text. We conclude by revisiting emoji semantics from the perspective of formal gesture semantics: we probe interactions of emoji and texts that contain clausal negation, and conclude that emoji generally do not scope under negation; however, the appearance of such a scope relation arises when activity emoji are connected to the accompanying text by virtue of an Explanation discourse relation
A manner condition on causatives: Resultative compounds in Daakaka
Get PDFIn event (de)composition, causative predicates are traditionally analyzed as complex predicates, that denote sets of causing events e leading to a result state s (e.g. open). The additional modification of the causing event by a manner predicate (e.g. push) derives a complex resultative predicate in which both sub-eventualities are specified by respective roots (e.g. push X open or open X by pushing; Beavers 2012, Rappaport Hovav & Levin 2001, Dowty 1979). In this paper, I address causative predicates in the underdocumented Oceanic language Daakaka (Vanuatu). Based on original fieldwork, I demonstrate that, whereas in most languages, manner modification is optional in the context of causative predicates (ase.g. in English or Romance), in Daakaka, it is obligatory. This paper provides a unified semantic analysis of three types of resultative compounds in Daakaka, and makes the argument that manner verbs modify the causing event denoted by causative verbs. To account for crosslinguistic variation, I propose that languages differ as to whether they license existential closure over covert event variables (e.g. English) or require their overt realization by lexical (orfunctional) material (e.g. Daakaka)
Modified numerals and polarity sensitivity: Between O(nly)DA and E(ven)SA
Get PDFBare numerals (BNs), comparative-modified numerals (CMNs), and superlativemodified numerals (SMNs) exhibit interesting differences with respect to scalar implicatures, ignorance, sensitivity to grammatical polarity, and sensitivity to pragmatic polarity. Each of these differences has been used to conclude fundamental difference—between BNs and MNs,within MNs, and within SMNs. Revisiting the manifestation of the effects within numerals and across numerals and disjunction, indefinites, and minimizers, as well as connections between the effects, in this paper I argue for fundamental similarity and propose a unified account. The account crucially explores interactions between subdomain alternatives and classic, Horn-style scalar alternatives as well as between O(nly) and E(ven), arguing in particular that sensitivity to grammatical/pragmatic polarity comes from ODA/ESA, and that both O and E are ultimately driven by the same pressure: To justify the choice of the assertion in light of its true alternatives
Zero or minimum degree? Rethinking minimum gradable adjectives
Get PDFThis paper examines the class of minimum gradable adjectives (minimum GAs), the standards of whose positive forms are traditionally characterized in terms of minimum degrees. Using profitable as a case study, I argue that their standards are better characterized using zero degrees, which may not be minimum degrees. Moreover, I show that this zero-standard interpretation cannot be derived by existing approaches, and propose that it is derived by a newcompositional mechanism, which also derives the truth conditions of plain comparatives and is different from the one that derives the relative-standard interpretation of a positive form
Evidentials in the nominal domain: a Speasian analysis of ?ay?a?u??m determiners
No full textBased on novel fieldwork data, we propose a re-analysis of the determiner system of ?ay?aj?u??m (a.k.a. Comox-Sliammon; Central Salish; ISO 639-3: coo). Contrary to previous descriptions by Davis (1973), Harris (1981), Watanabe (2003), and Huijsmans et al. (2018), we argue that determiners in ?ay?aj?u??m encode evidentiality (‘current direct evidence’ vs. ‘previous direct evidence’ vs. ‘evidence-neutral’). To account for this pattern, we argue that the determiners encode relations between situations, following work by Speas (2010) and Kalsang et al. (2013). This paper adds to the small but growing body of evidence that evidential notions can be expressed in the nominal domain (Hanks 2009; Gutiérrez & Matthewson 2012; Gutiérrez 2015; Rose 2017; Gambarage & Matthewson 2019). This in turn provides support for the existence of semantic atoms or ‘building blocks’ which recur in different parts of the syntactic structure (Hale 1986; von Fintel & Matthewson 2008)
Disambiguating two conditional construals: Evidence from the optionality of \u27if\u27
No full textIn Kratzer’s restrictor analysis, conditionals without overt modals are assumed to contain a covert epistemic necessity modal (Kratzer 1986, 1991a). Although this assumption has gained empirical support from a number of conditional phenomena (Frank 1996; Zvolenszky 2002; von Fintel and Iatridou 2002 among others), it still remains unclear whether the covert epistemic necessity modal is always present. I argue that conditional construals with and without the covert epistemic necessity modal are both needed, evidenced by the distribution of Mandarin ruguo in deontic conditionals