'Now' with Subordinate Clauses

We investigate a novel use of the English temporal modifier ‘now’, in which it combines with a subordinate clause. We argue for a univocal treatment of the expression, on which the subordinating use is taken as basic and the non-subordinating uses are derived. We start by surveying central features of the latter uses which have been discussed in previous work, before introducing key observations regarding the subordinating use of ‘now’ and its relation to deictic and anaphoric uses. All of these data, it is argued, can be accounted for on our proposed analysis. We conclude by comparing ‘now’ to a range of other expressions which exhibit similar behavior

(De)accenting definite descriptions

This paper focuses on definite descriptions. It will be shown that a definite description refers to a given discourse referent if the descriptive content is completely deaccented. But if there is a focussed element within the descriptive content it introduces a novel referent. This amounts to allowing two readings for definite descriptions without, however, allowing two readings for the definite article

Referential Anaphoric Expressions in Three Tie Locations and their Relationship to Reading Achievement of Eighth Grade Students

The purpose of this study was to examine eighth grade subjects\u27 abilities to resolve three types of referential anaphoric expressions across three different tie locations in expository discourse and to determine if the ability to resolve referential anaphoric expressions is significantly related to reading comprehension as measured by either a product-oriented or process-oriented test of reading achievement. One of the chief means of creating cohesion within a text is through the use of anaphoric expressions which refer a reader back to concepts developed previously. Research at the elementary level has led a number of investigators to conclude that elementary children do not adequately comprehend anaphoric expressions. Other researchers have found that difficulty with pronominal referents extends into the junior-high-school range. An anaphoric resolution test was developed by the investigator in which each of three types of referential anaphoric expressions were crossed with each of three tie locations, according to classifications established by Halliday and Hasan (1976). A two-way analysis of variance was used to provide insight into the influence that these factors have on the ability of eighth grade subjects to resolve referential anaphora. Scores from this instrument were then correlated with the Gates-MacGinitie Reading Test, Level E, a product-oriented measure of reading achievement, and the New York State Preliminary Competency Test in Reading, a process-oriented measure of reading achievement It was found that the type of referential anaphoric expression did not make a significant difference in their resolution and that there was no significant interaction between the type of referential anaphoric expression and the tie location of the presupposed items. The tie location, however, did make a significant difference in the subjects\u27 abilities to resolve referential anaphora. Further analysis demonstrated that there were significant differences between the immediate and both mediated and remote tie locations, but no significant difference between mediated and remote tie locations. Correlation coefficients between the anaphoric resolution test and either measure of reading achievement were significant beyond the .01 level of confidence. It was concluded that with average eighth grade subjects the ability to resolve referential anaphoric expressions in expository discourse is dependent to a significant degree upon the tie locations of the presupposed items when the presuppositions are nouns or noun phrases mentioned explicitly in the discourse. It was significantly easier for subjects to resolve these anaphoric expressions when their presuppositions were in the immediate tie locations than when they were in either the mediated or remote tie locations. Mean percentages of correct responses were also computed which confirmed results of other studies and led to the conclusion that students in the junior-high-school range also do not adequately comprehend anaphoric expressions. Further research is needed to: (1) establish the causative factor in the relationship between anaphoric resolution ability and reading comprehension, (2) determine if instruction in the resolution of anaphoric expressions would increase students\u27 abilities to resolve them, (3) determine if there is a relationship between the ability to resolve anaphoric expressions and measures of intelligence, and (4) determine if other factors involved in anaphoric resolution ability are also significant. Teachers need to be aware of the difficulty that students have resolving anaphoric expressions and attempt to help them in this area. Authors and publishers of children\u27s reading material, especially basal reader programs and content area textbooks, should be aware of the fact that popular readability formulas do not take anaphoric resolution ability into account. Teachers, as well as authors and publishers, should be constantly alert to new research findings on anaphora

Scalar implicatures with discourse referents: a case study on plurality inferences

This paper explores the idea that scalar implicatures are computed with respect to discourse referents. Given the general consensus that a proper account of pronominal anaphora in natural language requires discourse referents separately from the truth-conditional meaning, it is naturally expected that the anaphoric information that discourse referents carry play a role in the computation of scalar implicatures, but the literature has so far mostly exclusively focused on the truth-conditional dimension of meaning. This paper offers a formal theory of scalar implicatures with discourse referents couched in dynamic semantics, and demonstrates its usefulness through a case study on the plurality inferences of plural nouns in English

Anàfora i subjectivació en construccions clítiques femenines lexicalitzades

In this paper I will examine anaphoric relationships in lexicalized feminine clitic constructions (dormirla [to sleep it off], pirárselas [to beat it], etc.). Lexicalized feminine clitic constructions have no syntactic reference for the clitic, but there is an implicit contextual semantic reference to an implicated and recognized concept. Given the diversity of lexicalized feminine clitic constructions, an attempt is going to be made to establish a growing speaker subjectification continuum depending on whether it is a contextual semantic reference from an accommodation in a singular context, in a multiple context, or we are faced with a conventional implication. We will also comment on other more complicated processes, either because the construction experiences changes in its meaning or because the analogy causes the presence of the feminine clitic.En aquest treball analitzarem les relacions anafòriques en les construccions amb clític femení lexicalitzat (dormirla, pirárselas, etc.). Les construccions amb clític femení lexicalitzat no tenen referència sintàctica pel clític, però hi ha implicada una referència semàntica contextual a un concepte implicat i reconegut. Donada la diversitat de construccions amb clític femení lexicalitzat, establirem un continu creixent de subjetivació del parlant segons que es tracti d’una referencia semàntica contextual a partir d’una acomodació en un context singular, en un context múltiple o es tracti d’una implicació convencional. Tenint en compte els diferents processos donats en les construccions amb clític femení lexicalitzat, comentarem també altres processos en els quals la situació és més complicada, bé perquè intervenen canvis de significat en la construcció, bé perquè l’analogia motiva la presència del clític femení.This work is supported by the Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness of the Government of Spain under grant FFI2017-85441-R

Rethinking being Gricean: New challenges for metapragmatics

Arguably, forty years on, post-Gricean pragmatics is still the most successful and methodologically most rigorous approach to utterance meaning. However, and perhaps as a corollary of its extensive development, it has become necessary to ask what ‘being Gricean’ means for its current advocates. In this paper I address this question with respect to the current Anglo-American, truth-conditional paradigm, asking specifically how much, and on what identifiable dimensions, one can depart from his program and still remain ‘Gricean’. The label has generated very different challenges on several dimensions. First, (i) the role of inferential meanings has been questioned in that communication has since often been envisaged as mostly direct and non-inferential. In a similar spirit, (ii) the layered, also sometimes called ‘pipeline’ or ‘imbricated’ picture of meaning has been questioned within situation and game-theoretic semantics, and recently in their offshoot Equilibrium Semantics. Next, (iii) the explanatory role of intentions has often been denied in an attempt to reinstate the idea of multiple semantic ambiguities in lieu of meaning underdetermination, with the aim of aiding computational, formalizable accounts of discourse meaning. This reopened the question as to (iv) what kind of content, and how much of it, is attributable to grammar, following up on earlier proposals of the grammatical origin of some pragmatic meanings that were standardly classified as implicatures. Along yet another dimension, (v) the focus on cooperative interaction and proposition-based theorizing have been replaced with a focus on non-cooperative, such as strategic, communication and dialogue as the associated object of analysis. Finally, Grice’s project was a project in philosophy of language and as such in philosophical pragmatics. Theoretical, introspection-based methods employed without recourse to experimental or other empirical inquires are nowadays shunned in many pragmatics circles. So, the question arises regarding (vi) the place of philosophical pragmatics on a map of current research into meaning in communication. In this context, a metapragmatic question arises as to what qualitative and associated quantitative criteria current pragmatic theory has to fulfil in order to count as Gricean pragmatics. In this paper I address this question by discussing the identified areas (i)-(vi). Further, in doing so, using these indicators, I attempt to address the question ‘Quo vadis, pragmatics?’ with respect to the post-Gricean tradition. My metatheoretic inquiry begins by critically discussing the dimensions on which the Gricean program has been challenged and proceeds to arguing that none of the challenges constitutes a real threat to it. I develop two strands of argumentation showing how the approaches either (a) can be incorporated as its extensions or (b) are in pursuit of different goals and as such are not in competition with it. Argument (a) applies to automatic meaning assignment, the rejection of the ‘pipeline’ picture of meaning, emphasis on conventions, strategic conversation and generalized cognition. Argument (b) applies to the revival of semantic ambiguity and the grammatical foundation of implicatures. It is therefore concluded that the Gricean program can be relaxed on the dimensions covered by (a) and co-exist with the approaches subscribing to (b)

Binding Theory Semantic Interpretation and Context

There are several well-known counter-examples to the Binding Theory of Chomsky (1981, 1993) which have to do with Principles (B) and (C). These counter-examples have different degrees of acceptability. We can account for these counter-examples and explain their different degrees of acceptability by (i) Distinguishing different types of sentences among these examples; different kinds of sentences exemplify different phenomena and require different explanations. (ii) Viewing Binding Theory as a semantic theory about how to semantically interpret certain structural relationships between NPs. (iii) Modifying principies (B) and (C) so that they are not about the relation of having the same value, but rather about the relation of it being presupposed to have the same value in a given context. (iv) Identifying how the Binding Principles interact with other sources of semantic information in order to yield the interpretation for a sentence. These other semantic factors rnight provide information that conflicts with (B) or (C). The data show that when these other semantic factors determine some interpretation for a sentence in a clear enough way the speakers judge such an interpretation as at least partially acceptable.Hi ha tota una sèrie de coneguts contraexemples a la Teoria del Lligam de Chomsky (1981,1993) que tenen a veure amb els principis (B) i (C). Aquests contraexemples posseeixen diferents graus d'acceptabilitat. Podem explicar aquests exemples i explicar a més per qui: unes frases són jutjades més acceptables gramaticalment que altres si fem el següent: (i) Distingir diferents tipus de frases dintre d'aquests exemples; diferents frases exemplifiquen diferents fenòmens i requereixen diferents explicacions. (ii) Considerar la Teoria del Lligam com una teoria semàntica sobre com interpretar semànticament determinades relacions estructurals entre SNs. (iii) Modificar els principis (B) i (C) de forma que no tractin sobre la relació x té el mateix valor que y, sinó sobre la relació es pressuposa (respecte a cert context) que x i y tenen el mateix valor. (iv) Identificar com els principis de la Teoria del Lligam interaccionen amb altres fonts d'informació semàntica a fi de produir la interpretació d'una oració. Aquests altres factors semàntics poden proporcionar informació que estigui en conflicte amb (B) o (C). Les dades mostren que quan aquests altres factors semàntics determinen una interpretació per a una oració de forma suficientment clara els parlants consideren aquesta interpretació com a, si més no, parcialment acceptable

D-heads, domain restriction, and variation: from Greek and Basque to St'at'imcets Salish

In joint work (Giannakidou 2004, Etxeberria 2005, Etxeberria and Giannakidou 2010), we argue that one of the functions a D head can perform in language is to provide domain restriction. For this, we propose a new mode of composition for D--DDR. DDR is a type-shifting of D from its "regular" individual yielding function (iota) to a modifier function supplying the context set variable C. In Greek, St'át'imcets Salish, and Basque we find DDR applying to Q, but in St'át'imcets, the D-head shifts to DDR also when it combines with the NP under Q. Our analysis relies on Salish D being a definiteness head, since C is a discourse salient or familiar property; we thus challenge Matthewson's (1998, 2001) treatment of St'át'imcets Salish D as indefinite. Our goal here is to consider the St'át'imcets data and show that (a) the arguments for indefiniteness of D are not conclusive, and (b) the St'át'imcets facts are fully consistent with an analysis of DDR as a manifestation of definiteness. The St'át'imcets D, we will suggest, is best analyzed as a deictic, demonstrative-like D head, consistent with its morphology