A discourse-based account of Spanish ser/estar

The study offers a discourse-based account of the Spanish copula forms ser and estar, which are generally considered to be lexical exponents of the stage-level/individual-level contrast. It argues against the popular view that the distinction between SLPs and ILPs rests on a fundamental cognitive division of the world that is reflected in the grammar. As it happens, conceptual oppositions like “temporary vs. permanent” or “arbitrary vs. essential“ provide only a preference for the interpretation of estar and ser. In addition, the evidence for an SLP/ILP impact on the grammar turns out to be far less conclusive than is currently assumed. The study argues against event-based accounts of the ser/estar contrast in particular, showing that ser and estar pattern alike in failing all of the standard eventuality tests. The discourse-based account proposed instead assumes that ser and estar both display the same lexical semantics (which is identical to the semantics of English be, German sein, etc.); estar differs from ser only in presupposing a relation to a specific discourse situation. By using estar a speaker restricts his or her claim to a specific discourse situation, whereas by using ser, the speaker makes no such restriction. The preference for interpreting estar predications as denoting temporary properties and ser predications as denoting permanent properties follows from economy principles driving the pragmatic legitimation of estars discourse dependence. The analysis proposed in this paper can also account for the observation that ser predications do not give rise to thetic judgements. The proposal is couched in terms of the framework of DRT

On predication, derivation and anti-locality

This paper pursues the question what the implications of the Anti-Locality Hypothesis could be for the syntax of secondary predication. Focus of the discussion will be an investigation of what their internal structure of small clause complements must look like, how these small clause complements connect to their matrix environments, and what the relevance could be for the formulation of anti-locality presented here. Anti-locality is defined over a tripartite clause structure (split into three Prolific Domains) and a PF-condition on the computation (the Condition on Domain-Exclusivity). The investigation revolves around two leading questions: (i) does the syntax of small clauses involve more structure than simply [SC DP XP] and (ii) do small clauses constitute their own Prolific Domain (or maybe even more)? The results, affirmative answers to both questions, are also relevant for other types of secondary predication

Robust Grammatical Analysis for Spoken Dialogue Systems

We argue that grammatical analysis is a viable alternative to concept spotting for processing spoken input in a practical spoken dialogue system. We discuss the structure of the grammar, and a model for robust parsing which combines linguistic sources of information and statistical sources of information. We discuss test results suggesting that grammatical processing allows fast and accurate processing of spoken input.Comment: Accepted for JNL

Semantic Types, Lexical Sorts and Classifiers

We propose a cognitively and linguistically motivated set of sorts for lexical semantics in a compositional setting: the classifiers in languages that do have such pronouns. These sorts are needed to include lexical considerations in a semantical analyser such as Boxer or Grail. Indeed, all proposed lexical extensions of usual Montague semantics to model restriction of selection, felicitous and infelicitous copredication require a rich and refined type system whose base types are the lexical sorts, the basis of the many-sorted logic in which semantical representations of sentences are stated. However, none of those approaches define precisely the actual base types or sorts to be used in the lexicon. In this article, we shall discuss some of the options commonly adopted by researchers in formal lexical semantics, and defend the view that classifiers in the languages which have such pronouns are an appealing solution, both linguistically and cognitively motivated

Tense and the Logic of Change

In this paper it is shown how the DRT (Discourse Representation Theory) treatment of temporal anaphora can be formalized within a version of Montague Semantics that is based on classical type logic

Secondary predication in Russian

The paper makes two contributions to semantic typology of secondary predicates. It provides an explanation of the fact that Russian has no resultative secondary predicates, relating this explanation to the interpretation of secondary predicates in English. And it relates depictive secondary predicates in Russian, which usually occur in the instrumental case, to other uses of the instrumental case in Russian, establishing here, too, a difference to English concerning the scope of the secondary predication phenomenon

The lexical interface: closed class items in south Slavic and English

This thesis argues for a minimalist theory of dual lexicalization. It presents a unified analysis of South Slavic and English auxiliaries and accounts for the distribution of South Slavic clitic clusters. The analysis moves much minor cross-linguistic variation out of the syntax into the lexicon and the level of Phonological Form. Following a critique of various approaches to lexical insertion in Chomskyan models, we adapt Emonds' (1994, 1997) theory of syntactic and phonological lexicalization for a model employing bare phrase structure. We redefine 'extended projection' in this theory, and revise the mechanism of 'Alternative Realization', whereby formal features associated with (possibly null) XP may be realised on another node. Pronominal clitics are one example of Alternative Realization. We claim that the Serbian/Croatian/Bosnian clitic cluster is phonologically lexicalized on the highest head in the extended projection. The clitic auxiliaries in SCB are not auxiliaries, but the altemative realization of features in 1º without categorial specification, hence the distribution of the clitic cluster as a whole. We show how a verb's extended projection may be extended by 'restructuring' verbs, allowing clitic climbing. In Bulgarian/Macedonian, the clausal clitic cluster appears on the highest [+V] head in the extended projection, determined by the categorial specifications of the auxiliaries. In the DP, the possessive dative clitic forms a clitic cluster with the determmer, its distribution determined by the realization of the Dº feature. SCB and Bulgarian clitic clusters require a phonological host in the domain of lexicalization: phonological lexicalization into the Wackemagel Position occurs as a 'last resort'. The treatment of auxiliaries and restructuring verbs m English and South Slavic derives from their lexical entries. Dual lexicalization and bracketing of features in the lexicon allows variation in trace licensing, optional word orders, and minor language-specific phonological idiosyncrasies