Scope ambiguities, monads and strengths

In this paper, we will discuss three semantically distinct scope assignment strategies: traditional movement strategy, polyadic approach, and continuation-based approach. As a generalized quantifier on a set X is an element of C(X), the value of continuation monad C on X, in all three approaches QPs are interpreted as C-computations. The main goal of this paper is to relate the three strategies to the computational machinery connected to the monad C (strength and derived operations). As will be shown, both the polyadic approach and the continuation-based approach make heavy use of monad constructs. In the traditional movement strategy, monad constructs are not used but we still need them to explain how the three strategies are related and what can be expected of them wrt handling scopal ambiguities in simple sentences.Comment: 47 pages, small correction

Strict vs. flexible accomplishment predicates

textThe central issue of this study is how predicates in English and ASL represent the completeness of events. The standard view is that predicates which are composed of dynamic verbs with quantized arguments denote the reaching of a natural endpoint (Vendler (1957), Dowty (1979), Smith (1991), Verkuyl (1993), Krifka (1998)). A consequence of this view is that sentences with dynamic verbs and quantized arguments are false when they refer to non-completed events. For example, if John ate only half of a sandwich, the sentence John ate a sandwich is false as it applies to this event. Some researchers have questioned whether this standard view matches native speaker intuitions (Lin (2004), Smollett (2005)). It is my hypothesis that the lexical aspectual category of accomplishments (those which have an obligatory preparatory phase and a natural endpoint) can be subdivided into strict accomplishments, those that require event completion (endpoint inclusion) in their truth conditions and flexible accomplishments, those which do not. This study addresses the following questions. (1) Do dynamic verb/quantized argument predicates entail endpoint inclusion? (2) Is there an inference, as opposed to an entailment, of endpoint-inclusion in English and ASL? If so what is the nature of this inference? (3) Is there a conceptual property that underlies the membership of predicates in the hypothesized class of flexible accomplishments? Three experiments were conducted in the course of this study to address these questions. The data gathered were analyzed in the light of the standard aspectuality literature. The following conclusions were reached: (1) The endpoint-inclusion inference in English is a conversational implicature, not an entailment. (2) Events which consist of iterated “minimal events” (Rothstein, 2004) are flexible accomplishments; however, not all flexible accomplishments consist of iterated minimal events. (4) ASL dynamic verb/quantized argument predicates lack the endpoint-inclusion inference due to their explicit iconic reference to minimal events. (5) The endpoint-inclusion inference of flexible accomplishments in English is due to a basic inference that the action of the verb in dynamic verb/quantized argument predicates covers/affects the whole extent of an object/path/scale, but specific world knowledge in the form of stereotypicality features outranks this inference.Linguistic

The literal/non-literal divide synchronically and diachronically: The lexical semantics of an English posture verb

This thesis' main research goal is to provide an account of the English posture verb sit, from a synchronic a diachronic perspective. My proposed account of sit comprises various components, including a characterisation of the different possible meanings of sit and a comparison with stand and lie. The two relevant meanings are a literal one and non-literal one (The girl is sitting on the chair vs. The wine bottle is sitting on the chair; in the former the subject is described to be in a sitting position, while in the latter the subject is not in a sitting position). I analyse each meaning/use separately, noting which semantic patterns occur with one type only and those which occur with both. I argue that the non-literal use is diachronically connected to the literal one, and I motivate this claim based on the shared components identified in the thesis and on data from corpus studies reported in the thesis. A consequence of acknowledging a divide between the literal and non-literal uses---a perspective not usually taken in theoretical linguistics---is that I am able to account for important semantic details which might be otherwise overlooked. The cognitive and typological literature includes account of posture verbs cross-linguistically, but in the theoretical literature these verbs have not received much attention. In this thesis, I review existing proposals and highlight the uncertainties surrounding the posture verbs. In order to fillthese gaps in the literature and to better understand the phenomena, I analyse data from synchronic and diachronic corpus studies, and incorporate these insights into my account of sitEl principal objetivo de investigación de esta tesis es dar cuenta del verbo de postura inglés sit (`sentarse¿), desde una perspectiva sincrónica y diacrónica. La descripción que propongo de sit comprende varios componentes, incluida una caracterización de los diferentes significados posibles de sit y una comparación con stand (`estar de pie¿) y lie (`estar echado¿). La literatura cognitiva y tipológica incluye una descripción de los verbos de postura de forma interlingüística, pero en la literatura teórica estos verbos no han recibido mucha atención. En esta tesis, reviso las propuestas existentes y destaco las preguntas sin responder que rodean a los verbos de postura. Para llenar estos vacíos en la literatura científica y comprender mejor los fenómenos, analizo datos de estudios de corpus sincrónicos y diacrónicos, e incorporo estos conocimientos en mi explicación de sit. Los dos significados relevantes son uno literal y uno no literal (The girl is sitting on the chair `La niña está sentada en la silla' vs. The wine bottle is sitting on the chair `(lit.) La botella de vino está sentada en la silla¿; en la primera frase, se describe el sujeto en posición de estar sentado, mientras que en la segunda frase el sujeto no está sentado). Analizo cada significado/uso por separado, notando qué patrones semánticos ocurren con un solo tipo y cuáles ocurren con ambos. Argumento que el uso no literal está conectado diacrónicamente con el literal, y motivo esta afirmación a partir de los componentes compartidos identificados en la tesis y en los datos de los estudios de corpus tratados en la tesis. Una consecuencia de reconocer una división entre los usos literales y no literales (una perspectiva que no suele adoptarse en la lingüística teórica) es que se consigue dar cuenta de importantes detalles semánticos que de otro modo podrían pasarse por alto

Parameterized monads in linguistics

A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements of the University of Wolverhampton for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy.This dissertation follows the formal semantics approach to linguistics. It applies recent developments in computing theories to study theoretical linguistics in the area of the interaction between semantics and pragmatics and analyzes several natural language phenomena by parsing them in these theories. Specifically, this dissertation uses parameterized monads, a particular theoretical framework in category theory, as a dynamic semantic framework to reinterpret the compositional Discourse Representation Theory(cDRT), and to provide an analysis of donkey anaphora. Parameterized monads are also used in this dissertation to interpret information states as lists of presuppositions, and as dot types. Alternative interpretations for demonstratives and imperatives are produced, and the conventional implicature phenomenon in linguistics substantiated, using the framework. Interpreting donkey anaphora shows that parameterized monads is able to handle the sentential dependency. Therefore, this framework shows an expressive power equal to that of related frameworks such as the typed logical grammar and the dynamic predicate logic. Interpreting imperatives via parameterized monads also provides a compositional dynamic semantic analysis which is one of the main approaches to analysing imperatives

The Multimodal and Sequential Design of Co-Animation as a Practice for Association in English Interaction

This thesis describes the understudied interactional practice of co-animation: during the development of an activity in conversation, a speaker incorporates an animation -i.e. a quote, or (re)enactment - and a co-participant responds, pre-emptively, or in the contiguous turn, with a completion or continuation of the animation of the same figure. Based on the study of 89 co-animation sequences found in 10 hours of video-recordings of naturalistic English interaction between friends, relatives or co-workers, this thesis adopts the theoretical and methodological tenets of Conversation Analysis and Interactional Linguistics to describe the multimodal, sequential, and relational organisation of this practice. This thesis analyses how participants mark the shift from the here-and-now into the animation space, and how co-participants make their contributions both hearable as coherent with prior animations, and as fitted affiliative responses that further the ongoing course of action. Lexico-grammatical, phonetic, and gestural-postural resources are analysed for their interactional import in their concurrent framing of animation and the display of stance and conditional relevance. The organisation of resources in responsive co-animations is found to be positionally-sensitive, with co-participants negotiating agency and epistemic access and entitlement differently relative to the onset of co-animation and to the stage in the ongoing activity. The scrutiny of the situated deployment of co-animation in the social activities of troubles-tellings/complaint stories on the one hand, and teasing/joint fictionalisation on the other, reveals how co-animation contributes to the process of association, that is, the building of single momentary units of participation (collectivities). Co-participants are found to team up around what is presented as a shared stance, values, and identity, against absent but invoked behaviours or individuals engaging in moral transgressions, by jointly “doing being” the same voice

The king at \u3ci\u3eKaamelott\u3c/i\u3e

French TV‘s M6 aired a ground-breaking television advance, known as Kaamelott, from 2005 to 2009, derived from a long tradition of Arthurian narrative form and a long tradition of that form‘s modernization. Spanning the split, therefore, between the Modern and the Medieval, Alexandre Astier‘s experimental Adventure-Comedy, adapting no single model, this Frankenstein, brought to life through canny theatrical bricolage, provokes the following concrete question: how have the dimensions of the exemplary human life of the King been updated by this installment of an eight centuries (and more) old tradition? Using the frame-work of Berne‘s Games People Play, I explore the respective fields of Childhood, Games, and Loves, in parallel to his Child, Adult, and Parent. To what extent, ultimately, has the self-retracting, pre-historical origin of ―Arthur‖ mutated? Does this literary but transmedia window of history perspicuously describe the internal dynamics of tradition‘s afterlife? And—is King Arthur really coming back

Disentangling Bare Nouns and Nominals Introduced by a Partitive Article

This volume edited by Tabea Ihsane focuses on different aspects of the distribution, semantics, and internal structure of nominal constituents with a “partitive article” in its indefinite interpretation and of potentially corresponding bare nouns. It further deals with diachronic issues, such as grammaticalization and evolution in the use of “partitive articles”. The outcome is a snapshot of current research into “partitive articles” and the way they relate to bare nouns, in a cross-linguistic perspective and on new data: the research covers noteworthy data (fieldwork data and corpora) from Standard languages - like French and Italian, but also German - to dialectal and regional varieties, including endangered ones like Francoprovençal. Readership: All interested in the syntax-semantics interface of noun phrases with a “partitive article” and their corresponding bare nouns, as well as in diachronic issues, both in Romance and Germanic languages/dialects/varieties

The Institute for European Defence and Strategic Studies

Error on title page - year of award is 2014.The general hypotheses is that the Institute for European Defence and Strategic Studies (IEDSS) was not an impartial independent think tank, but that it was part of large scale US public diplomacy and propaganda strategies to influence UK domestic politics, funded by the Central Intelligence Agency and a small group of foundations. This is identified through a focus on think tanks and organisations that aimed to extend the Cold War and, at its close, to further the interests of US capital with the expansion of NATO into Eastern Europe aided by organisations such as the National Endowment for Democracy. The IEDSS' 'Atlanticist' dimension, including its connections to the Heritage Foundation, reveal it as integrated with other US, UK and European covert networks as part of a 'cultural apparatus which stemmed from post-war projections of US power into Europe, and included organisation such as the Congress for Cultural Freedom or Radio Free Europe and Radio Liberty. In the late 1970s this extended into a network of UK think tanks modelled on and shaped by the Heritage Foundation, the Center for Strategic and International Studies and state intelligence agencies and their proxies. The thesis also identifies the IEDSS as a gathering of actors involved in an ideologically driven sub-culture that influenced the Reagan and Thatcher governments that gathered together other quasi-official anti-left groups such as the Information Research Department and parapolitical organisations typified by the Institute for the Study of Conflict and other organisations run by Brian Crozier, a key actor in this story.The general hypotheses is that the Institute for European Defence and Strategic Studies (IEDSS) was not an impartial independent think tank, but that it was part of large scale US public diplomacy and propaganda strategies to influence UK domestic politics, funded by the Central Intelligence Agency and a small group of foundations. This is identified through a focus on think tanks and organisations that aimed to extend the Cold War and, at its close, to further the interests of US capital with the expansion of NATO into Eastern Europe aided by organisations such as the National Endowment for Democracy. The IEDSS' 'Atlanticist' dimension, including its connections to the Heritage Foundation, reveal it as integrated with other US, UK and European covert networks as part of a 'cultural apparatus which stemmed from post-war projections of US power into Europe, and included organisation such as the Congress for Cultural Freedom or Radio Free Europe and Radio Liberty. In the late 1970s this extended into a network of UK think tanks modelled on and shaped by the Heritage Foundation, the Center for Strategic and International Studies and state intelligence agencies and their proxies. The thesis also identifies the IEDSS as a gathering of actors involved in an ideologically driven sub-culture that influenced the Reagan and Thatcher governments that gathered together other quasi-official anti-left groups such as the Information Research Department and parapolitical organisations typified by the Institute for the Study of Conflict and other organisations run by Brian Crozier, a key actor in this story