Grammatical Number and Donkey Anaphora in English

L’article élargit l’analyse de l’anaphore en anglais trouvée dans les phrases dites ‘donkey sentences’, abordée par Gareth Evans et améliorée par Stephen Neale, au-delà des cas où les antécédents sont les syntagmes nominaux singuliers formés avec des noms de compte, jusqu’aux cas où les antécédents sont ou les syntagmes nominaux pluriels formés avec des noms de compte ou les syntagmes nominaux formés avec des noms de masse. Cet élargissement se fonde sur une analyse du nombre grammatical en anglais, développée ailleurs, cf. Gillon (1992). L’application de cette analyse dans ce travail exige qu’une proposition adoptée par Neale — celle qui veut que le nombre grammatical des pronoms dans ces cas est sémantiquement inerte — soit abandonnée. On montre que, pour des raisons indépendantes, la proposition est intenable.The article extends the analysis of English donkey anaphora, developed by Gareth Evans and improved by Stephen Neale, beyond those cases where the antecedents are singular count noun phrases, to those where the antecedents are either plural count noun phrases or mass noun phrases. The extension is based on an analysis of English grammatical number developed elsewhere cf. Gillon (1992). Its application here requires that a suggestion adopted by Neale—namely, that the grammatical number of pronouns in these cases is semantically inert—be relinquished. It is shown on independent grounds that the suggestion is untenable

The logical form of quantification and plurality in natural language by Brendan Stormont Gillon.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Linguistics and Philosophy, 1984.MICROFICHE COPY AVAILABLE IN ARCHIVES AND HUMANITIES.Vita.Bibliography: leaves 231-236.Ph.D

WISE J072003.20-084651.2: An Old and Active M9.5 + T5 Spectral Binary 6 pc from the Sun

[Abridged] We report observations of the recently discovered, nearby late-M dwarf WISE J072003.20-084651.2. Astrometric measurements obtained with TRAPPIST improve the distance measurement to 6.0$\pm$1.0 pc and confirm the low tangential velocity (3.5$\pm$0.6 km/s) reported by Scholz. Low-resolution optical spectroscopy indicates a spectral type of M9.5 and prominent H$\alpha$ emission ( = -4.68$\pm$0.06), but no evidence of subsolar metallicity or Li I absorption. Near-infrared spectroscopy reveals subtle peculiarities indicating the presence of a T5 binary companion, and high-resolution laser guide star adaptive optics imaging reveals a faint ($\Delta$H = 4.1) candidate source 0"14 (0.8 AU) from the primary. We measure a stable radial velocity of +83.8$\pm$0.3 km/s, indicative of old disk kinematics and consistent with the angular separation of the possible companion. We measure a projected rotational velocity of v sin i = 8.0$\pm$0.5 km/s, and find evidence of low-level variability (~1.5%) in a 13-day TRAPPIST lightcurve, but cannot robustly constrain the rotational period. We also observe episodic changes in brightness (1-2%) and occasional flare bursts (4-8%) with a 0.8% duty cycle, and order-of-magnitude variations in H$\alpha$ line strength. Combined, these observations reveal WISE J0720-0846 to be an old, very low-mass binary whose components straddle the hydrogen burning minimum mass, and whose primary is a relatively rapid rotator and magnetically active. It is one of only two known binaries among late M dwarfs within 10 pc of the Sun, both harboring a mid T-type brown dwarf companion. While this specific configuration is rare (1.4% probability), roughly 25% of binary companions to late-type M dwarfs in the local population are likely low-temperature T or Y brown dwarfs.Comment: 18 pages, 23 figures; accepted for publication in A

A Possible Alignment Between the Orbits of Planetary Systems and their Visual Binary Companions

Astronomers do not have a complete picture of the effects of wide-binary companions (semimajor axes greater than 100 au) on the formation and evolution of exoplanets. We investigate these effects using new data from Gaia Early Data Release 3 and the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite mission to characterize wide-binary systems with transiting exoplanets. We identify a sample of 67 systems of transiting exoplanet candidates (with well-determined, edge-on orbital inclinations) that reside in wide visual binary systems. We derive limits on orbital parameters for the wide-binary systems and measure the minimum difference in orbital inclination between the binary and planet orbits. We determine that there is statistically significant difference in the inclination distribution of wide-binary systems with transiting planets compared to a control sample, with the probability that the two distributions are the same being 0.0037. This implies that there is an overabundance of planets in binary systems whose orbits are aligned with those of the binary. The overabundance of aligned systems appears to primarily have semimajor axes less than 700 au. We investigate some effects that could cause the alignment and conclude that a torque caused by a misaligned binary companion on the protoplanetary disk is the most promising explanation

Sanskrit word formation and context free rules

In recent years, a number of linguists, among them Selkirk (1982) and Di Sciullo and Williams (1987), have explored the hypothesis that word formation, including compounding and derivation, can be given a syntactic characterization of its own in terms of context free rules which are independent of those used for phrases and sentences. One way to explore the empirical adequacy of this hypothesis is to try to apply it to languages rich in derivational and inflectional morphology as well as in complex compounds. One such language is Classical Sanskrit. Below, I shall investigate how such a hypothesis can be applied to compound formation in Classical Sanskrit, touching only in passing upon its applicability to derivation