Incorporation, Plurality, and the Incorporation of Plurals : a Dynamic Approach

This paper deals with the semantic properties of incorporated nominals that are present at clausal syntax. Such nominals exhibit a complex cluster of semantic properties, ranging from argument structure, scope, and number to discourse transparency. We develop an analysis of incorporation in the framework of Discourse Representation Theory, a dynamic theory that can connect sentence-level and discourse-level semantics. We concentrate on data from Hungarian, where incorporated nominals may be either morphologically singular or plural. We set out to capture two sets of contrasts: (i) those we find when comparing incorporated nominals on the one hand and their non-incorporated, full-fledged argument sisters on the other, and (ii) those we find when comparing morphologically singular and morphologically plural incorporated nominals. A more elaborate version of the analysis can be found in Farkas and de Swart (2003)

Bare Plurals in Spanish are Interpreted as Properties

In this paper, I argue that bare plural noun phrases in Spanish unambiguously denote properties of individuals. I begin by using evidence from their incompatibility with kind-level predicates to show that Spanish bare plurals do not denote kinds. I then point to crucial ways in which their interaction with quantifiers is unlike that of other indefinite NPs (specifically, they have obligatory narrowest scope and cannot contribute the main restriction on a quantifier), and I conclude that bare plurals must therefore have a different semantics from other indefinites. I present a formal semantic analysis which allows for any verbal predicate in Spanish to combine with a propertytype noun phrase, showing how this analysis can also account for certain facts involving discourse anaphora to bare plurals. Finally, I discuss the advantages of the proposed analysis over those which try to maintain a uniform semantics for bare plurals and indefinites and indicate some of the general implications of the proposal

Analyticity under perspective: indefinite generics in French

Focus, indefinite generics, point of view, modalities

Fragment answers and double negation in strict negative concord languages

International audienceThis paper revisits the phenomenon of negative concord (NC) as an instance of polarity sensitivity. We shed light on a new set of data regarding n-words as fragment answers to negative questions and show that we find unexpected double negation (DN) readings for fragment n-words in view of their behavior in non-elliptical constructions. To account for this pattern, we offer an updated version of the hypothesis that n-words are strong NPIs, making use of an alternatives-and-exhaustification approach. We argue that the difference between n-words and other NPIs should be seen as the result of two parameters: (i) whether reconstruction of the polarity item is allowed, and (ii) whether the polarity item has the ability to license a covert negation operator. The result is an explanatory account of NC and DN readings in both non-elliptical and elliptical environments, which allows for an easier integration of n-words in the broader typology of polarity sensitive items

'Pas', 'mie', 'point' et autres riens: de la négation verbale en picard.

International audienceA partir des données des atlas linguistiques et de Picartext, cet article dresse un premier panorama d'ensemble de la négation verbale en picard, pour laquelle plusieurs marqueurs semblent en concurrence. Il montre que les locuteurs disposent d'une négation principale couvrant tous les emplois, et dont la forme est régionalement conditionnée. Il montre également qu'ils disposent d'une ou plusieurs négations secondaires, à la distribution restreinte, en particulier le marqueur 'mie'. Or, chez les locuteurs qui acceptent la concordance négative avec un marqueur négatif, deux systèmes se dégagent: soit c'est 'mie' qui apparaît exclusivement, soit on assiste à une complémentarité de 'mie' et du marqueur principal selon le mot-N présent

John J. McCarthy and Joe Pater (eds.): Harmonic grammar and harmonic serialism.

This volume contains chapters that explore and extend advances in formal investigations of grammar that employ violable constraints in the analysis of individual languages, the study of linguistic typology, and the learnability of grammars. Initial investigations in a generative framework that employs violable constraints took place in Optimality Theory (OT) (Prince & Smolensky, 1993/2004). It is worth noting that although “representational constraints had of course long existed as a means of formally expressing restrictions on linguistic structures, […] the notion that one constraint could compel the violation of another had never been given much attention before OT” (p. vii). The violable constraints in OT are strictly ranked with respect to one another, preventing the possibility of multiple violations of lower-ranked constraints accumulating and ‘ganging up’ on higher ranked ones. Harmonic Grammar (HG) is an alternative version of a grammar model that employs violable, ranked constraints (as is commonplace in OT) which uses weighted constraints in place of strictly ranked ones. Pater (this volume) highlights two potential advantages that an HG may have over an OT-model: Firstly, as initially noted by Prince (2003), there are asymmetric trade-offs on gang effects (based on the fact that the weighted constraint violations in HG can lead to gang effects of lower weighted constraints under certain circumstances), which are simply not possible in OT. Secondly, “the promise of weighted constraint theories of Universal Grammar derives from the ability of HG to generate attested patterns that fall out of the reach of OT using the same sets of constraints” (p. 2). Here Pater points to previous research (in particular, Flemming, 2001) that shows the difficulty that OT has in establishing compatibility with scalar constraints. This potential issue purportedly receives a more straightforward account in HG. The inclusion of weighted constraints permits new theories concerning which constraints (Con) exist. Initially, analyses in OT assumed a parallel theory of candidate generation and evaluation. There is no reason, however, that single iterative applications of the generation (Gen) and evaluation (Eval) of candidates cannot replace parallel evaluations. Harmonic Serialism (HS), see McCarthy (this volume) for a detailed introduction, combines the inclusion of weighted violable constraints in serial evaluation of candidates. The contributions in this volume consist of studies that show the advantages and challenges associated with current research within the HG and HS models

Generic Sentences and Types of Judgments

This paper investiagtes the correlation between the meaning of the plural indefinite 'des' and the plural definite 'les' in French and their ability to express different types of generic statements. It argues that the main feature that distinguishes these two items is the (non)-novelty, in a Heimian framework