To Reconstruct or Not to Reconstruct: that is the question

International audienceThe aim of this study is to use what is traditionally referred as A'-reconstruction in order to compare two possible formalizations of syntax-semantics interface, one based on Generative Grammar and Logical Form (GG), the other built on Categorial Grammar and Variable-Free Semantics (CG-VFS). Considering mainly reconstruction data with resumption in natural language (from French and Jordanian Arabic mostly), I will first give several arguments suggesting that both analyses could be on the right track, both theoretically (both accounts of distributive/reconstructed readings amount to an e-type interpretation of the resumptive pronoun) and empirically (both formalizations correctly predict distributive/reconstructed readings within syntactic islands). Finally, I will present two generalizations about resumption which seem to favor the GG account based on actual reconstruction, one concerning the type of distributive reading (functional vs pair-list), the other linked to a distinction between weak and strong resumption

To Reconstruct or Not to Reconstruct: That is the Question *

Overview The Starting Point: to develop and compare two possible accounts of reconstructed/distributive readings within displacement structures (dislocation, interrogation, relativization) based on two formalizations of syntax-semantics interface Account #1: Generative Grammar and Logical Form (GG) ⇒ distributive readings of displaced constituents rely on syntactic reconstruction. Account #2: Categorial Grammar and Variable-Free Semantics (CG-VFS) ⇒ distributive readings of displaced constituents do not rely on syntactic reconstruction. Goal #1: to show that such comparison reinforces two fundamental claims about distributive readings with resumption (Theoretical) Claim #1: distributive/reconstructed readings with resumption just amount to an e-type interpretation of the resumptive pronoun. (Empirical) Claim #2: distributive/reconstructed readings with resumption should and do occur in presence of syntactic islands. Goal #2: to (re)introduce two generalizations about resumption which seem to favor the GG account based on actual reconstruction Generalization #1: resumption only allows for a functional interpretation, but not a pair-list interpretation (based on Sharvit (1997)). Generalization #2: weak resumption allows for distributive readings in any context, but strong resumption does not. * I would like to thank the following persons for their help and comments

Reconstructing functional relatives...or not

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Gallo language

Advancing the European Multilingual Experienc

The Logic of Pronominal Resumption. By ASH ASUDEH, New York: Oxford University Press Inc (Oxford Studies in Theoretical Linguistics),

Review of The Logic of Pronominal Resumption (by Ash Asudeh

Petite histoire de sommets vides: on n'a pas toujours le schwa

Cet article présente certaines données assez peu explorées concernant l'alter-nance schwa/∅ en français 1. Ces données revêtent deux intérêts particuliers, (i) celui d'apparaˆıtreapparaˆıtre comme problématiques aussi bien pour une modélisation en phonologie déclarative qu'en phonologie générative du gouvernement, et (ii) celui de montrer que toute analyse de l'alternance schwa/∅ peut difficilement faire l'´ economie des pa-ramètres accentuels, intonatifs et prosodiques liésliésà ce phénomène. J'esquisse enfin une modélisation possible de cette alternance dans une approche déclarative dy-namique, basée sur une construction linéaire de la grille rythmique et le caractère dynamique de la syllabe

Structuralisme et Grammaire Générative

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