173 research outputs found
Additive presuppositions are derived through activating focus alternatives
The additive presupposition of particles like "too"/"even" is uncontested, but usually stipulated. This paper proposes to derive it based on two properties. (i) "too"/"even" is cross-linguistically focus-sensitive, and (ii) in many languages, "too"/"even" builds negative polarity items and free-choice items as well, often in concert with other particles. (i) is the source of its existential presupposition, and (ii) offers clues regarding how additivity comes about. (i)-(ii) together demand a sparse semantics for "too/even," one that can work with different kinds of alternatives (focus, subdomain, scalar) and invoke suitably different further operators
Infinitives vs. subjunctives: What do we learn from obviation and from exemptions from obviation? (2010)
Ruwet observed that subjunctives indicate a discontinuity between action and will, typically resulting in a disjoint reference effect known as obviation (unacceptable "Je veux que je parte"). In a certain set of cases, however, the attitude-holder can felicitously bind the pronominal subject of the subjunctive clause (exemption from obviation). This seminar handout examines the phenomenon in Hungarian, with additional data from Russian, Polish, and Romanian
Unconditionals and free choice unified
Rawlins (2013: 160) observes that both unconditionals and more classical free choice can be meta-characterized using orthogonality, but does not actually unify the two. One reason may be that in English, different expressions serve in these roles. By contrast, in Hungarian, AKÁR expressions serve as NPIs, FCIs, and unconditional adjuncts, but not as interrogatives or free relatives. This paper offers a unified account of the Hungarian data, extending Chierchia 2013 and Dayal 2013. The account produces the same unconditional meanings that Rawlins derives from an interrogative basis. This result highlights the fact that sets of alternatives arise from different morpho-syntactic sources and are utilized by the grammar in different ways, but the results may fully converge
The effect of negative polarity items on inference verification
The scalar approach to negative polarity item (NPI) licensing assumes that NPIs are allowable
in contexts in which the introduction of the NPI leads to proposition strengthening (e.g., Kadmon &
Landman 1993, Krifka 1995, Lahiri 1997, Chierchia 2006). A straightforward processing prediction
from such a theory is that NPI’s facilitate inference verification from sets to subsets. Three
experiments are reported that test this proposal. In each experiment, participants evaluated whether
inferences from sets to subsets were valid. Crucially, we manipulated whether the premises
contained an NPI. In Experiment 1, participants completed a metalinguistic reasoning task, and
Experiments 2 and 3 tested reading times using a self-paced reading task. Contrary to expectations,
no facilitation was observed when the NPI was present in the premise compared to when it was
absent. In fact, the NPI significantly slowed down reading times in the inference region. Our results
therefore favor those scalar theories that predict that the NPI is costly to process (Chierchia 2006),
or other, nonscalar theories (Giannakidou 1998, Ladusaw 1992, Postal 2005, Szabolcsi 2004) that
likewise predict NPI processing cost but, unlike Chierchia (2006), expect the magnitude of the
processing cost to vary with the actual pragmatics of the NPI
Weak islands, individuals, and scope
No abstract
Strict and non-strict negative concord in Hungarian: A unified analysis
Surányi (2006) observed that Hungarian has a hybrid (strict + non-strict) negative concord system. This paper proposes a uniform analysis of that system within the general framework of Zeijlstra (2004, 2008) and, especially, Chierchia (2013), with the following new ingredients. Sentential negation NEM is the same full negation in the presence of both strict and non-strict concord items. Preverbal SENKI `n-one’ type negative concord items occupy the specifier position of either NEM `not' or SEM `nor'. The latter, SEM spells out IS `too, even’ in the immediate scope of negation; it is a focus-sensitive head on the clausal spine. SEM can be seen as an overt counterpart of the phonetically null head that Chierchia dubs NEG; it is capable of invoking an abstract (disembodied) negation at the edge of its projection
Direct vs. indirect disjunction of wh-complements, as diagnosed by subordinating complementizers (2016)
Since the early 1980s, there has been a debate in the semantics literature pertaining to whether wh-interrogatives can be directly disjoined, as main clauses and as complements. Those who held that the direct disjunction of wh-interrogatives was in conflict with certain theoretical considerations proposed that they could be disjoined indirectly. Indirect disjunction proceeds by first lifting both wh-interrogatives and then disjoining them; it assigns matrix-level scope to OR. As we will see, the notorious theoretical need for indirect disjunction has disappeared by today. But the factual question remains. Are wh-complements disjoined directly or indirectly? What is the fact of the matter? This paper argues that the case for indirect disjunction remains reasonably strong
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