LTAG analysis for pied-piping and stranding of wh-phrases

In this paper we propose a syntactic and semantic analysis of complex questions. We consider questions involving pied piping and stranding and we propose elementary trees and semantic representations that allow to account for both constructions in a uniform way

Evidentiality and German Attitude Verbs

German attitude verbs usually embed that-clause complements. In addition, only certain verbs can also license clauses with matrix verb-second (V2) word order as their complements. These same verbs can also appear in slifting constructions. The main question addressed in this paper is why only some attitude verbs allow these additional constructions. I argue that in slifting, the attitude verb functions as an evidential parenthetical, elaborating on (Reis, 1997) and a suggestion in (Potts, 2007), but contra (Wagner, 2004). The lexical meaning of the slifting verb (e.g., the preference information for \u27hope\u27) is contributed as a conventional implicature. For V2-embedding, I show that the attitude verb syntactically and semantically embeds its complement. Still, the evidential semantics is the same as in slifting. What differs between the two cases is the distribution of the semantic pieces onto the semantic dimensions of assertion and conventional implicature. In both constructions, only verbs that contribute an upwards epistemic component without factivity are compatible with the evidential semantics

Preface

The University of Pennsylvania Working Papers in Linguistics (PWPL) is an occasional series published by the Penn Linguistics Club, the graduate student organization of the Linguistics Department of the University of Pennsylvania. The series has included volumes of previously unpublished work, or work in progress, by linguists with an ongoing affiliation with the Department, as well as volumes of papers from the NWAV conference and the Penn Linguistics Colloquium. The current PWPL series editors are Lukasz Abramowicz, Sudha Arunachalam, Maciej Baranowski, Lucas Champollion, Aaron Dinkin, Suzanne Evans Wagner, Michael Friesner, Jonathan Gress-Wright, Damien Hall, Uri Horesh, Ian Ross, Tatjana Scheffler, Sandhya Sundaresan, and Joshua Tauberer. This volume contains the proceedings of the 28th Annual Penn Linguistics Colloquium, held from February 27 to 29, 2004, at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia

Preface

The University of Pennsylvania Working Papers in Linguistics (PWPL) is an occasional series published by the Penn Linguistics Club, the graduate student organization of the Linguistics Department of the University of Pennsylvania. The series has included volumes of previously unpublished work, or work in progress, by linguists with an ongoing affiliation with the Department, as well as volumes of papers from the NWAV conference and the Penn Linguistics Colloquium. The current PWPL series editors are Lukasz Abramowicz, Sudha Arunachalam, Loren Delfs, Aaron Dinkin, Aviad Eilam, Keelan Evanini, Michael Friesner, Jonathan Gress-Wright, Kyle Gorman, Catherine Lai, Laia Mayol, Giang Nguyen, Maya Ravindranath, Tatjana Scheffler, and Joshua Tauberer. We thank the Graduate Students Association Council of the University of Pennsylvania for financial support. This volume contains the proceedings of the 30th Annual Penn Linguistics Colloquium, held from February 24-26, 2006, at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia

Preface

The University of Pennsylvania Working Papers in Linguistics (PWPL) is an occasional series published by the Penn Linguistics Club, the graduate student organization of the Linguistics Department of the University of Pennsylvania. The series has included volumes of previously unpublished work, or work in progress, by linguists with an ongoing affiliation with the Department, as well as volumes of papers from the NWAV conference and the Penn Linguistics Colloquium. The current PWPL series editors are Lukasz Abramowicz, Sudha Arunachalam, Maciej Baranowski, Lucas Champollion, Aaron Dinkin, Suzanne Evans Wagner, Michael Friesner, Jonathan Gress-Wright, Damien Hall, Uri Horesh, Ian Ross, Tatjana Scheffler, Sandhya Sundaresan, and Joshua Tauberer. This volume contains the proceedings of the 28th Annual Penn Linguistics Colloquium, held from February 27 to 29, 2004, at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia

Connective-Lex: A Web-Based Multilingual Lexical Resource for Connectives

In this paper, we present a tangible outcome of the TextLink network: a joint online database project displaying and linking existing and newly-created lexicons of discourse connectives in multiple languages. We discuss the definition and demarcation of the class of connectives that should be included in such a resource, and present the syntactic, semantic/pragmatic, and lexicographic information we collected. Further, the technical implementation of the database and the search functionality are presented. We discuss how the multilingual integration of several connective lexicons provides added value for linguistic researchers and other users interested in connectives, by allowing crosslinguistic comparison and a direct linking between discourse relational devices in different languages. Finally, we provide pointers for possible future extensions both in breadth (i.e., by adding lexicons for additional languages) and depth (by extending the information provided for each connective item and by strengthening the crosslinguistic links).Nous présentons dans cet article un résultat tangible du réseau TextLink : un projet conjoint de base de données en ligne, qui montre et relie des lexiques, aussi bien existants que créés récemment, de connecteurs discursifs dans plusieurs langues. Nous commençons par considérer la définition et la délimitation de la classe des connecteurs qui devraient être inclus dans une telle ressource, et nous présentons l’information syntaxique, sémantico-pragmatique et lexicographique que nous avons recueillie. D’autre part, l’implémentation technique de cette base de données et les fonctionnalités de recherche qu’elle permet sont aussi décrites. Nous discutons de quelle manière l’intégration multilingue de plusieurs lexiques de connecteurs apporte une valeur ajoutée aux chercheurs en linguistique et aux autres utilisateurs qui s’intéressent aux connecteurs, en permettant de comparer plusieurs langues et de relier directement les connecteurs dans différentes langues. Pour finir, nous donnons des indications quant à une possible extension future en termes d’ampleur (par exemple, en ajoutant des lexiques pour de nouvelles langues) et de profondeur (en augmentant l’information qui est donnée pour chaque connecteur et en renforçant les liens entre lexiques)

Preface

The University of Pennsylvania Working Papers in Linguistics (PWPL) is an occasional series published by the Penn Linguistics Club, the graduate student organization of the Linguistics Department of the University of Pennsylvania. The series has included volumes of previously unpublished work, or work in progress, by linguists with an ongoing affiliation with the Department, as well as volumes of papers from the NWAV conference and the Penn Linguistics Colloquium. The current PWPL series editors are Sudha Arunachalam, Maciej Baranowski, Uri Horesh, Ian Ross, Tara Sanchez, Tatjana Scheffler, Sandhya Sundaresan, and Alexander Williams. This volume contains the proceedings of the 27th Annual Penn Linguistics Colloquium, held from February 21 to 23, 2003, at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia

Preface

The University of Pennsylvania Working Papers in Linguistics (PWPL) is an occasional series published by the Penn Linguistics Club, the graduate student organization of the Linguistics Department of the University of Pennsylvania. The series has included volumes of previously unpublished work, or work in progress, by linguists with an ongoing affiliation with the Department, as well as volumes of papers from the NWAV conference and the Penn Linguistics Colloquium. The current PWPL series editors are Sudha Arunachalam, Maciej Baranowski, Uri Horesh, Ian Ross, Tara Sanchez, Tatjana Scheffler, Sandhya Sundaresan, and Alexander Williams. This volume contains the proceedings of the 27th Annual Penn Linguistics Colloquium, held from February 21 to 23, 2003, at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia