This thesis is concerned with the description and analysis of two semantically different types of definite articles in German. While the existence of distinct article paradigms in various Germanic dialects and other languages has been acknowledged in the descriptive literature for quite some time, the theoretical implications of their existence have not been explored extensively. I argue that each of the articles corresponds to one of the two predominant theoretical approaches to analyzing definite descriptions: the ‘weak’ article encodes uniqueness. The ‘strong’ article is anaphoric in nature. In the course of spelling out detailed analyses for the two articles, various more general issues relevant to current semantic theory are addressed, in particular with respect to the analysis of donkey sentences and domain restriction. Chapter 2 describes the contrast between the weak and the strong article in light of the descriptive literature and characterizes their uses in terms of Hawkins’s (1978) classification. Special attention is paid to two types of bridging uses, which shed further light on the contrast and play an important in the analysis developed in the following chapters. Chapter 3 introduces a situation semantics and argues for a specific version thereof. First, I propose that situation arguments in noun phrases are represented syntactically as situation pronouns at the level of the DP (rather than within the NP). Secondly, I argue that domain restriction (which is crucial for uniqueness analyses) can best be captured in a situation semantics, as this is both more economical and empirically more adequate than an analysis in terms of contextually supplied C-variables. Chapter 4 provides a uniqueness analysis of weak-article definites. The interpretation of a weak-article definite crucially depends on the interpretation of its situation pronoun, which can stand for the topic situation or a contextually supplied situation, or be quantificationally bound. I make a specific proposal for how topic situations (roughly, the situations that we are talking about) can be derived from questions and relate this to a more general perspective on discourse structure based on the notion of Question Under Discussion (QUD) (Roberts 1996, Buring 2003). I also show that it requires a presuppositional view of definites. A detailed, situation-semantic analysis of covarying interpretations of weak-article definites in donkey sentences is spelled out as well, which provides some new insights with regards to transparent interpretations of the restrictors of donkey sentences. Chapter 5 deals with so-called larger situation uses (Hawkins 1978), which call for a special, systematic way of determining the situation in which the definite is interpreted. I argue that a situation semantic version of an independently motivated type-shifter for relational nouns (shifting relations (〈e, 〈e, st〉〉) to properties (〈e, 〈st〉〉)) brings about the desired situational effect. This type-shifter also applies to cases of part-whole bridging and provides a deeper understanding thereof. Another independently motivated mechanism, namely that of Matching functions, gives rise to similar effects, but in contrast to the typeshifter, it depends heavily on contextual support and cannot account for the general availability of larger situation uses that is independent of the context. The anaphoric nature of the strong article is described and analyzed in detail in chapter 6. In addition to simple discourse anaphoric uses, I discuss covarying interpretations and relational anaphora (the type of bridging expressed by the strong article). Cases where uniqueness does not hold (e.g., in so-called bishop sentences) provide crucial evidence for the need to encode the anaphoric link between strong-article definites and their antecedents formally. The resulting dynamic analysis of strong-article definites encodes the anaphoric dependency via a separate anaphoric element that is incorporated into a uniqueness meaning. Finally, remaining challenges for the analysis are discussed, in particular the existence of strong-article definites without an antecedent and a puzzling contrast between the articles with respect to relative clauses. The final chapter discusses some loose ends that suggest directions for future work and sums up the main

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Two Types of Definites in Natural Language

An essay in modal logic. By G.H. von Wright. Pp. vi, 90. Fl. 9. 1951. (North-Holland Publishing Co., Amsterdam)

This thesis investigates three topics relating to the semantics of phi features on pronouns. Part I focuses on gender features on pronouns. Following previous studies (Cooper 1983, Heim & Kratzer 1998), I claim that they are presupposition triggers. Based on this assumption, I show that predicates containing bound gendered pronouns have an assertive meaning that does not entail the gender presupposition, and further point out that such predicates pose a serious challenge for existing theories of presupposition projection, especially with respect to quantified sentences. A conclusion drawn from this discussion is that the presupposition needs to be dissociated from the assertive meaning, as in Karttunen & Peters’s (1979) two dimensional theory. However, such a theory is known to run into the so-called binding problem in quantified sentences. I propose a solution to the binding problem using the mechanism of cross-sentential anaphora, and show that the resulting theory nicely accounts for the projection properties of various quantificational determiners. Part II discusses the interpretation of person and number features on bound pronouns. It is known that some occurrences of phi features on bound pronoun behave as if they are semantically inert (Heim 2008b, Jacobson to appear, Kratzer 1998a, 2009, Partee 1989). One popular account of this phenomenon, the minimal pronoun account, claims that such phi features are purely morphological, and postulates a PF operation that transmits phi features of a binder onto each pronoun that it binds (Heim 2008b, Kratzer 1998a, 2009). I put forward an alternative account that dispenses with the PF operation, and instead puts most of the burden on syntax, by encoding more information in the indices than standardly assumed. As a result, all occurrences of phi features are semantically relevant. I offer both empirical and conceptual arguments for the proposed account over the minimal pronoun account. Part III deals with the phenomenon of indexical shifting where person features are systematically affected (Anand 2006, Anand & Nevins 2004, Schlenker 1999, 2003b). I discuss novel data from Uyghur and Japanese as well as data drawn from previous studies, particularly focusing on the universals and variation within and across languages. Thesis Supervisor: Danny Fox Title: Professor of Linguistics Thesis Supervisor: Martin Hackl Title: Associate Professor of Linguistics Thesis Supervisor: Irene Heim Title: Professor of Linguistics

On the semantics of phi features on pronouns

This paper offers an analysis of metalinguistic comparatives such as more dumb than crazy in which they differ from ordinary comparatives in the scale on which they compare: ordinary comparatives use scales lexically determined by particular adjectives, but metalinguistic ones use a generally-available scale of imprecision or ‘pragmatic slack’. To implement this idea, I propose a novel compositional implementation of the Lasersohnian pragmatic-halos account of imprecision—one that represents clusters of similar meanings as Hamblin alternatives. In the theory that results, existential closure over alternatives mediates between alternative-sets and meanings in which imprecision has been resolved. I then articulate a version of this theory in which the alternatives are not related meanings but rather related utterances, departing significantly from Lasersohn’s original conception. Although such a theory of imprecision is more clearly ‘metalinguistic’, the evidence for it from metalinguistic comparatives in English is surprisingly limited. The overall picture that emerges is one in which the grammatical distinction between ordinary and metalinguistic comparatives tracks the independently motivated distinction between vagueness and imprecision.

Metalinguistic comparison in an alternative semantics for imprecision

This dissertation investigates how English noun-noun (NN) compound properties such as directionality, productivity and semantic interpretation are used by two groups of L1 Spanish L2 English adults with different proficiency levels: B2 and C2. English NN compounds differ from Spanish ones in directionality and productivity. Therefore, B2 participants are predicted to show more problems when producing and judging compounds due to the influence of the L1 while C2 participants are expected to not have these difficulties. Moreover, the dissertation attempts to shed light on the semantic relations implied when interpreting novel NN compounds in order to establish a hierarchy that may account for any differences between both groups. The results show that both groups of participants have a high success rate when producing and judging NN compounds and that the role transfer plays is not crucial. The data also demonstrate that both groups favor the same semantic relations and in the same hierarchical order. The lack of important differences between the two proficiency groups suggests that in this area of grammar neither proficiency nor L1 influence affect the L2 grammar.

FACULTAD de FILOSOFÍA Y LETRAS DEPARTAMENTO de FILOLOGÍA INGLESA Grado en Estudios Ingleses

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Linguistics and Philosophy, 2008.

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Good intensions : paving two roads to a theory of the de re/de dicto distinction

The traditional scope theory of intensionality (STI) (see Russell 1905; Montague 1973; Ladusaw 1977; Ogihara 1992, 1996; Stowell 1993) is simple, elegant, and, for the most part, empirically adequate. However, a few quite troubling counterexamples to this theory have lead researchers to propose alternatives, such as positing null situation pronouns (Percus 2000) or actuality operators (Kamp 1971; Cresswell 1990) in the syntax of natural language. These innovative theories do correct the undergeneration of the original scope theory, but at a cost: the situation pronoun and operator theories overgenerate, as argued extensively by Percus (2000) and Keshet (2008). This paper presents new data that supports the STI over other analyses, such as structures where DPs lose their de re readings in positions where syntactic movement is blocked. These data point the way to a new theory of intensionality. This new theory, called split intensionality, is a modification of the STI which aims to solve the problems raised for the original scope theory without overgenerating. The proposal calls for an additional intensional abstraction operator that creates an expression denoting an intension from an expression denoting an extension. When a DP moves to a position above this operator, it is interpreted de re; otherwise it is de dicto. The crucial part of the new proposal is that a DP may move above this operator and yet remain, for instance, below an intentional verb or inside an if-clause. Therefore, a DP within an island for syntactic movement may be de re and yet not move out of the island when the intensional abstraction operator is also within the island.

Split intensionality: a new scope theory of de re and de dicto

Researchers often assume that possible worlds and times are represented in the syntax of natural languages. However, it has been noted that such a system can overgenerate. This paper proposes a constraint on systems where worlds and times are represented as situation pronouns. The Intersective Predicate Generalization, based on and extending work by R. Musan, states that two items composed via Predicate Modification, such as a noun and an intersective modifier, must be evaluated in the same world and time. To explain this generalization, a rule of Situation Economy is advanced, which holds that structures must have the fewest number of situation pronouns possible. Since strong DPs require a situation pronoun to receive a de re reading, a restriction on the type of strong determiners is proposed, which supersedes Situation Economy in this case. Finally, the paper shows how the Situation Economy approach explains an unrelated phenomenon involving bare plurals and examines the connection between this new rule and the grammar of natural language in general.

Situation economy

The most in-depth analyses of this phenomenon have argued that it is a case of systematic ambiguity, where the word and found in CCs has a different meaning from its normal one (Culicover & Jackendoff 1997; Klinedinst & Rothschild 2012). In this paper, I will insteadpursue an analysis that does not assume two meanings for and but rather treats CCs as structures where a modal or adverb of quantification takes scope over an otherwise standard conjunction, as sketched in (2), the structure I propose for (1a) above. I argue that the special CC meaning arises when this modal element is focus-sensitive and thus allows the unfocussed portion of the sentence to join its restriction. For the structure in (2), the unfocussed portion of the

Focus on Conditional Conjunction

Linguists often assume that possible worlds and times are represented as pronouns in natural language (see Cresswell 1990, Percus 2000, Kusumoto 2005, Keshet 2008). This paper will construe such pronouns as world-time pairs, which will be referred to as situations, for simplicity. A predicate taking such a pair as an argument is evaluated in the world and the time specified by that situation, effectively determining whether it is de re or de dicto. Researchers such as Percus (2000) have noted that such a system overgenerates and proposed generalizations describing where this overgeneralization occurs. This paper will examine three such generalizations: Percus’s (2000) Generalization X, a generalization by Musan (1997), and a new generalization covering modifiers of nouns. Ultimately, a unified generalization will be proposed, stating that only strong DPs ever may receive a de re interpretation. An explanation for this generalization is offered, involving a change in the semantic type system, under which only strong determiners may take situation pronouns.

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Ezra Keshet

Papers

Good intensions : paving two roads to a theory of the de re/de dicto distinction

Split intensionality: a new scope theory of de re and de dicto

Situation economy

Focus on Conditional Conjunction

Only the Strong: Restricting Situation Variables