Showing papers in "Linguistics and Philosophy in 1999"

The Myth of Conventional Implicature

Abstract: Depuis la distinction que fit Grice entre le dit et l'implicature, on considere generalement que le premier est du ressort de la semantique, tandis que le second appartient au domaine de la pragmatique. Cependant, dans cette distinction, l'implicature conventionnelle pose probleme, derivant plutot du sens d'expressions particulieres que des circonstances conversationnelles. L'A. veut demontrer la non-existence des implicatures conventionnelles

Towards a variable-free semantics

Abstract: En partant de l'hypothese selon laquelle les structures de surface peuvent recevoir une interpretation basee sur la theorie du modele sans etre reliees a un autre niveau (par exemple, la LF), l'A. examine les phenomenes de liage des variables. Il argumente en faveur d'une approche de la semantique du liage dans laquelle les variables ne jouent pas un role essentiel dans le mecanisme semantique et montre que cette approche rend l'interpretation directe plus reguliere et plus simple

Dynamic interpretation of verb phrase ellipsis

Abstract: L'A. examine le phenomene d'ellipse du syntagme verbal dans une perspective dynamique. En se concentrant sur les cas d'ellipse ou l'identite du referent reste vague, comme dans Susan loves her cat. Jane does too, il montre qu'il se produit un changement de centre dans le discours intervenant entre l'antecedent et le site de l'ellipse, et que cette conception de l'identite vague (sloppy identity) reflete un principe general dans la resolution des expressions anaphoriques dans le discours : l'expression retrouvee est toujours interpretee par rapport a son contexte actuel

Semantics, Tense and Time, an Essay in the Metaphysics of Natural Language

Abstract: According to Peter Ludlow, there is a very close relation between the structure of natural language and that of reality, and one can gain insights into long-standing metaphysical questions by studying the semantics of natural language. In this book Ludlow uses the metaphysics of time as a case study and focuses on the dispute between A-theorists and B-theorists about the nature of time. According to B-theorists, there is no genuine change, but a permanent sequence of events ordered by an earlier-than/later-than relation. According to the version of the A-theory adopted by Ludlow (a position sometimes called "presentism"), there are no past or future events or times; what makes something past or future is how the world stands right now.Ludlow argues that each metaphysical picture is tied to a particular semantical theory of tense and that the dispute can be adjudicated on semantical grounds. A presentism-compatible semantics, he claims, is superior to a B-theory semantics in a number of respects, including its abilities to handle the indexical nature of temporal discourse and to account for facts about language acquisition. Along the way, Ludlow develops a conception of "E-type" temporal anaphora that can account for both temporal anaphora and complex tenses without reference to past and future events. His view has philosophical consequences for theories of logic, self-knowledge, and memory. As for linguistic consequences, Ludlow suggests that the very idea of grammatical tense may have to be dispensed with and replaced with some combination of aspect, modality, and evidentiality.

Functional Relative Clauses

Abstract: L'A. analyse les syntagmes du type the picture of himself that every student hated, ou la proposition relative contient un quantificateur. Dans un premier temps, il montre que ces propositions presentent le meme type d'ambiguite entre interpretation fonctionnelle et interpretation par liste de paires que l'on rencontre dans les questions contenant un quantificateur (ex : which picture of himself does every man like ?). Dans un second temps, il montre que, dans les propositions relatives, les deux interpretations ont la meme source, a savoir, une dependance fonctionnelle. Il termine en examinant la distribution des propositions relatives fonctionnelles vs par liste de paires au sein des phrases identitaires vs non-identitaires

Generics, Frequency Adverbs, and Probability

Abstract: Generics and frequency statements are puzzling phenomena: they are lawlike, yet contingent. They may be true even in the absence of any supporting instances, and extending the size of their domain does not change their truth conditions. Generics and frequency statements are parametric on time, but not on possible worlds; they cannot be applied to temporary generalizations, and yet are contingent. These constructions require a regular distribution of events along the time axis. Truth judgments of generics vary considerably across speakers, whereas truth judgments of frequency statements are much more uniform. A generic may be false even if the vast majority of individuals in its domain satisfy the predicated property, whereas a frequency statement using, e.g., usually would be true. This paper argues that all these seemingly unrelated puzzles have a single underlying cause: generics and frequency statements express probability judgments, and these, in turn, are interpreted as statements of hypothetical relative frequency.

Participant roles, frames, and speech acts

Abstract: Dans son article intitule Speech acts and Goffman's participant roles, publie en 1985, l'A. a repris quelques unes des definitions et des regles dans lesquelles les linguistes utilisent allegrement les termes de locuteur et/ou d'auditeur (definitions des categories de personnes et des appellatifs), et les a reexaminees a la lumiere des differents roles qu'E. Goffman a regroupes sous les termes de locuteur et d'auditeur. Dans le present article, il tente de corriger deux serieuses erreurs qu'il a commises dans l'article de 1985 : notamment, son utilisation des termes de Goffman auteur, animateur et principal comme absolus et non comme dependants de cadres, et sa mauvaise distinction des differentes manieres dont les roles peuvent etre divises entre differentes personnes. Il attire egalement l'attention sur la maniere dont la distinction entre stade et individuel est reliee a l'application des categories du locuteur et de l'auditeur et sur la relation entre les roles de Goffman et les niveaux d'actes de parole distingues par Austin

Why German Schon and Noch are Still Duals: a Reply to van der Auwera

Abstract: The paper takes up the objections raised in van der Auwera (1993) against the joint analysis of the German particles schon, noch and erst published in Lobner (1989). Central to my analysis is the claim that the particles are organized in duality groups of four to which essentially the same type of analysis applies. Van der Auwera (1993) claims that already/schon, in its basic use, is different from the other three particles in having a more complex meaning which results in an opposition of the particle to finally/endlich. As to the narrow-focus temporal uses he argues that the duality approach is inadequate in including improper members on the one hand, and excluding relevant particles on the other. The criticism will be refuted. After a recollection of the duality analysis in Section 2, van der Auwera's arguments against the general design of my analysis are dealt with in Section 3. It will be argued that his own analysis of already/schon and its group, as far as it is supported by the data, does not really differ from my approach. In Section 4, I will deal with the claim that finally/endlich contradicts already/schon, which if correct would provide an indirect argument against the duality analysis of schon and noch. I will argue that endlich is set apart from the particles of the schon group by the presence of a non-descriptive, expressive, meaning component. For its descriptive meaning, endlich logically entails schon and belongs to a parallel duality group of its own together with noch immer. The apparent incompatibility of finally/endlich and already/schon can be explained as a conflict between what is foregrounded by each particle, respectively. In Section 5, I will argue that, contrary to van der Auwera's claims, the narrow focus uses of schon and its kin do form proper duality groups. The existence of such uses of noch, not treated in Lobner (1989), does not invalidate the duality analysis of schon and erst. Rather, noch in its relevant narrow-focus use belongs to yet another duality group together with its dual nur noch.

Temporal interpretation and information-status of noun phrases

Abstract: L'A. montre qu'il existe des syntagmes nominaux dont l'interpretation depend de la situation temporelle du predicat et d'autres qui sont independants temporellement. Apres avoir examine quelques approches potentielles de ces SN en termes d'indexation, de portee et de domaines de focus et apres avoir montre qu'elles ne pouvaient pas expliquer la distribution de la dependance et de l'independance temporelle, il presente une analyse alternative basee sur une ontologie contenant des etapes d'individus ainsi que des individus en tant qu'entites basiques. Cette etude permet de reconsiderer certains aspects de la semantique des SN tels que la quantification et la pluralite, ainsi que leurs relations avec le statut informationnel des SN

Syntagmatic and paradigmatic dimensions of causee encodings

Abstract: There have been essentially two types of theoretical approaches to account for the grammatical relations associated with the causee argument of causative constructions. Ignoring the specifics of particular theories, there are transitivity based approaches in which the causee is a direct object when the embedded clause is intransitive, and an indirect object or oblique when the embedded clause is transitive. This pattern finds considerable cross-linguistic support. On the other hand, there are languages in which the causee exhibits alternative grammatical relations irrespective of transitivity: the causee direct object correlates with direct causation, while indirect object or oblique causees are associated with indirect causation. Such phenomena have motivated a semantic approach.

Meaning postulates and the model-theoretic approach to natural language semantics

Abstract: Les approches logiques de la semantique des langues naturelles se concentrent habituellement sur les aspects combinatoires du sens, laissant les questions de matiere conceptuelle a la semantique lexicale. Pourtant, certaines informations lexicales s'averent parfois necessaires pour etoffer une analyse logique specifique. Dans de tels cas, les postulats de sens sont souvent utilises pour capturer la structure lexicale par des moyens logiques. Mais, une fois cette methode mise au point, on est souvent tente de l'etendre a des cas ou l'analyse logique a echoue, en utilisant les postulats de sens pour rattraper les erreurs d'attribution compositionnelle du sens. Dans cet article, l'A. montre que si les postulats de sens peuvent etre tres utiles, voire meme essentiels, leur utilisation s'avere dangereuse lorsqu'elle se fait en dernier recours pour forcer la production de predictions exactes a partir d'une analyse douteuse. Afin de determiner ce qu'il est possible de faire et de ne pas faire avec les postulats de sens, il explique leur fonctionnement dans le cadre de la theorie du modele, qui consiste a attribuer du sens en fonction d'un modele

Interrogative Quantifiers within Scope

Abstract: L'A. developpe une analyse des proprietes semantiques des phrases interrogatives wh- en allemand. Les syntagmes wh- fonctionnent comme des quantifieurs. L'A. propose un modele semantique de l'interaction wh/Q comme un cas de relation entre le quantifieur et la portee

Compositionality as Methodology

Abstract: A compositional meaning theory is, very roughly, a meaning theory which shows how the meanings of wholes depend upon the meanings of component parts. Compositionality is, for various reasons, often taken to be a desirable trait in a meaning theory, and moreover, a trait which is not always easy to come by. Considerable ink has been spilled in debating whether certain features of English, or other natural languages, obviate the possibility of a compositional semantics for the language

Double quantification and the meaning of shenme 'what' in Chinese bare conditionals

Abstract: This paper shows that the semantics of shenme ‘what’ in Chinese bare conditionals may exhibit a phenomenon of double quantification. I argue that such double quantification can be nicely accounted for if one adopts Carlson's (1977a, b) semantics of bare plurals and verb meanings as well as the following two assumptions: (i) shenme ‘what’ can be a proform of bare NPs and hence has the same kind of denotation as bare NPs, and (ii) Chinese bare NPs are names of kinds of things. This analysis of Chinese bare conditionals lends support to Carlson's approach to bare plurals despite Wilkinson's (1991) criticisms. I also show that an extension of Heim's (1987) analysis of what as ‘something of kind x’ to Chinese shenme ‘what’ encounters problems when shenme ‘what’ is a shared constituent of a predicate which applies to kinds and another predicate which applies to objects.

Local semantic closure

Abstract: Dans son traite de semantique formelle, Tarski a envisage la possibilite d'appliquer sa theorie de la verite aux langues naturelles en elaborant une hierarchie des langues. Dans cet article, l'A. montre comment cette hierarchie des langues peut etre representee dans le cadre de la grammaire localement standard, qui considere chaque langue naturelle comme une structure ressemblant a un collecteur dans lequel chaque phrase declarative fait partie d'un ensemble de phrases, appele voisinage standard qui est associe a une algebre de formules dont la structure est celle de la logique standard des predicats du premier ordre. La these fondamentale de la theorie de la grammaire localement standard stipule que la langue anglaise peut etre couverte par des voisinages standards et qu'elle possede la propriete de cloture semantique locale, dans la mesure ou chaque phrase anglaise (au mode declaratif) est contenue dans un voisinage standard emboite dans une hierarchie semantique locale