Indefinites are known to give rise to different scopal (specific vs non-specific) and epistemic (known vs unknown) uses. Farkas & Brasoveanu (2020) explained these specificity distinctions in terms of stability vs. variability in value assignments of the variable introduced by the indefinite. Typological research (Haspelmath 1997) showed that indefinites have different functional distributions with respect to these uses. In this work, we present a formal framework where Farkas & Brasoveanu (2020)’s ideas are rigorously formalized. We develop a two-sorted team semantics which integrates both scope and epistemic effects. We apply the framework to explain typological variety of indefinites, their restricted distribution and licensing conditions, and some diachronic developments of indefinite forms.
{"title":"(Non-)specificity across languages: constancy, variation, v-variation","authors":"M. Aloni, Marco Degano","doi":"10.3765/salt.v1i0.5337","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3765/salt.v1i0.5337","url":null,"abstract":"Indefinites are known to give rise to different scopal (specific vs non-specific) and epistemic (known vs unknown) uses. Farkas & Brasoveanu (2020) explained these specificity distinctions in terms of stability vs. variability in value assignments of the variable introduced by the indefinite. Typological research (Haspelmath 1997) showed that indefinites have different functional distributions with respect to these uses. In this work, we present a formal framework where Farkas & Brasoveanu (2020)’s ideas are rigorously formalized. We develop a two-sorted team semantics which integrates both scope and epistemic effects. We apply the framework to explain typological variety of indefinites, their restricted distribution and licensing conditions, and some diachronic developments of indefinite forms.","PeriodicalId":21626,"journal":{"name":"Semantics and Linguistic Theory","volume":"20 1 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-12-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"81311656","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Based on the scope possibilities of pre-DP only relative to modals and their interaction with ellipsis, we provide a new argument (following Benbaji 2021) for a theory according to which only is always a propositional operator at LF, despite surface appearance.
{"title":"Pre-DP only is a propositional operator at LF: a new argument from ellipsis","authors":"Itai Bassi, Aron Hirsch, Tue Trinh","doi":"10.3765/salt.v1i0.5358","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3765/salt.v1i0.5358","url":null,"abstract":"Based on the scope possibilities of pre-DP only relative to modals and their interaction with ellipsis, we provide a new argument (following Benbaji 2021) for a theory according to which only is always a propositional operator at LF, despite surface appearance.","PeriodicalId":21626,"journal":{"name":"Semantics and Linguistic Theory","volume":"27 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-12-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"82317009","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
The semantic contribution of Fake Past in counterfactual expressions has been actively debated in recent semantic literature. This study deepens our current understanding of this natural language phenomenon by digging into the behavior of Past tense in Japanese counterfactual desire reports. We show that the Past-as-Past approach to Fake Past makes correct predictions about its semantic behavior.
{"title":"Past-as-Past in counterfactual desire reports: a view from Japanese","authors":"Teruyuki Mizuno, Stefan Kaufmann","doi":"10.3765/salt.v1i0.5345","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3765/salt.v1i0.5345","url":null,"abstract":"The semantic contribution of Fake Past in counterfactual expressions has been actively debated in recent semantic literature. This study deepens our current understanding of this natural language phenomenon by digging into the behavior of Past tense in Japanese counterfactual desire reports. We show that the Past-as-Past approach to Fake Past makes correct predictions about its semantic behavior.","PeriodicalId":21626,"journal":{"name":"Semantics and Linguistic Theory","volume":"324 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-12-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"76302264","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
The meanings expressed by the world’s languages have been argued to support efficient communication. Evidence for this hypothesis has drawn on cross-linguistic analyses of vocabulary in semantic domains of both content words (e.g. kinship terms (Kemp & Regier 2012); color terms (Regier, Kay & Khetarpal 2007; Zaslavsky, Kemp, Regier & Tishby 2018)) and function words (e.g.quantifiers(Steinert-Threlkeld2021); indefinite pronouns(Deni ́c, Steinert-Threlkeld & Szymanik 2022)) approaching the hypothesis concretely in terms of a trade-off between simplicity and informativeness. We apply the analysis to modals (e.g. can, ought, might). Two proposed universals in this domain from Nauze (2008) and Vander Klok (2013) are used for generating many artificial languages with varying degrees of quasi-naturalness as a proxy for natural data. A computational experiment shows that most of the optimal solutions to the trade-off problem are predicted by Vander Klok; meanwhile, as languages more robustly satisfy Nauze’s universal, they also become more optimal. This suggests that efficient communication is a leading explanation for constraints on modal semantic variation.
{"title":"Modal semantic universals optimize the simplicity/informativeness trade-off","authors":"Nathaniel Imel, Shane Steinert-Threlkeld","doi":"10.3765/salt.v1i0.5346","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3765/salt.v1i0.5346","url":null,"abstract":"The meanings expressed by the world’s languages have been argued to support efficient communication. Evidence for this hypothesis has drawn on cross-linguistic analyses of vocabulary in semantic domains of both content words (e.g. kinship terms (Kemp & Regier 2012); color terms (Regier, Kay & Khetarpal 2007; Zaslavsky, Kemp, Regier & Tishby 2018)) and function words (e.g.quantifiers(Steinert-Threlkeld2021); indefinite pronouns(Deni ́c, Steinert-Threlkeld & Szymanik 2022)) approaching the hypothesis concretely in terms of a trade-off between simplicity and informativeness. We apply the analysis to modals (e.g. can, ought, might). Two proposed universals in this domain from Nauze (2008) and Vander Klok (2013) are used for generating many artificial languages with varying degrees of quasi-naturalness as a proxy for natural data. A computational experiment shows that most of the optimal solutions to the trade-off problem are predicted by Vander Klok; meanwhile, as languages more robustly satisfy Nauze’s universal, they also become more optimal. This suggests that efficient communication is a leading explanation for constraints on modal semantic variation.","PeriodicalId":21626,"journal":{"name":"Semantics and Linguistic Theory","volume":"36 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-12-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"90944386","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Range expressions such asbetween 3 and 8,from 3 to 8, and3 through 8 resemble modified numerals such asat least 3and have sometimes been mentioned under that rubric. This paper shows that they are crucially different in their distribution, the readings available to them, and their behavior with respect to quantifiers, and more generally that they have an intricate grammar of their own. We distinguish three classes of readings they can receive: singleton punctual readings, on which they often give rise to ignorance inferences; set punctual readings, which arise chiefly in the scope of quantifiers; and interval readings, where the range is interpreted exhaustively. We propose an analysis on which range expressions denote choice functions over degrees, which can in the right circumstances be parameterized.
{"title":"Ranges: composite measure phrases, modified numerals, and choice functions","authors":"Adam Gobeski, Marcin Morzycki","doi":"10.3765/salt.v1i0.5349","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3765/salt.v1i0.5349","url":null,"abstract":"Range expressions such asbetween 3 and 8,from 3 to 8, and3 through 8 resemble modified numerals such asat least 3and have sometimes been mentioned under that rubric. This paper shows that they are crucially different in their distribution, the readings available to them, and their behavior with respect to quantifiers, and more generally that they have an intricate grammar of their own. We distinguish three classes of readings they can receive: singleton punctual readings, on which they often give rise to ignorance inferences; set punctual readings, which arise chiefly in the scope of quantifiers; and interval readings, where the range is interpreted exhaustively. We propose an analysis on which range expressions denote choice functions over degrees, which can in the right circumstances be parameterized.","PeriodicalId":21626,"journal":{"name":"Semantics and Linguistic Theory","volume":"30 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-12-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"83028937","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
This paper offers a new theory of binominal constructions in Spanish(e.g., el idiota de Andrés ‘That idiot Andrés’, una mierda de departamento ‘a shitof an apartment’). I use what I call Potts’ Criterion as a way to detect whether or nota given term has predicative force at the truth-conditional level. The observation isthat epithets do not have such a predicative import in binominal constructions of therelevant type, a clear indication that these binominals do not involve predicationalunderlying structures of the type proposed in Den Dikken (2006) and most, if notall, mainstream approaches to binominals in Romance. I then propose that thesyntactic and semantic connection between epithets/expressives and their relatedDPs/NPs is a particular type of equation between those DPs/NPs and an underlyingindexical term, denoting in individuals or in properties depending on the relevantconstruction.
本文提出了一种新的西班牙语二名结构理论。例如，el idiota de andrsamas(那个白痴andrsamas)， una mierda de departamento (a shitof an apartment)。我使用我所谓的波茨标准来检测给定的术语在真-条件层面上是否具有谓词力。我们观察到，在相关类型的二项式结构中，形容词没有这样的谓语意义，这清楚地表明，这些二项式不涉及《Dikken》(2006)中提出的类型的谓语基础结构，也不涉及大多数(如果不是的话)浪漫小说中二项式的主流方法。然后，我提出，在形容词/表达和它们相关的dp /NPs之间的句法和语义连接是这些dp /NPs和一个潜在的索引项之间的一种特殊类型的方程，根据相关结构表示个体或属性。
{"title":"Introducing expressives through equations. Implications for the theory of nominal predication in Romance","authors":"Andrés Saab","doi":"10.3765/salt.v1i0.5330","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3765/salt.v1i0.5330","url":null,"abstract":"This paper offers a new theory of binominal constructions in Spanish(e.g., el idiota de Andrés ‘That idiot Andrés’, una mierda de departamento ‘a shitof an apartment’). I use what I call Potts’ Criterion as a way to detect whether or nota given term has predicative force at the truth-conditional level. The observation isthat epithets do not have such a predicative import in binominal constructions of therelevant type, a clear indication that these binominals do not involve predicationalunderlying structures of the type proposed in Den Dikken (2006) and most, if notall, mainstream approaches to binominals in Romance. I then propose that thesyntactic and semantic connection between epithets/expressives and their relatedDPs/NPs is a particular type of equation between those DPs/NPs and an underlyingindexical term, denoting in individuals or in properties depending on the relevantconstruction.","PeriodicalId":21626,"journal":{"name":"Semantics and Linguistic Theory","volume":"57 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-12-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"78854712","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
The interpretation of much/many has been argued to be regulated by Uniform Dimensionality (Hackl 2000; Solt 2009): much is underspecified but many encodes cardinality. However, given some data where many denotes ‘volume’, Snyder (2021) proposes the need for Multiform Dimensionality: both much and many are underspecifed. After reviewing the English data, and in light of novel cross-linguistic data, we argue that neither generalization is fully accurate. Instead, following Wellwood (2015, 2018), we argue for an alternative, Abstract Uniform Dimensionality, which we propose to be universal: MUCH always measures cardinality when it scopes over semantically interpretable plural. We derive the universal by proposing that MUCH can occupy different positions in the NP, only one of which has semantic plural in its scope. Variation is thus not semantic, but morpho-syntactic.
{"title":"Debunking Multiform Dimensionality: many, Romance tant-PL, & morpho-syntactic opacity","authors":"Antonio Maria Cleani, Luis Miguel Toquero Perez","doi":"10.3765/salt.v1i0.5332","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3765/salt.v1i0.5332","url":null,"abstract":"The interpretation of much/many has been argued to be regulated by Uniform Dimensionality (Hackl 2000; Solt 2009): much is underspecified but many encodes cardinality. However, given some data where many denotes ‘volume’, Snyder (2021) proposes the need for Multiform Dimensionality: both much and many are underspecifed. After reviewing the English data, and in light of novel cross-linguistic data, we argue that neither generalization is fully accurate. Instead, following Wellwood (2015, 2018), we argue for an alternative, Abstract Uniform Dimensionality, which we propose to be universal: MUCH always measures cardinality when it scopes over semantically interpretable plural. We derive the universal by proposing that MUCH can occupy different positions in the NP, only one of which has semantic plural in its scope. Variation is thus not semantic, but morpho-syntactic.","PeriodicalId":21626,"journal":{"name":"Semantics and Linguistic Theory","volume":"991 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-12-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"85658150","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Occasional, odd and rare are different from other frequency adjectives (such as daily or frequent) in that they are able to pluralize a verbal event outside its immediate scope. While attempts have been made to capture this association to the event (Morzycki 2016; Gehrke & McNally 2011, 2015; Gehrke 2021; Schäfer 2007; Zimmermann 2003; Stump 1981; Sæbø 2016; Bücking 2012), none of them capture all the relevant empirical facts, namely that these sentences are distributive, stage-level and can optionally involve a verbal or a nonverbal event plurality. We present an analysis in which occasional-type frequency adjectives quantify over stages, following Barker’s (1999) definition of a stage as an ordered pair of an event and an individual . This analysis better accounts for the data and leads to a larger discussion of the nature of stages.
{"title":"Occasional-type frequency adjectives and quantification over stages","authors":"Charlotte Sant, G. Ramchand","doi":"10.3765/salt.v1i0.5339","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3765/salt.v1i0.5339","url":null,"abstract":"Occasional, odd and rare are different from other frequency adjectives (such as daily or frequent) in that they are able to pluralize a verbal event outside its immediate scope. While attempts have been made to capture this association to the event (Morzycki 2016; Gehrke & McNally 2011, 2015; Gehrke 2021; Schäfer 2007; Zimmermann 2003; Stump 1981; Sæbø 2016; Bücking 2012), none of them capture all the relevant empirical facts, namely that these sentences are distributive, stage-level and can optionally involve a verbal or a nonverbal event plurality. We present an analysis in which occasional-type frequency adjectives quantify over stages, following Barker’s (1999) definition of a stage as an ordered pair of an event and an individual . This analysis better accounts for the data and leads to a larger discussion of the nature of stages.","PeriodicalId":21626,"journal":{"name":"Semantics and Linguistic Theory","volume":"37 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-12-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"81781422","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
The referential analysis of conditionals has recently been put forth as an alternative of the Kratzer-style restrictor analysis (Schein 2001, Schlenker 2004, among others). Under this analysis, conditional antecedents are definite descriptions of worlds/situations. This paper explores a widely accepted assumption of the referential analysis, namely that conditional antecedents refer to plural objects. I show that the singularity/plurality of conditional antecedents can correlate with whether the conditional expresses modal or adverbial quantification. I use this correlation to motivate an analysis where conditional antecedents are number-neutral by default, but can be forced to denote singular referents. This idea is formally implemented within the dynamic framework by Brasoveanu (2010).
{"title":"Singularity and plurality of discourse reference to worlds","authors":"Muyi Yang","doi":"10.3765/salt.v1i0.5341","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3765/salt.v1i0.5341","url":null,"abstract":"The referential analysis of conditionals has recently been put forth as an alternative of the Kratzer-style restrictor analysis (Schein 2001, Schlenker 2004, among others). Under this analysis, conditional antecedents are definite descriptions of worlds/situations. This paper explores a widely accepted assumption of the referential analysis, namely that conditional antecedents refer to plural objects. I show that the singularity/plurality of conditional antecedents can correlate with whether the conditional expresses modal or adverbial quantification. I use this correlation to motivate an analysis where conditional antecedents are number-neutral by default, but can be forced to denote singular referents. This idea is formally implemented within the dynamic framework by Brasoveanu (2010).","PeriodicalId":21626,"journal":{"name":"Semantics and Linguistic Theory","volume":"61 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-12-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"75937055","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Languages without overt marking of tense have been commonly analyzedas having covert tense, either in the form of a phonologically null tense morpheme ora post-LF semantic rule. We argue that the notion of (neo-Reichenbachian) tense isnot only unnecessary for the analysis of Cantonese, but also falls short of accountingfor temporal reference in this language. Following Pancheva & Zubizarreta (2020,2021) on Paraguayan Guarani, we propose an analysis of Cantonese that manipulatesthe temporal parameter of the evaluation context in lieu of tense. A more generalcontribution of this line of work is the proposal that tense is not a semantic universal.
{"title":"Genuinely tenseless: encoding time in Cantonese","authors":"Tsz Ming Lee, R. Pancheva, M. Zubizarreta","doi":"10.3765/salt.v1i0.5362","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3765/salt.v1i0.5362","url":null,"abstract":"Languages without overt marking of tense have been commonly analyzedas having covert tense, either in the form of a phonologically null tense morpheme ora post-LF semantic rule. We argue that the notion of (neo-Reichenbachian) tense isnot only unnecessary for the analysis of Cantonese, but also falls short of accountingfor temporal reference in this language. Following Pancheva & Zubizarreta (2020,2021) on Paraguayan Guarani, we propose an analysis of Cantonese that manipulatesthe temporal parameter of the evaluation context in lieu of tense. A more generalcontribution of this line of work is the proposal that tense is not a semantic universal.","PeriodicalId":21626,"journal":{"name":"Semantics and Linguistic Theory","volume":"13 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-12-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"75206006","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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