Move and accommodate : a solution to Haddock's puzzle
- The claim of this paper is that embedded definites can, despite the appearances, be accounted for on the uniqueness approach. Far from being a surprise, we argue that the behavior of embedded definites is actually expected once two independent facts are taken into account: the ability of noun phrases to take scope, i.e., to be interpreted in a different place from their syntactic position, and the interaction of presuppositions and scope-taking elements. Specifically, we analyze embedded definites as a case of inverse linking (Gabbay and Moravscik, 1974; May, 1977): the embedded definite takes scope over the embedding one. The presupposition of the embedded definite is weakened as a result of the independently motivated process of intermediate accommodation (Kratzer, 1989; Berman, 1991). In our case, this process transfers the presupposition of the embedding definite into the restrictor of the embedded one. Like other scope-taking processes, inverse linking is generally taken to be subject to locality constraints: if a syntactic island, such as a finite clause boundary, intervenes in the path of a scope-taking element, then the resulting reading is unavailable or degraded (Rodman, 1976). Since our account views embedded definites as cases of inverse linking, we predict that inserting an island into an embedded definite, all else being equal, should lead to a similar degradation. We report results from an online survey with 800 participants that confirm this prediction.
Author: | Lucas Champollion, Uli Sauerland |
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URN: | urn:nbn:de:hebis:30:3-385812 |
URL: | https://docs.google.com/file/d/0Bz8d8ZE7fhuTUVBDRXp3ODV5aTA/edit?usp=sharing |
ISSN: | 1769-7158 |
Parent Title (English): | Empirical Issues in Syntax and Semantics 7, O. Bonami & P. Cabredo Hofherr (eds.) |
Publisher: | Colloqué de Syntax et Sémantique à Paris |
Place of publication: | Paris |
Editor: | Olivier Bonami, Patricia Cabredo Hofherr |
Document Type: | Part of a Book |
Language: | English |
Year of Completion: | 2008 |
Year of first Publication: | 2008 |
Publishing Institution: | Universitätsbibliothek Johann Christian Senckenberg |
Contributing Corporation: | Colloque de Syntaxe et Sémantique à Paris = Syntax and Semantics Conference in Paris |
Release Date: | 2015/12/02 |
GND Keyword: | Eindeutigkeit; Definitheit |
Volume: | 7 |
Page Number: | 25 |
First Page: | 1 |
Last Page: | 25 |
HeBIS-PPN: | 385127685 |
Dewey Decimal Classification: | 4 Sprache / 41 Linguistik / 410 Linguistik |
Sammlungen: | Linguistik |
Linguistik-Klassifikation: | Linguistik-Klassifikation: Syntax |
Linguistik-Klassifikation: Semantik / Semantics | |
Linguistik-Klassifikation: Pragmalinguistik/Kommunikationsforschung / Pragmalinguistics/Communication research | |
Licence (German): | Deutsches Urheberrecht |