Download or read book On the Semantics and Logical Form of Wh clauses written by Stephen Berman and published by . This book was released on 1991 with total page 310 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book On the Semantics and Logical Form of WH clauses written by Stephen Robert Berman and published by . This book was released on 2007 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book On the semantics and logical form of wh clauses written by and published by . This book was released on 1991 with total page 279 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book On the Semantics of Wh Clauses written by Stephen Berman and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2016-11-25 with total page 199 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: First published in 1994, this book is concerned with certain kinds of wh-clauses, whose interpretations are easily and, the author argues, plausibly rendered by a logicosemantic analysis on which wh-phrases translate as open sentences, that is, as expressions of the semantically interpreted representation which contain free variables. After a review of influential contemporary analyses of the semantics of questions, concentrating on issues related to the truthconditional interpretation of these constructions, the author goes on to analyse logicosemantic similarities between wh-phrases and indefinite NPs. This analysis is extended in chapter V to account for asymmetries between wh-phrases and indefinites, but is preceded by the engagement and refutation of some of the challenges to it. The appendices discuss some peripheral points relating to the central points made by the author which are in need of further study.
Download or read book Wh Clauses in English written by Joe Trotta and published by BRILL. This book was released on 2016-08-22 with total page 234 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This study provides the first description-oriented, theoretically-unaligned account ofwh-clauses in Modern English. The author employs a data-based approach to examine aspects of both generative and non-generative work as regards their relative strengths and weaknesses. Wh-clauses in English: Aspects of Theory and Description is a unique combination of statistical findings and qualitative analysis. It is not only underpinned by a systematic investigation of the Brown University corpus but also includes attested material from other sources such as the British National Corpus, the CobuildDirect corpus as well as material gleaned from the internet. The qualitative and quantitative analyses are combined to approach a wide range of theoretical and descriptive issues, such as wh-movement, landing-sites for moved wh-XPs, vacuous movement, island constraints, among others. Not insignificantly, many questions of indeterminacy are addressed, such as the interface of conjunctions and relative words, the problems of demarcation between interrogatives and free relatives as well as structural ambiguities between interrogatives and exclamatives.
Download or read book The Syntax and Semantics of Wh Constructions written by Paul Hirschbuhler and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2016-11-10 with total page 184 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This title, first published in 1985, provides a detailed analysis of aspects of the semantics and the syntax of some wh-constructions. The first part of the book deals with the semantics of questions, whilst the other part discusses the syntax of que and quoi (what) in questions in French and the syntax of free relatives in French and other languages. This title will be of interest to students of language and linguistics.
Download or read book Directionality and Logical Form written by Josef Bayer and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2013-06-29 with total page 356 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Directionality and Logical Form provides a detailed treatment of the syntax of focusing particles, such as only and even in a cross-linguistic perspective. The derivation of logical forms is shown to be under the control, not only of the ECP and subjacency, but also of directionality of government and the particular word-order parameter that holds in a given language: head-final languages systematically disallow certain derivations or readings that are available in head-initial languages. The reason is that heads that deviate in their selection properties from canonical head-finality project a directionality barrier. Various strategies are explored by which this barrier can be circumvented. Although the theory is developed mainly on the basis of the head position in German, it can be directly used to explain constraints on the scope of Wh-in-situ in Bengali and closely related languages. Audience: Syntacticians and semanticists interested in parametric variation, as well as linguists working on Germanic and/or Indo-Aryan languages.
Download or read book On the Semantics of Wh Clauses written by Marjorie Boulton and published by Routledge Library Editions: Semantics and Semiology. This book was released on 2018-02-26 with total page 178 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: First published in 1994, this book is concerned with certain kinds of wh-clauses, whose interpretations are easily and, the author argues, plausibly rendered by a logicosemantic analysis on which wh-phrases translate as open sentences, that is, as expressions of the semantically interpreted representation which contain free variables. After a review of influential contemporary analyses of the semantics of questions, concentrating on issues related to the truthconditional interpretation of these constructions, the author goes on to analyse logicosemantic similarities between wh-phrases and indefinite NPs. This analysis is extended in chapter V to account for asymmetries between wh-phrases and indefinites, but is preceded by the engagement and refutation of some of the challenges to it. The appendices discuss some peripheral points relating to the central points made by the author which are in need of further study. p;lt;/P>
Download or read book Question orientedness and the Semantics of Clausal Complementation written by Wataru Uegaki and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on 2023-01-08 with total page 223 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume explores the compositional semantics of clausal complementation, and proposes a theory in which clause-embedding predicates are uniformly “question-oriented”, i.e., they take a set of propositions as their semantic argument. This theory opens up new horizons for the study of embedded questions and clausal complementation, and presents a successful case study on how lexical semantics interacts with syntax and compositional semantics. It offers new perspectives on issues in epistemology and the philosophy of language, such as the relationship between know-wh and know-that and the nature of attitudinal objects in general. Cross-linguistically, attitude predicates such as know, tell and surprise, can embed both declarative and interrogative clauses. Since these clauses are taken to represent different semantic objects, like propositions and questions, the embedding behavior of these predicates poses puzzles for the compositional semantics of clausal complementation. In addition, the fact that some verbs “select for” a certain complement type poses further challenges for compositional semantics. This volume addresses these issues based on a uniformly question-oriented analysis of attitude predicates, and proposes to derive their variable behaviors from their lexical semantics. The book is essential reading for linguists working on the syntax and semantics of clausal complementation, as well as those interested in the role of lexical semantics in compositional semantics. It will also be valuable for philosophers who are interested in applying linguistic tools to address philosophical problems.
Download or read book Crosslinguistic Research in Syntax and Semantics written by Raffaella Zanuttini and published by Georgetown University Press. This book was released on 2006-05-19 with total page 262 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Presenting cutting-edge research in syntax and semantics, this important volume furthers theoretical claims in generative linguistics and represents a significant addition to present scholarship in the field. Leading scholars present crosslinguistic studies dealing with clausal architecture, negation, and tense and aspect, and the issue of whether a statistical model can by itself capture the richness of human linguistic abilities. Taken together, these contributions elegantly show how theoretical tools can propel our understanding of language beyond pretheoretical descriptions, especially when combined with the insight and skills of linguists who can analyze difficult and complex data. Crosslinguistic Research in Syntax and Semantics covers a range of topics currently at the center of lively debate in the linguistic literature, such as the structure of the left periphery of the clause, the proper treatment of negative polarity items, and the role of statistical learning in building a model of linguistic competence. The ten original contributions offer an excellent balance of novel empirical description and theoretical analysis, applied to a wide range of languages, including Dutch, German, Irish English, Italian, Malagasy, Malay, and a number of medieval Romance languages. Scholars and students of semantics, syntax, and linguistic theory will find it to be a valuable resource for ongoing scholarship and advanced study.
Download or read book Handbook of Logic and Language written by Johan F.A.K. van Benthem and published by Elsevier. This book was released on 2010-12-17 with total page 1169 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The logical study of language is becoming more interdisciplinary, playing a role in fields such as computer science, artificial intelligence, cognitive science and game theory. This new edition, written by the leading experts in the field, presents an overview of the latest developments at the interface of logic and linguistics as well as a historical perspective. It is divided into three parts covering Frameworks, General Topics and Descriptive Themes. - Completely revised and updated - includes over 25% new material - Discusses the interface between logic and language - Many of the authors are creators or active developers of the theories
Download or read book On Sentence Interpretation written by Lyn Frazier and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2012-12-06 with total page 202 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: At present there exists no empirically-motivated theory of how perceivers assign a grammatically-permissible interpretation to a sentence. Implicit in many investigations of language comprehension is the idea that each constituent of a sentence is interpreted by the perceiver at the earliest conceivable point, using all potentially relevant sources of information. A variety of counter examples are presented to argue against this implicit theory of sentence interpretation. It is argued that an explicit alternative theory is needed to specify which decisions are made at which points during interpretive processing and to spell out the principles governing the processor's preferred choice at points of ambiguity or uncertainty. Several specific issues are taken concerning how the processor assigns a focal structure to an input sentence, how it identifies the topic of the sentence, how implicit restrictors on the domain of quantification are interpreted and how the identification of the content of a restrictor may guide the processor's use of discourse information. Exploiting intuitions about preferred interpretations of ambiguous sentences as well as the results of both old and new experimental studies, a theory of the preferred interpretation of Determiner Phrases is presented. This work explores important, but overlooked questions in on-line sentence interpretation and attempts to erect some of the scaffolding for an eventual theory of sentence interpretation.
Download or read book Asymmetries between Language Production and Comprehension written by Petra Hendriks and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2013-07-31 with total page 206 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book asserts that language is a signaling system rather than a code, based in part on such research as the finding that 5-year-old English and Dutch children use pronouns correctly in their own utterances, but often fail to interpret these forms correctly when used by someone else. Emphasizing the unique and sometimes competing demands of listener and speaker, the author examines resulting asymmetries between production and comprehension. The text offers examples of the interpretation of word order and pronouns by listeners, and word order freezing and referential choice by speakers. It is explored why the usual symmetry breaks down in children but also sometimes in adults. Gathering contemporary insights from theoretical linguistic research, psycholinguistic studies and computational modeling, Asymmetries between Language Production and Comprehension presents a unified explanation of this phenomenon. “Through a lucid, comprehensive review of acquisition studies on reference-related phenomena, Petra Hendriks builds a striking case for the pervasiveness of asymmetries in comprehension/production. In her view, listeners systematically misunderstand what they hear, and speakers systematically fail to prevent such misunderstandings. She argues that linguistic theory should take stock of current psycholinguistic and developmental evidence on optionality and ambiguity, and recognize language as a signaling system. The arguments are compelling yet controversial: grammar does not specify a one-to-one correspondence between form and meaning; and the demands of the mapping task differ for listeners and speakers. Her proposal is formalized within optimality theory, but researchers working outside this framework will still find it of great interest. In the language-as-code vs. language-as-signal debate, Hendriks puts the ball firmly in the other court.” Ana Pérez-Leroux, University of Toronto, Canada
Download or read book Language Logic and Computation written by Aybüke Özgün and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on 2022-03-30 with total page 367 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 13th International Tbilisi Symposium on Logic, Language and Computation, TbiLLC 2019, held in Batumi, Georgia, in September 2019. The volume contains 17 full revised papers presented at the conference from 17 submissions. The scientific program consisted of tutorials, invited lectures, contributed talks, and two workshops. The symposium offered two tutorials in language and logic and aimed at students as well as researchers working in the other areas: · Language: Sign language linguistics. State of the art, by Fabian Bross (University of Stuttgart, Germany) · Logic: Axiomatic Semantics, by Graham E. Leigh (University of Gothenburg, Sweden)
Download or read book Non Interrogative Subordinate Wh Clauses written by Łukasz Jędrzejowski and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2023-06-13 with total page 561 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume examines subordinate wh-clauses that lack an interrogative interpretation, particularly those in which the wh-word seems to deviate from its literal meaning. These include subordinate manner wh-clauses that have a declarative-like meaning, locative wh-clauses expressing kinds, and headed relatives that serve as recognitional cues, among many others. While regular interrogative embedding has been widely studied in recent years, little is known about the circumstances under which non-interrogative (subordinate) wh-clauses are licensed, nor why some, but not all, wh-phrases can be polyfunctional. The chapters in the book combine the study of cross-linguistic variation in patterns of subordination with formal semantic and syntactic analyses, with data drawn from a wide range of languages including Basque, Czech, English, Mandarin, Romanian, and Taiwan Southern Min. They provide novel insights into the ways in which wh-phrases can be used to introduce complements, relative clauses, and adverbial clauses, and show how the meanings associated with wh-words are exploited beyond their standard distribution. The findings have implications for our understanding of both the phenomenon of subordination as a whole and the relationship between form and meaning in wh-clauses.
Download or read book Questions written by Veneeta Dayal and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2016-11-03 with total page 352 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book synthesizes and integrates 40 years of research on the semantics of questions, and its interface with pragmatics and syntax, conducted within the formal semantics tradition. A wide range of topics are covered, including weak-strong exhaustiveness, maximality, functional answers, single-multiple-trapped list answers, embedding predicates, quantificational variability, concealed questions, weak islands, polar and alternative questions, negative polarity, and non-canonical questions. The literature on this rich set of topics, theoretically diverse and scattered across multiple venues, is often hard to assimilate. Veneeta Dayal, drawing on her own research, brings them together for the first time in a coherent, concise, and well-structured whole. Each chapter begins with a non-technical introduction to the issues discussed; semantically sophisticated accounts are then presented incrementally, with the major points summarized at the end of each section. Written in an accessible style, this book provides both a guide to one of the most vibrant areas of research in natural language and an account of how this area of study is developing. It will be a unique resource for the novice and expert alike, and seeks to appeal to a variety of readers without compromising depth and breadth of coverage.
Download or read book Semantics written by Javier Gutiérrez-Rexach and published by Psychology Press. This book was released on 2003 with total page 450 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This collection contains a selection of the most important contributions to semantic theory ranging from Gottlob Frege's essay 'On Sense and reference' written in 1892 to present-day thinkers in the field.
