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First published in 1979, this book starts from the perspective that dealing with anaphoric language can be decomposed into two complementary tasks: 1. identifying what a text potentially makes available for anaphoric reference and 2. constraining the candidate set of a given anaphoric expression down to one possible choice. The author argues there is an intimate connection between formal sentential analysis and the synthesis of an appropriate conceptual model of the discourse. Some of the issues with the creation of this conceptual model are discussed in the second chapter, which follows a background to the thesis that catalogues the types of anaphoric expression available in English and lists the types of things that can be referred to anaphorically. The third and fourth chapters examine two types of anaphoric expression that do not refer to non-linguistic entities. The final chapter details three areas into which this research could potentially be extended. This book will be of interest to students of linguistics.
A collection of original articles on the nature of anaphoric systems in a wide variety of genetically and structurally different languages.
Agreement is a pervasive phenomenon across natural languages. Depending on one’s definition of what constitutes agreement, it is either found in virtually every natural language that we know of, or it is at least found in a great many. Either way, it seems to be a core part of the system that underpins our syntactic knowledge. Since the introduction of the operation of Agree in Chomsky (2000), agreement phenomena and the mechanism that underlies agreement have garnered a lot of attention in the Minimalist literature and have received different theoretical treatments at different stages. Since then, many different phenomena involving dependencies between elements in syntax, including movement or not, have been accounted for using Agree. The mechanism of Agree thus provides a powerful tool to model dependencies between syntactic elements far beyond φ-feature agreement. The articles collected in this volume further explore these topics and contribute to the ongoing debates surrounding agreement. The authors gathered in this book are internationally reknown experts in the field of Agreement.
It is standardly assumed that Universal Grammar (UG) allows a given hierarchical representation to be associated with more than one linear order. This book proposes a restrictive theory of word order and phrase structure that denies this assumption. According to this theory, phrase structure always completely determines linear order, so that if two phrases differ in linear order, they must also differ in hierarchical structure. It is standardly assumed that Universal Grammar (UG) allows a given hierarchical representation to be associated with more than one linear order. For example, English and Japanese phrases consisting of a verb and its complement are thought of as symmetrical to one another, differing only in linear order. The Antisymmetry of Syntax proposes a restrictive theory of word order and phrase structure that denies this assumption. According to this theory, phrase structure always completely determines linear order, so that if two phrases differ in linear order, they must also differ in hierarchical structure. More specifically, Richard Kayne shows that asymmetric c-command invariably maps into linear precedence. From this follows, with few further hypotheses, a highly specific theory of word order in UG: that complement positions must always follow their associated head, and that specifiers and adjoined elements must always precede the phrase that they are sister to. A further result is that standard X-bar theory is not a primitive component of UG. Rather, X-bar theory expresses a set of antisymmetric properties of phrase structure. This antisymmetry is inherited from the more basic antisymmetry of linear order. Linguistic Inquiry Monograph No. 25
This study mainly focuses on the revision and extension of two Rules of Standard Centering Theory (Pronoun Rule and Transition Rule) to develop the constraints on the generation algorithm of bridging anaphora (BA) in stream-of-consciousness (SOC) discourse from a revised Centering perspective by incorporating the revised neo-Gricean pragmatic M-principle into the standard Centering. The Centering Theory combined with the revised neo-Gricean pragmatic M-principle is supposed to impose some grammatical and pragmatic constraints on backward-looking center realization and movement. It provides theoretical rationale for an account of constraints on full noun phrase and elliptical zero pronoun bridging anaphora generation in terms of the interaction and the division of labor between syntax and pragmatics. As to both, one cannot alone handle bridging anaphora without the other. Even though syntax and pragmatics operate at distinct levels of linguistic explanation, they appear to interact systematically in the case of bridging anaphora generation. On the one hand, syntax sets certain restrictions on salience and distributions of bridging anaphora and regulates the part of interpretation which is related to grammatical structure. On the other hand, the choice of bridging anaphoric expressions by writers and their interpretation by readers heavily dependents on preference which is regulated by the M-principle of language use and communication. Hence, the bridging anaphora generation algorithm based on the incorporation of the revised neo-Gricean pragmatic M-principle of communication into Centering provides a neat and reasonable explanation for bridging full noun phrase and elliptical zero pronoun generation.
This volume presents an exploration of a wide variety of new formal methods from computer science, biology and economics that have been applied to problems in semantics and pragmatics in recent years. Many of the contributions included focus on data from East Asian languages, particularly Japanese and Korean. The collection reflects on a range of new empirical issues that have arisen, including issues related to preference, evidentiality and attention. Separated into several sections, the book presents discussions on: information structure, speech acts and decisions, philosophical themes in semantics and new formal approaches to semantic and pragmatic theory. Its overarching theme is the relation between different kinds of content, from a variety of perspectives. The discussions presented are both theoretically innovative and empirically motivated.