Anaphora And Semantic Interpretation

Author : Tanya Reinhart
Publisher : Routledge
Page : 211 pages
File Size : 41,6 Mb
Release : 2016-11-25
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN : 9781134993604

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Anaphora and Semantic Interpretation by Tanya Reinhart Pdf

First published in 1983, this book examines anaphora — a central issue in linguistic theory as it lies at the crossroads of several major problems. On the one hand it is believed that the same conditions that govern the interpretation of anaphora also govern syntactic movement rules but on the other, while anaphora is known to interact with various discourse and semantic considerations, it also provides a clear instance of the dependency of the semantic interpretation of sentences upon semantic properties of natural language. This book has two major goals: the first is a comprehensive analysis of sentence-level anaphora that addresses the questions posed above, and the second is an examination of the broader issues of the relations between the structural properties of sentences and their semantic interpretation within the hypotheses of the autonomy of syntax and of interpretative semantics shown by Chomsky.

Author : Gennaro Chierchia
Publisher : University of Chicago Press
Page : 288 pages
File Size : 55,6 Mb
Release : 2009-02-20
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN : 9780226104515

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Dynamics of Meaning by Gennaro Chierchia Pdf

In The Dynamics of Meaning, Gennaro Chierchia tackles central issues in dynamic semantics and extends the general framework. Chapter 1 introduces the notion of dynamic semantics and discusses in detail the phenomena that have been used to motivate it, such as "donkey" sentences and adverbs of quantification. The second chapter explores in greater depth the interpretation of indefinites and issues related to presuppositions of uniqueness and the "E-type strategy." In Chapter 3, Chierchia extends the dynamic approach to the domain of syntactic theory, considering a range of empirical problems that includes backwards anaphora, reconstruction effects, and weak crossover. The final chapter develops the formal system of dynamic semantics to deal with central issues of definites and presupposition. Chierchia shows that an approach based on a principled enrichment of the mechanisms dealing with meaning is to be preferred on empirical grounds over approaches that depend on an enrichment of the syntactic apparatus. Dynamics of Meaning illustrates how seemingly abstract stances on the nature of meaning can have significant and far-reaching linguistic consequences, leading to the detection of new facts and influencing our understanding of the syntax/semantics/pragmatics interface.

Author : Beom-mo Kang
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 352 pages
File Size : 49,7 Mb
Release : 1991
Category : Categorial grammar
ISBN : UCSC:32106010555651

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Functional Inheritance, Anaphora, and Semantic Interpretation in a Generalized Categorial Grammar by Beom-mo Kang Pdf

Author : Geert-Jan M. Kruijff,Richard T. Oehrle
Publisher : Springer Science & Business Media
Page : 297 pages
File Size : 44,9 Mb
Release : 2012-12-06
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN : 9789401000376

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Resource-Sensitivity, Binding and Anaphora by Geert-Jan M. Kruijff,Richard T. Oehrle Pdf

Geert-Jan Kruijff & Richard T. Oehrle A categorial grammar is both a grammar and a type inference system. As a result of this duality, the categorial framework offers a natural setting in which to study questions of grammatical composition, both empirically and abstractly. There are affinities in this perspective, of course, to basic questions in formal language theory. But the fact that categorial grammars are type in ference systems makes possible intrinsic connections among syntactic types, syntactic type inference, semantic types, and semantic type inference, a con nection less apparent in the standard constructions of formal language theory. Fixing a system of grammatical type inference T, we may explore what gram matical phenomena are compatible with T-and equally, what grammatical phenomena are not. Equally, fixing a class of grammatical phenomena g, we may seek to ascertain what systems of type inference characterize g. This dual perspective is a strong current in the categorial literature, going back to the classical papers of Ajdukiewicz, Bar-Hillel, Curry, and Lambek.

Author : Andrew Barss
Publisher : John Wiley & Sons
Page : 304 pages
File Size : 48,9 Mb
Release : 2008-04-15
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN : 9780470754627

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Anaphora by Andrew Barss Pdf

Anaphora: A Reference Guide is a collection of essays that report on the major results of recent research in anaphora and set the stage for further inquiry. Reports on the major results of recent research in anaphora and sets the stage for further inquiry. Features contributions from among the world's leading researchers on anaphora. Presents an exciting picture of how broad the phenomenon of anaphora is and how it can reveal many mysterious properties of language. Includes articles of interest to many disciplines, including philosophy of language, philosophy of mind, cognitive science, linguistics, language studies, cognitive psychology, and psycholinguistics.

Author : Nicholas Asher
Publisher : Springer Science & Business Media
Page : 468 pages
File Size : 41,8 Mb
Release : 2012-12-06
Category : Philosophy
ISBN : 9789401117159

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Reference to Abstract Objects in Discourse by Nicholas Asher Pdf

Reference to Abstract Objects in Discourse presents a novel framework and analysis of the ways we refer to abstract objects in natural language discourse. The book begins with a typology of abstract objects and related entities like eventualities. After an introduction to `bottom up, compositional' discourse representation theory (DRT) and to previous work on abstract objects in DRT (notably work on the semantics of the attitudes), the book turns to a semantic analysis of eventuality and abstract object denoting nominals in English. The book then substantially revises and extends the dynamic semantic framework of DRT to develop an analysis of anaphoric reference to abstract objects and eventualities that exploits discourse structure and the discourse relations that obtain between elements of the structure. A dynamic, semantically based theory of discourse structure (SDRT) is proposed, along with many illustrative examples. Two further chapters then provide the analysis of anaphoric reference to propositions VP ellipsis. The abstract entity anaphoric antecedents are elements of the discourse structures that SDRT develops. The final chapter discusses some logical and philosophical difficulties for a semantic analysis of reference to abstract objects. For semanticists, philosophers of language, computer scientists interested in natural language applications and discourse, philosophical logicians, graduate students in linguistics, philosophy, cognitive science and artificial intelligence.

Author : Ken Safir
Publisher : Oxford University Press
Page : 328 pages
File Size : 49,9 Mb
Release : 2004-04-08
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN : 9780198037187

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The Syntax of Anaphora by Ken Safir Pdf

In this work, Ken Safir develops a comprehensive theory on the role of anaphora in syntax. First, he contends that the complementary distribution of forms that support the anaphoric readings is not accidental, contrary to most current thinking, but rather should be derived from a principle, one that he proposes in the form of an algorithm. Secondly, he maintains that dependent identity relations are always possible where they are not prohibited by a constraint. Lastly, he proposes that there are no parameters of anaphora - that all anaphora-specific principles are universal, and that the patterns of anaphora across languages arise entirely from a restricted set of lexical properties. This comprehensive consideration of anaphora redirects current thinking on the subject.

Author : Eric Reuland
Publisher : MIT Press
Page : 374 pages
File Size : 44,9 Mb
Release : 2022-11-15
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN : 9780262376778

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Anaphora and Language Design by Eric Reuland Pdf

A study on anaphoric dependencies that derives the conditions on anaphora in natural language from the design properties of the language system. Pronouns and anaphors (including reflexives such as himself and herself) may or must depend on antecedents for their interpretation. These dependencies are subject to conditions that prima facie show substantial crosslinguistic variation. In this monograph, Eric Reuland presents a theory of how these anaphoric dependencies are represented in natural language in a way that does justice to the the variation one finds across languages. He explains the conditions on these dependencies in terms of elementary properties of the computational system of natural language. He shows that the encoding of anaphoric dependencies makes use of components of the language system that all reflect different cognitive capacities; thus the empirical research he reports on offers insights into the design of the language system. Reuland’s account reduces the conditions on binding to independent properties of the grammar, none of which is specific to binding. He offers a principled account of the roles of the lexicon, syntax, semantics, and the discourse component in the encoding of anaphoric dependencies; a window into the overall organization of the grammar and the roles of linguistic and extralinguistic factors; a new typology of anaphoric expressions; a view of crosslinguistic variation (examining facts in a range of languages, from English, Dutch, Frisian, German, and Scandinavian languages to Fijian, Georgian, and Malayalam) that shows unity in diversity.

Author : Francis Cornish
Publisher : Oxford University Press
Page : 308 pages
File Size : 41,6 Mb
Release : 1999
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN : 0198700288

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Anaphora, Discourse, and Understanding by Francis Cornish Pdf

"This was a different man," said Mr Welbecker. "Listen! This man was called Hamlet and his uncle had killed his father because he wanted to marry his mother.""What did he want to marry his mother for?" said William. "I've never heard of anyone wanting to marry their mother."*In almost any conversation the meaning of what is said depends on the listener seeing how some words refer to what has already been said, and that others must be related to the characteristics of time, place, or person of the situation around which the conversation revolves. These modes ofreference, anaphora and deixis respectively, involve surprisingly complicated cognitive and syntactic processes, which people (normally) perform easily and unerringly. But they present formidable problems for the linguist and cognitive scientist trying to explain precisely how comprehension isachieved. Anaphora and deixis are thus a central research focus in syntactic theory, while understanding and modelling their operation in discourse are important targets in computational linguistics and cognitive science. In this ambitious work, Francis Cornish sets out an original theory ofanaphora and deixis, and proposes a new and elegant theoretical model to represent the transfer of meaning in discourse.Dr Cornish considers anaphoric reference in discourse from both psychological and linguistic perspectives. He argues that anaphora and deixis are essentially parts of integrative discourse procedures that facilitate the linking of representations held in working memory. He brings together work bylinguists, formal semanticists, psychologists, and researchers in artificial intelligence, as well as drawing on his own extensive experimental work on a variety of corpora of different genres in French and English.Anaphora, Discourse, and Understanding will interest researchers and advanced students in a variety of fields within and outside linguistics, including cognitive science, artificial intelligence, syntactic theory, formal semantics, and the analysis of discourse.[* from William - The Pirate by Richmal Crompton, London, Macmillan, 1932]

Author : Jean Mark Gawron,Stanley Peters
Publisher : Stanford Univ Center for the Study
Page : 187 pages
File Size : 41,7 Mb
Release : 1990-01-01
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN : 0937073490

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Anaphora and Quantification in Situation Semantics by Jean Mark Gawron,Stanley Peters Pdf

A principal goal of this book is to develop and apply the Situation Semantics framework. Jean Mark Gawron and Stanley Peters adopt a version of the theory in which meanings are built up via syntactically driven semantic composition rules. They provide a substantial treatment of English incorporating treatments of pronomial anaphora, quantification, donkey anaphora, and tense. The book focuses on the semantics of pronomial anaphora and quantification. The authors argue that the ambiguities of sentences with pronouns cannot be adequately accounted for with a theory that represents anaphoric relations only syntactically; their relational framework uniformly deals with anaphoric relations as relations between utterances in context. They argue that there is no need for a syntactic representation of anaphoric relations, or for a theory that accounts for anaphoric ambiguities by resorting to two or more kinds of anaphora. Quantifier scope ambiguities are handled analogously to anaphoric ambiguities. This treatment integrates the Cooper Store mechanism with a theory of meaning that provides both a natural setting for it and a convincing account of what, semantically, is going on. Jean Mark Gawron is a researcher for Hewlett Packard Laboratories, Palo Alto. Stanley Peters is professor of linguistics and symbolic systems at Stanford University and is director of the Center for the Study of Language and Information.

Author : Alan Garnham
Publisher : Psychology Press
Page : 222 pages
File Size : 51,5 Mb
Release : 2013-06-17
Category : Psychology
ISBN : 9781134951093

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Mental Models and the Interpretation of Anaphora by Alan Garnham Pdf

The interpretation of anaphora - how we interpret expressions such as definite pronouns (he, she, it) and verbal elliptical phrases (such as "did so, too") in the course of ordinary conversation or reading - is an important aspect of language comprehension. In this book the author examines the research and evidence on anaphor interpretation within the context of the mental models theory of comprehension, arguing that the notion of a mental model is essential to the detailed description of the processes of anaphor resolution. The general philosophy of the mental models approach and the nature of mental models themselves and their role in language processing is discussed, followed by a review of methodological issues that bear on the interpretation of psychological research findings. Against this background, the author's own research on areas such as deep and surface anaphora, reference into anaphoric islands, the role of implicit causality in anaphor resolution and the use of pronouns to refer to characters introduced by stereotyped role names is presented. At all times the author's research is set within the context of the general literature on anaphor resolution derived from the disciplines of linguistics, psycholinguistics, philosophy and computational linguistics, ensuring that the book will be of interest to advanced students and researchers in these fields.

Author : Ken Safir,Professor of Linguistics Ken Safir
Publisher : Oxford University Press on Demand
Page : 328 pages
File Size : 55,8 Mb
Release : 2004-04-08
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN : 9780195166132

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The Syntax of Anaphora by Ken Safir,Professor of Linguistics Ken Safir Pdf

In this work, Ken Safir develops a comprehensive theory on the role of anaphora in syntax. First, he contends that the complementary distribution of forms that support the anaphoric readings is not accidental, contrary to most current thinking, but rather should be derived from a principle, one that he proposes in the form of an algorithm. Secondly, he maintains that dependent identity relations are always possible where they are not prohibited by a constraint. Lastly, he proposes that there are no parameters of anaphora - that all anaphora-specific principles are universal, and that the patterns of anaphora across languages arise entirely from a restricted set of lexical properties. This comprehensive consideration of anaphora redirects current thinking on the subject.

Author : Gerhard Jäger
Publisher : Springer Science & Business Media
Page : 301 pages
File Size : 48,5 Mb
Release : 2005-12-08
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN : 9781402039058

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Anaphora and Type Logical Grammar by Gerhard Jäger Pdf

Type Logical Grammar is a framework that emerged from the synthesis of two traditions: Categorial Grammar from formal linguistics and substructural logics from logic. Grammatical composition is conceived as resource conscious logical deduction. Such a grammar is necessarily surface oriented and lexicalistic. The Curry-Howard correspondence supplies an elegant compositional mapping from syntax to semantics. Anaphora does not seem to fit well into this framework. In type logical deductions, each resource is used exactly once. Anaphora, however, is a phenomenon where semantic resources are used more than once. Generally admitting the multiple use of lexical resources is not possible because it would lead to empirical inadequacy and computational intractability. This book develops a hybrid architecture that allows to incorporate anaphora resolution into grammatical deduction while avoiding these consequences. To this end, the grammar logic is enriched with a connective that specifically deals with anaphora. After giving a self-contained introduction into Type Logical Grammar in general, the book discusses the formal properties of this connective. In the sequel, Jäger applies this machinery to numerous linguistic phenomena pertaining to the interaction of pronominal anaphora, VP ellipsis and quantification. In the final chapter, the framework is extended to indefiniteness, specificity and sluicing.

Author : H. Lasnik
Publisher : Springer Science & Business Media
Page : 190 pages
File Size : 54,7 Mb
Release : 2012-12-06
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN : 9789400925427

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Essays on Anaphora by H. Lasnik Pdf

The articles collected in this book are concerned with the treatment of anaphora within generative grammar, specifically, within Chomsky's 'Ex tended Standard Theory' (EST). Since the inception of this theory, and virtually since the inception of generative grammar, anaphora has been a central topic of investigation. In current research, it has, perhaps, become even more central, as a major focus of study in such areas as syntax, semantics, discourse analysis, and language acquisition. Beginning in the early 1970's, and continuing to the present, Chomsky has developed a comprehensive syntactic theory of anaphora. The articles here are all related to stages in the development of that theory, and can best be understood in relation to that development. For that reason, Chapter 1 presents a historical survey of Chomsky's EST proposals on anaphora, along with brief indications of how the present articles fit into that history. Some of the articles here (e.g. Chapters 4, 8, and 9) proposed extensions of Chomsky's basic ideas to a wider range of phenomena.

Author : Jaakko Hintikka,J. Kulas
Publisher : Springer Science & Business Media
Page : 258 pages
File Size : 43,7 Mb
Release : 2012-12-06
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN : 9789400954106

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Anaphora and Definite Descriptions by Jaakko Hintikka,J. Kulas Pdf

I n order to appreciate properly what we are doing in this book it is necessary to realize that our approach to linguistic theorizing differs from the prevailing views. Our approach can be described by indicating what distinguishes it from the methodological ideas current in theoretical linguistics, which I consider seriously misguided. Linguists typically construe their task in these days as that of making exceptionless generalizations from particular examples. This explanatory strategy is wrong in several different ways. It presupposes that we can have "intuitions" about particular examples, usually examples invented by the linguist himself or herself, reliable and sharp enough to serve as a basis of sharp generalizations. It also presupposes that we cannot have equally reliable direct access to general linguistic regularities. Both assumptions appear to me extremely dubious, and the first of them has in effect been challenged by linguists like Dwight Bol inger. There is also some evidence that the degree of unanimity among linguists is fairly low when it comes to less clear cases, even in connection with such relatively simple questions as grammaticality (acceptability). For this reason we have tried to rely more on quotations from contemporary fiction, newspapers and magazines than on linguists' and philosophers' ad hoc examples. I also find it strange that some of the same linguists as believe that we all possess innate ideas about general characteristics of humanly possible grammars assume that we can have access to them only via their particular consequences.