Paradoxes with Letters and Definitions
Our thesis is that a certain class of paradoxes about truth and falsity originates in the confusion between two sentences with the same content. According to us, the Liar, for instance, is neither tru - lingbuzz, the linguistics archive
LingBuzz > SemanticsThe paper was boring and long: A reply to Michel and Löhr’s theory of predicate ordering in copredication
In a recent publication, Michel and Löhr (2024) propose a predictive processing (PP) theory of copredication. They do so in an attempt to account for previously documented predicate ordering effects, - lingbuzz, the linguistics archive
LingBuzz > SemanticsConsiderations on restrictive relative clauses and adjunction in Modern Italian and Portuguese and Standard German
The following paper returns to the question of whether restrictive relative clauses are instances of wh-movement in the sense of Chomsky 1964 and subsequent transformational publications such as Vergn - lingbuzz, the linguistics archive
LingBuzz > SemanticsObjects and Attitudes
This is a prepublication version of my forthcoming book Objects and Attitudes. The book develops a novel semantics of attitude reports, modal sentences, and quotation based on the view that sentences - lingbuzz, the linguistics archive
LingBuzz > SemanticsHomogeneity as presuppositional exhaustification
The goal of this paper is to reconcile two observations regarding homogeneity and non-maximality. First, homogeneity is sensitive to constraints on presupposition accommodation, both in the positive - lingbuzz, the linguistics archive
LingBuzz > SemanticsOn the (non-)optionality of the Turkish classifier tane
Numeral constructions (NCs) display a robust pattern of strong indefiniteness. While they can also be definite via a definite determiner, in languages lacking articles, this typically relies on altern - lingbuzz, the linguistics archive
LingBuzz > SemanticsIt’s time for a complete theory of partial predictability in language
Given the centrality of partial predictability to linguistic experience, it is striking that it plays such a minor role in theoretical linguistics. For many, partial predictability is a phenomenon to - lingbuzz, the linguistics archive
LingBuzz > SemanticsA Comparative Investigation of Compositional Syntax and Semantics in DALL·E 2
In this study we compared how well DALL·E 2 visually represented the meaning of linguistic prompts also given to young children in comprehension tests. Sentences representing fundamental components of - lingbuzz, the linguistics archive
LingBuzz > SemanticsProper Names in Georgian
Proper names in Georgian constitute a class of nouns with morphosyntactic properties in some ways distinct from all others. This paper will survey the function, grammatical distribution and origin of - lingbuzz, the linguistics archive
LingBuzz > SemanticsHer, Hers, Herself and Her Own: Deriving Reflexive Possessive Pronouns in English
Taking ‘her’, ‘hers’, ‘herself’ and ‘her own’ as an example, this short article analyzes the internal syntactic structure of English personal pronouns in connection with their morphological properties - lingbuzz, the linguistics archive
LingBuzz > SemanticsMetaphysics First or Language First: The Notion of a Single Object
This paper argues that the notion of a single object or 'being one' does not require worldly or perceived conditions of integrity and even less so concept-relative atomicity. It generally is based on - lingbuzz, the linguistics archive
LingBuzz > SemanticsBroadening the coverage of computational representations of metaphor through Dynamic Metaphor Theory
Current approaches to computational metaphor processing typically incorporate static representations of metaphor. We aim to show that this limits the coverage of such systems. We take insights from dy - lingbuzz, the linguistics archive
LingBuzz > SemanticsQuexistentials in Catalan Sign Language (LSC)
This paper explores the morphology and the licensing conditions of a particular type of indefinite pronouns, namely those that are morphologically identical or closely related to question words. We re - lingbuzz, the linguistics archive
LingBuzz > SemanticsFrom conceptual networks to relative clauses: engineering meaning driven generation
The Delilah parser and generator for Dutch generates - among others - embedded and interpreted relative clauses of any complexity from strictly semantic input. It does so within a grammatical framewor - lingbuzz, the linguistics archive
LingBuzz > SemanticsPutting plural definites into context
There is a disagreement at the empirical level about the availability of non-maximal readings of plural definites in semantically negative grammatical environments. Some theories of definite plurals a - lingbuzz, the linguistics archive
LingBuzz > SemanticsInherently context-sensitive gradable adjectives
In most analyses of languages that are argued to have degrees as semantic prim- itives (e.g., Cresswell 1976; von Stechow 1984), gradable adjectives (GAs) receive context- independent denotations. Whe - lingbuzz, the linguistics archive
LingBuzz > SemanticsReference to singular kinds in Germanic and Romance
The need for the definite article to express a singular kind (the cat) in the Germanic languages is predicted by Borer's (2005) structural approach to the mass-count distinction. Chierchia's (1 - lingbuzz, the linguistics archive
LingBuzz > SemanticsFrom Perfectivity to Performativity in conditionals
This paper documents a novel pattern in the expression of conditional statements about future in Farsi. When both p and ¬p are equally plausible future events, the antecedent of conditional statemen - lingbuzz, the linguistics archive
LingBuzz > SemanticsAspectual distinctions in Farsi indicative and subjunctive forms
This paper concerns with tense, aspect, and mood (TAM) morphology in Farsi. Decomposing the TAM information in Farsi verbal forms, this paper argues that the category of mood in Farsi marks the prese - lingbuzz, the linguistics archive
LingBuzz > SemanticsInaccurate representations, inaccurate deployment, or both? Using computational cognitive modeling to investigate the development of pronoun interpretation in Spanish
When children behave differently from adults in language tasks, it’s often unclear if the underlying cause is non-adult-like representation of relevant information, non-adult-like deployment of adult- - lingbuzz, the linguistics archive
LingBuzz > SemanticsGlue Semantics for Hopf-Algebraic Mininimalism
A method is proposed for attaching the 'glue semantics' developed for Lexical-Functional Grammar to the Hopf-Algebraic formulation of Minimalist Syntax proposed in recent papers by Mathilde Marcoli, N - lingbuzz, the linguistics archive
LingBuzz > SemanticsLinguistics Professors - Winners or Losers?
This chapter of The Tyranny of Delusion has the length of two because it includes material that validates the suggestions made in the First Chapter: that linguistics as we have learned to know it is a - lingbuzz, the linguistics archive
LingBuzz > SemanticsEffects of iconicity and monotonicity on licensing complement anaphora
Complement anaphora is generally only licensed by downward monotone quantifiers, like ‘few’ (Nouwen 2003). Yet, sign language data suggest that the use of iconic “loci” can license complement anaphora - lingbuzz, the linguistics archive
LingBuzz > SemanticsBetween triviality and redundancy: evidence from Korean for the ban on CP conjunction
In many languages, conjunction of embedded CPs obligatorily takes wide scope with respect to the embedding verb (Bassi and Bondarenko 2021; Bjorkman 2013; Szabolcsi 1997, 2016). With the data from emb - lingbuzz, the linguistics archive
LingBuzz > SemanticsHebrew nonverbal sentences wear reconstruction on their sleeve
In this paper, I discuss a particle in Hebrew which has been termed Pron by Doron (1983). While its surface form is that of a pronoun, its distribution resembles that of a copula – it appears between - lingbuzz, the linguistics archive
LingBuzz > SemanticsDegrees and Depiction; gradability in sign languages
Based on variation in spoken languages, the Degree Semantics Parameter (DSP) proposes a split between languages that use a degree based system and those that use a delineation system (Beck et al., 200 - lingbuzz, the linguistics archive
LingBuzz > SemanticsThe semantics and probabilistic pragmatics of deadjectival intensifiers
Intensifiers (e.g. "horribly" in "horribly warm") are usually deadjectival adverbs. I show that the lexical content of the adjectival base, and in particular its evaluative meaning, is directly rele - lingbuzz, the linguistics archive
LingBuzz > Semantics