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(s): Jean Mark Gawron, Stanley Peters
Series: Center for the Study of Language and Information - CSLI Lecture Notes 19
Publisher: CSLI Publications
Year: 1990
Language: English
Pages: 208
Title Page......Page 3
Contents......Page 7
Acknowledgments......Page 11
1.1 The Problem......Page 13
1.2 Anaphoric Ambiguities and Syntax......Page 16
1.3 Anaphora, Circumstances, and Situation Semantics......Page 21
1.4 Circumstances and Logical Form......Page 23
1.5 An Outline of the Book......Page 25
2.1 Situation Theory......Page 27
2.1.1 States-of-Affairs......Page 28
2.1.2 Parametric States-of-Affairs......Page 29
2.1.3 Unsaturated States-of-Affairs......Page 31
2.1.4 Restricted Parameters......Page 32
2.1.5 Types......Page 33
2.1.6 Propositions......Page 35
2.2 Meaning, Circumstances, and Semantic Rules......Page 37
3 The Semantics of Noun Phrases......Page 51
3.1 Referential Noun Phrases......Page 52
3.2 Meaning, Parameter-Picking, and Role-Covering......Page 56
3.3 Quantified Noun Phrases......Page 61
3.4 Scope and Circumstances I: Referential NP's......Page 65
3.5 Scope and Generalized Quantifiers......Page 72
3.6 Constraints on Circumstance and Scope......Page 77
3.7 Parametric Objects......Page 78
4 Anaphora and Quantification......Page 81
4.1.1 Two Types of Referential Dependence......Page 83
4.1.2 Binding and Reference......Page 91
4.2 Quantification, VP-ellipsis, and Scope......Page 93
4.2.1 Scope......Page 94
4.2.2 Pronouns and Scope......Page 97
4.2.3 The Analogy between Pronouns and Quantifier Parameters......Page 98
4.2.4 Crossed-Scope Readings and Hirschbuhler's Examples......Page 99
4.3 The Absorption Principle......Page 102
4.3.1 Absorption......Page 103
4.3.2 Statement of the Absorption Principle......Page 105
4.3.3 Referential Dependence......Page 107
4.3.4 The Absorption Principle and Referential NP's......Page 109
4.3.5 Bach-Peters Cases......Page 111
4.3.6 Quantified NP's and the Absorption Principle......Page 113
4.3.7 Indirect Dependency without Pronouns......Page 115
4.3.8 Pronouns, Definiteness, and the Absorption Principle......Page 119
4.3.9 Summing up the Absorption Principle......Page 125
5.1 Three Contents and Quantification......Page 127
5.2 Three VP Contents and a Referential Subject......Page 134
5.3 Co-parameterization and Quantification......Page 138
6.1 Towards a Framework for Circumstance......Page 145
6.2 One Kind of Anaphora......Page 148
6.3 Circumstances, Anaphora, and a Binding Theory......Page 151
7.1 Montague and Referential NP's......Page 155
7.2.1 Roberts's 1987 Account of Strict and Sloppy Identity......Page 157
7.2.2 Kamp's proposal......Page 163
7.3.1 Role-Linking and C-Command......Page 170
7.3.2 Quantification and C-Command......Page 174
Appendix: A Fragment......Page 179
Bibliography......Page 191
Index......Page 197
