scholarly journals A New Look at the Semantics and Pragmatics of Numerically Quantified Noun Phrases

2007 ◽  
Vol 25 (2) ◽  
pp. 93-139 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. Breheny
Keyword(s):  
Noun Phrases ◽  
Semantics And Pragmatics ◽  
Quantified Noun Phrases ◽  
New Look

Embodied cognitive semantics for quantification

2016 ◽  
Vol 30 ◽  
pp. 251-264
Author(s):  
Simon Pauw ◽  
Joseph Hilferty
Keyword(s):  
Natural Language ◽  
Noun Phrases ◽  
Physical World ◽  
Operational Semantic ◽  
Cognitive Semantics ◽  
Artificial Agents ◽  
Generalized Quantifiers ◽  
Semantic Model ◽  
Model Based ◽  
Quantified Noun Phrases

The present paper proposes an operational semantic model of natural language quantifiers (e.g., many, some, three) and their use in quantified noun phrases. To this end we use embodied artificial agents that communicate in and interact with the physical world. We argue that existing paradigms such as Generalized Quantifiers (Barwise and Cooper 1981; Montague 1973) and Fuzzy Quantifiers (Zadeh 1983) do not provide a satisfactory models for our situated-interaction scenarios and propose a more adequate semantic model, based on fuzzy-quantification.

scholarly journals More heads and less categories: A new look at noun phrase structure

2003 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Beavers
Keyword(s):  
Noun Phrase ◽  
Operational Semantics ◽  
Phrase Structure ◽  
Noun Phrases ◽  
Selectional Restrictions ◽  
Generalized Quantifier ◽  
New Look

Much literature in syntax has assumed that all noun phrases are categorically headed by the determiner or the noun, with well-formedness categorial in nature. In this paper I develop a theory of noun phrase structure in which both categories project noun phrases, arguing that this better fits the indeterminacy of the criteria often cited for determining headedness (Zwicky, 1985, inter alia). The only categorial differences between determiners and nouns are their semantics and selectional restrictions, and the conditions that determine well-formedness are semantic in nature. Specifically, a well-formed noun phrase must have some restrictive semantics associated with nouns coupled with some operational semantics associated with determiners (e.g. as a generalized quantifier), and from this I show how we can derive structural well-formedness. Thus the need for categorial well-formedness is nullified, providing an analysis with greater cross-linguistic import, being compatible with languages without determiners.

Agreement alternations with quantified nominals in Modern Hebrew

2012 ◽  
Vol 49 (1) ◽  
pp. 55-92 ◽  
Author(s):  
GABI DANON
Keyword(s):  
Hierarchical Structure ◽  
Noun Phrases ◽  
Morphological Features ◽  
Modern Hebrew ◽  
Non Local ◽  
Quantified Noun Phrases ◽  
Minimalist Framework ◽  
Semantic Agreement

Cross-linguistically, quantified noun phrases (QNPs) trigger one of four agreement patterns: with the quantifier, with the noun, default agreement, or semantic agreement. This paper focuses on agreement alternations in Hebrew, and argues that they follow not from variations in hierarchical structure but from the availability of multiple means of assigning values to the QNP's features. Building upon the index-concord analysis of Wechsler & Zlatić (2003) and adapting it to the Minimalist framework, it is argued that certain agreement patterns are the result of the quantifier bearing a set of abstract features that do not match its morphologically-triggered ones. Variations in QNP agreement patterns are then argued to be subject to constraints at the interfaces of syntax with both semantics and morphology. Overall, it is claimed that even apparent cases of non-local agreement with non-nominative NPs do not really pose a counterexample to established models of agreement, and that this supports the view that the system of ϕ-features cannot be simply an unstructured bundle of morphological features.

scholarly journals Semantics and pragmatics of the lexeme posledný [the last] in discursive contexts

2019 ◽  
Vol 70 (1) ◽  
pp. 33-53
Author(s):  
Jana Sokolová
Keyword(s):  
Noun Phrases ◽  
Sequence Analyses ◽  
Sequence Element ◽  
Communicative Functions ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
The World ◽  
Semantics And Pragmatics ◽  
Subjective Factor ◽  
Corpus Data

Abstract The study attempts to interpret meanings of the Slovak lexeme posledný [the last]. The study is based on the fact that the lexeme has two kinds of semantic valence; that of a sequence element and that of a sequence. In the language picture of the world, this lexeme anticipates ideas of a wide range of collocates and syncretism of several types of sequence. Analyses are based on the invariant meaning of the lexeme “the last” (‘such an X that is not followed by any other’) and on corpus data. The data are used in order to determine how types of collocates in the constructions with ‘last’ do reflect modifications of the invariant meaning, how they are being specified referentially, and how they develop semantic and pragmatic inferences, by means of which they facilitate realization of specific semantic occurrences. Since the lexeme has an anthropological basis, it is expected that various portions and efficiency of the subjective factor will be found. The aim of the study is to present the paradigm of the meanings of the lexeme posledný which are both context-bound and characterized by oscillation between description and qualification. Being a part of noun phrases, these meanings reflect linguistics of constructions as well as syntactic and communicative functions of the lexeme. The aim of the study is also either to confirm or disprove the equal position of the lexemes posledný and ostatný.

scholarly journals Similarities and differences between two Hungarian particles for also: szintén and is

2020 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
pp. 74-91
Author(s):  
Judit Farkas ◽  
Bettina Futó ◽  
Aliz Huszics ◽  
Judit Kleiber ◽  
Mónika Dóla ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Comparative Analysis ◽  
Noun Phrase ◽  
Dynamic Theory ◽  
Noun Phrases ◽  
Propositional Truth ◽  
Semantics And Pragmatics ◽  
Similarities And Differences ◽  
Syntactic Differences ◽  
Core Meaning ◽  
Semantic Properties

The paper provides a comparative analysis of the syntax, semantics and pragmatics of two Hungarian particles with the same logical core meaning also: is and szintén. The analysis yields important theoretical implications since it demonstrates how two particles sharing the same logical-propositional/truth-functional core meaning can expand into two different markers. In discourse, is acts as an intensional/metacognitive pragmatic marker in the sense as proposed by Aijmer et al. (2006), while szintén functions as a coherence-signaling discourse marker. The two particles share certain syntactic-semantic properties: neither of them can be followed by a topic, they both have distributive meaning, and both of them can pertain to the noun phrase that they immediately follow, as well as to ordered n-tuples of noun phrases. However, there are also syntactic and pragmasemantic differences between them. Namely, their ordered n-tuples have different word orders; is can function as a pragmatic marker while szintén cannot; szintén can appear as a separate clause, while is cannot (this is presumably related to the fact that szintén can be stressed, while is is obligatorily unstressed); and finally, szintén can have a peculiar discourse-preserving function. We explain the syntactic differences between the two particles using the partial spell-out technique of minimalist generative syntacticians (first applied to Hungarian by Surányi 2009), and the Cinque-hierarchy-based approach to Hungarian sentence- and predicate-adverbials (Surányi 2008). We account for the pragmasemantic properties of the pragmatic-marker variant of is in the formal representational dynamic theory of interpretation called ReALIS, already presented in the LingBaW series (Alberti et al. 2016, Kleiber and Alberti 2017, Viszket et al. 2019).

scholarly journals The interaction between relevant-set based operators and a topic–predicate dimension

2018 ◽  
Vol 4 ◽  
pp. 161-172
Author(s):  
Anna Szeteli ◽  
Gábor Alberti
Keyword(s):  
Information Structure ◽  
Noun Phrases ◽  
Relevant Information ◽  
Left Periphery ◽  
Two Dimension ◽  
Suprasegmental Features ◽  
Quantified Noun Phrases

Hungarian relevant-set based operators, such as universally quantified noun-phrases and the also-quantifier, signal a logico-pragmatic relation between their explicit meaning and a broader implicit set of relevant participants which property can be mentioned as “double referentiality” of the operator. Furthermore, they indicate the new or correcting information in a topic–predicate dimension which belongs to the broader world of the discourse. Our research aims to identify the differences by investigating the suprasegmental features of each-quantifiers and also-quantifiers on the Hungarian left-periphery indicating the two functions in the topic–predicate dimension. Short sentences in which quantifiers functioning either as the main (new/correcting) information or as a topic (anchor of relevant information) were read by 41 non-linguist native Hungarian subjects. The pitch, intensity and duration properties were analyzed by Praat. On the basis of paired t‑tests of the data, it can be stated that a two-dimension model of information structure is required to capture the phenomenon.

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