This note presents a novel observation: exceptives do not tolerate cardinal determiners. It discu... more This note presents a novel observation: exceptives do not tolerate cardinal determiners. It discusses three analyses of exceptives that do not account for this observation: (i) von Fintel (1993) which takes exceptives to be modifers of predicates; Moltmann (1995) which takes exceptives to be modifiers of quantifiers; and (iii) Vostrikova (2021) which takes exceptives to be modifiers of clauses. It then proposes a slight modification of Vostrikova’s analysis which retains the virtues of the original and in addition accounts for the fact that exceptives do not tolerate cardinal determiners.
I consider two analyses of yes/no questions in Vietnamese. The 'monoclausal analysis' takes such ... more I consider two analyses of yes/no questions in Vietnamese. The 'monoclausal analysis' takes such questions to be of the form O(p), where O(p) = {p,¬p}, while the 'biclausal analysis' takes them to be of the form O(p)(q), where O(p)(q) = {p,q}. I argue in favor of the biclausal analysis on the basis of three observations: (i) subjects of yes/no questions cannot associate with only; (ii) subjects of yes/no questions cannot be quantifiers; and (iii) modal adverbs in yes/no questions can follow but not precede the polarity head. The argument relies crucially on the general requirement that answers to a question, once exhaustified, partition the context set.
Forms of address must be prononimal in English but can be either pronominal or nominal in Vietnam... more Forms of address must be prononimal in English but can be either pronominal or nominal in Vietnamese. I propose to analyze this fact as a parametric difference: the two languages choose different ways to implement one and the same general principle of grammar. The analysis crucially relies on the hypothesis that some aspects of meaning which have traditionally been considered pragmatic are represented in the syntax.
I argue that there is tension in Wittgenstein’s position on trivialities (i.e. tautologies and co... more I argue that there is tension in Wittgenstein’s position on trivialities (i.e. tautologies and contradictions) in the Tractatus, as it contains the following claims: (A) sentences are pictures; (B) trivialties are not pictures; (C) trivialities are sentences. A and B follow from the “picture theory” of language which Wittgenstein proposes, while C contradicts it. I discuss a way to resolve this tension in light of Logicality, a hypothesis recently developed in linguistic research. Logicality states that trivialities are excluded by the grammar, and that under the right analysis sentences which look trivial are in fact contingent. The tools necessary to support Logicality, I submit, were not available to Wittgenstein at the time, which is what gives rise to his commitment to C. I end the paper by commenting on some points of contact between analytic philosophy and the generative enterprise in linguistics which are brought into relief by the discussion.
This paper discusses a set of observations, many of which are novel, concerning differences betwe... more This paper discusses a set of observations, many of which are novel, concerning differences between the adjectival modals "certain" and "possible" and their adverbial counterparts "certainly" and "possibly". It argues that the observations can be derived from a standard interpretation of "certain"/"certainly" as universal and "possible"/"possibly" as existential quantifiers over possible worlds, in conjunction with the hypothesis that the adjectives quantifiy over knowledge and the adverbs quantify over belief. The claims on which the argument relies include the following: (i) knowledge implies belief, (ii) agents have epistemic access to their belief, (iii) relevance is closed under speakers' belief, and (iv) commitment is pragmatically inconsistent with explicit denial of belief.
There is general agreement that the distribution of any is unrestricted in polar questions. I arg... more There is general agreement that the distribution of any is unrestricted in polar questions. I argue that this is not the case: in contexts where there is epistemic bias in favor of the prejacent of a polar question, the question exhibits the same behavior as a declarative with respect to the licensing of "any". I provide an account for this observation in terms of intervention: epistemic bias forces polar questions to be parsed as having a silent modal E which intervenes between "any" and the question operator whether that otherwise licenses "any".
Proceedings of Sinn und Bedeutung 28 (to appear), 2024
There are two schools of thoughts on exceptives. The "Fintelians" take exceptives to be modifiers... more There are two schools of thoughts on exceptives. The "Fintelians" take exceptives to be modifiers of the NP argument of the determiner, while the "Anti-Fintelians" take them to be something else. I present the observation that exceptives do not tolerate cardinal determiners. I then discuss the problem it poses for two Anti-Fintelian analyses and propose a Fintelian account. The main idea of the account is that exceptives introduce subdomain alternatives.
Sự tồn tại của văn học hư cấu là một thách thức đối với quan niệm kinh điển về ngôn ngữ như một c... more Sự tồn tại của văn học hư cấu là một thách thức đối với quan niệm kinh điển về ngôn ngữ như một công cụ trao đổi thông tin. Về mặt khái niệm, cung cấp thông tin có nghĩa là mô tả thế giới thực. Một tác phẩm hư cấu được sáng tác và tiếp nhận trong ý thức hỗ tương giữa người nói, tức tác giả, và người nghe, tức độc giả, rằng nó không mô tả thế giới thực. Mặc dù vậy, ngôn ngữ trong tác phẩm hư cấu không vận hành như thể chức năng thông báo của nó đã được vô hiệu hoá. Bài này đưa ra một cách nhìn về tác phẩm hư cấu trong đó mâu thuẫn nói trên được giải toả. Theo cách nhìn này, tác phẩm hư cấu, về bản chất, vẫn mang tính tả thực. Nó không vẽ ra một thế giới không thực, mà nói cho chúng ta biết thế giới thực sẽ ra sao dưới một sự thay đổi tối thiểu. Bài viết cũng đưa ra một lập luận ngôn ngữ học để cho thấy cách ta tiếp nhận tác phẩm hư cấu có điểm chung với cách ta hiểu câu điều kiện, tức câu có hình thức "nếu p thì q".
I present novel observations about iterated questions, i.e. questions about questions, and propos... more I present novel observations about iterated questions, i.e. questions about questions, and propose an analysis. The conclusions I argue for are the following: (i) speech acts are represented in the grammar; (ii) speech act recursion is possible but is limited to at most two levels; (ii) declarative questions are questions about an assertion act. I also show that assuming speech acts in the grammar can help systematize some puzzling differences between matrix and embedded sentences with respect to their pronunciation.
Linguistische Arbeitsberichte 96: Gisbert Fanselow’s Contributions to Syntactic Theory (edited volume, to appear), 2024
The theory of chain linearization I propose in a number of works predicts a typology in which Ger... more The theory of chain linearization I propose in a number of works predicts a typology in which German would exemplify a type if some cases of incomplete category fronting in this language do not involve VP remnant movement. This is precisely what Gisbert Fanselow argues for in one of his papers. In this note, I present this argument in its dialectical background and respond to some issues which arise from it.
Vietnamese has two types of NPIs, simple and complex, and two types of polar questions, yes/no qu... more Vietnamese has two types of NPIs, simple and complex, and two types of polar questions, yes/no questions and agreement questions. Simple NPIs can occur in both types of polar questions while complex NPIs can occur in yes/no but not in agreement questions. I propose an account for this fact using familiar ingredients of semantic and syntactic analyses. I then discuss some ways in which Vietnamese and English differ with respect to how distinctions in meaning align with distinctions in form.
Polar questions in Vietnamese consist of an affirmative sentence followed by a negation particle.... more Polar questions in Vietnamese consist of an affirmative sentence followed by a negation particle. Modern Vietnamese has three negation particles, but only two can occur in this function. This note proposes an account for this gap. The account is premised on the analysis of questions as sets of alternatives, and draws on facts of diachronic change gleaned from historical texts.
We present novel observations about a type of questions which occur quite frequently in natural d... more We present novel observations about a type of questions which occur quite frequently in natural discourse but which have so far remained unanalyzed. These are questions which inquire about a question act. We then propose an account which derives the observations. Our account relies crucially on the assumption that speech acts are grammatically represented.
The cross-linguistic research on "negative polarity items" (NPIs) not only reveals what contraint... more The cross-linguistic research on "negative polarity items" (NPIs) not only reveals what contraints are imposed by semantics on the output of syntax but also provides insights into how individual languages differ with respect to the way they satisfy these constraints. This note makes a small contribution to this enterprise: it discusses some differences in distribution between NPIs in English and their counterparts in Vietnamese. The discussion is preluded by a brief introduction to background concepts and assumptions. The Vietnamese data are presented as a challenge which motivates further thought and investigation. A sketch of an approach is provided at the end.
The derivation of strengthened meanings as proposed by Bar-Lev and Fox (2017, 2020) and the deriv... more The derivation of strengthened meanings as proposed by Bar-Lev and Fox (2017, 2020) and the derivation of modal domains as proposed by Kratzer (1977, 1981, 1991) both involve an "inclusion" step of assigning true to as many propositions in a given set as possible. In the case of strengthened meanings, this set contains the scalar alternatives. In the case of modal domains, it contains the propositions in the ordering source. In this note, we explicate what is common and what is distinct between the two inclusion procedures. We then point out that the formal distinction makes no empirical difference for the cases of strengthened meaning so far considered in the literature. We conjecture that this fact holds generally for all cases of strengthened meaning.
Beiträge der Österreichischen Ludwig Wittgenstein Gesellschaft, Band XXIX, 2023
Wittgenstein's picture theory of language (PTL) unites grammar and logic as two sides of the same... more Wittgenstein's picture theory of language (PTL) unites grammar and logic as two sides of the same coin. A consequence of this theory, which Wittgenstein refuses to accept, is that trivialities are ill-formed. This turns out to be precisely what is claimed by Logicality, a recently developed thesis about natural language which has been corroborated by a large amount of empirical arguments. Logicality also provides an explanation for Wittgenstein's
Tạp chí Khoa học & Công nghệ Đại học Duy Tân, 2023
Bài này mô tả một đặc tính luận lý của đại từ có khả năng lý giải sự hiện diện phổ quát của phạm ... more Bài này mô tả một đặc tính luận lý của đại từ có khả năng lý giải sự hiện diện phổ quát của phạm trù này trong các ngôn ngữ tự nhiên. Sau đó, nó phác thảo một phương pháp phân loại đại từ cho tiếng Việt. Tiếp theo là một thảo luận về quan hệ giữa tính khả chấp của câu và tính trùng ngôn cũng như mâu thuẫn của nó, trong đó hệ quả hình thức của nghĩa xã hội được đề cập đến như một hiện tượng quan yếu đối với nghiên cứu giao diện luận lý – ngữ dụng học. Phần cuối của bài phân tích sự khác nhau giữa tiếng Việt và tiếng Anh liên quan đến việc sử dụng tên riêng để chỉ người nói và người nghe.
The syntax and semantics of only is controversial, in particular in cases where only appears off ... more The syntax and semantics of only is controversial, in particular in cases where only appears off the clausal spine, such as when only precedes an object DP. In one view, only composes with the DP to form a quantifier. In another view, pre-DP only is locally vacuous, and signals the presence in the LF of a covert propositional operator. Based on the scope possibilities of pre-DP only relative to modals and their interaction with ellipsis, we provide a new argument (following Benbaji 2022) for a theory according to which the meaning associated with only does always come from a propositional operator at LF, despite surface appearances.
This paper investigates the interpretation of the epistemic modal adjectives possible, certain an... more This paper investigates the interpretation of the epistemic modal adjectives possible, certain and their adverbial counterparts possibly, certainly, taking the perspective that the former express objective modality, whereas the latter express subjective modality. In support of this view, we report on two experiments that assess speakers' acceptance of possible, certain, possibly, certainly in different contexts. Our results extend those of Lassiter (2016) in demonstrating a difference in interpretation between the adjectival and adverbial modals, with possibly less acceptable than possible but conversely certainly more acceptable than certain in the same situations. Furthermore, the results of our experiments suggest a new insight, namely that these differences depend, to some extent, on the probability of the eventuality in question and polarity of the prejacent sentence.
This note presents a novel observation: exceptives do not tolerate cardinal determiners. It discu... more This note presents a novel observation: exceptives do not tolerate cardinal determiners. It discusses three analyses of exceptives that do not account for this observation: (i) von Fintel (1993) which takes exceptives to be modifers of predicates; Moltmann (1995) which takes exceptives to be modifiers of quantifiers; and (iii) Vostrikova (2021) which takes exceptives to be modifiers of clauses. It then proposes a slight modification of Vostrikova’s analysis which retains the virtues of the original and in addition accounts for the fact that exceptives do not tolerate cardinal determiners.
I consider two analyses of yes/no questions in Vietnamese. The 'monoclausal analysis' takes such ... more I consider two analyses of yes/no questions in Vietnamese. The 'monoclausal analysis' takes such questions to be of the form O(p), where O(p) = {p,¬p}, while the 'biclausal analysis' takes them to be of the form O(p)(q), where O(p)(q) = {p,q}. I argue in favor of the biclausal analysis on the basis of three observations: (i) subjects of yes/no questions cannot associate with only; (ii) subjects of yes/no questions cannot be quantifiers; and (iii) modal adverbs in yes/no questions can follow but not precede the polarity head. The argument relies crucially on the general requirement that answers to a question, once exhaustified, partition the context set.
Forms of address must be prononimal in English but can be either pronominal or nominal in Vietnam... more Forms of address must be prononimal in English but can be either pronominal or nominal in Vietnamese. I propose to analyze this fact as a parametric difference: the two languages choose different ways to implement one and the same general principle of grammar. The analysis crucially relies on the hypothesis that some aspects of meaning which have traditionally been considered pragmatic are represented in the syntax.
I argue that there is tension in Wittgenstein’s position on trivialities (i.e. tautologies and co... more I argue that there is tension in Wittgenstein’s position on trivialities (i.e. tautologies and contradictions) in the Tractatus, as it contains the following claims: (A) sentences are pictures; (B) trivialties are not pictures; (C) trivialities are sentences. A and B follow from the “picture theory” of language which Wittgenstein proposes, while C contradicts it. I discuss a way to resolve this tension in light of Logicality, a hypothesis recently developed in linguistic research. Logicality states that trivialities are excluded by the grammar, and that under the right analysis sentences which look trivial are in fact contingent. The tools necessary to support Logicality, I submit, were not available to Wittgenstein at the time, which is what gives rise to his commitment to C. I end the paper by commenting on some points of contact between analytic philosophy and the generative enterprise in linguistics which are brought into relief by the discussion.
This paper discusses a set of observations, many of which are novel, concerning differences betwe... more This paper discusses a set of observations, many of which are novel, concerning differences between the adjectival modals "certain" and "possible" and their adverbial counterparts "certainly" and "possibly". It argues that the observations can be derived from a standard interpretation of "certain"/"certainly" as universal and "possible"/"possibly" as existential quantifiers over possible worlds, in conjunction with the hypothesis that the adjectives quantifiy over knowledge and the adverbs quantify over belief. The claims on which the argument relies include the following: (i) knowledge implies belief, (ii) agents have epistemic access to their belief, (iii) relevance is closed under speakers' belief, and (iv) commitment is pragmatically inconsistent with explicit denial of belief.
There is general agreement that the distribution of any is unrestricted in polar questions. I arg... more There is general agreement that the distribution of any is unrestricted in polar questions. I argue that this is not the case: in contexts where there is epistemic bias in favor of the prejacent of a polar question, the question exhibits the same behavior as a declarative with respect to the licensing of "any". I provide an account for this observation in terms of intervention: epistemic bias forces polar questions to be parsed as having a silent modal E which intervenes between "any" and the question operator whether that otherwise licenses "any".
Proceedings of Sinn und Bedeutung 28 (to appear), 2024
There are two schools of thoughts on exceptives. The "Fintelians" take exceptives to be modifiers... more There are two schools of thoughts on exceptives. The "Fintelians" take exceptives to be modifiers of the NP argument of the determiner, while the "Anti-Fintelians" take them to be something else. I present the observation that exceptives do not tolerate cardinal determiners. I then discuss the problem it poses for two Anti-Fintelian analyses and propose a Fintelian account. The main idea of the account is that exceptives introduce subdomain alternatives.
Sự tồn tại của văn học hư cấu là một thách thức đối với quan niệm kinh điển về ngôn ngữ như một c... more Sự tồn tại của văn học hư cấu là một thách thức đối với quan niệm kinh điển về ngôn ngữ như một công cụ trao đổi thông tin. Về mặt khái niệm, cung cấp thông tin có nghĩa là mô tả thế giới thực. Một tác phẩm hư cấu được sáng tác và tiếp nhận trong ý thức hỗ tương giữa người nói, tức tác giả, và người nghe, tức độc giả, rằng nó không mô tả thế giới thực. Mặc dù vậy, ngôn ngữ trong tác phẩm hư cấu không vận hành như thể chức năng thông báo của nó đã được vô hiệu hoá. Bài này đưa ra một cách nhìn về tác phẩm hư cấu trong đó mâu thuẫn nói trên được giải toả. Theo cách nhìn này, tác phẩm hư cấu, về bản chất, vẫn mang tính tả thực. Nó không vẽ ra một thế giới không thực, mà nói cho chúng ta biết thế giới thực sẽ ra sao dưới một sự thay đổi tối thiểu. Bài viết cũng đưa ra một lập luận ngôn ngữ học để cho thấy cách ta tiếp nhận tác phẩm hư cấu có điểm chung với cách ta hiểu câu điều kiện, tức câu có hình thức "nếu p thì q".
I present novel observations about iterated questions, i.e. questions about questions, and propos... more I present novel observations about iterated questions, i.e. questions about questions, and propose an analysis. The conclusions I argue for are the following: (i) speech acts are represented in the grammar; (ii) speech act recursion is possible but is limited to at most two levels; (ii) declarative questions are questions about an assertion act. I also show that assuming speech acts in the grammar can help systematize some puzzling differences between matrix and embedded sentences with respect to their pronunciation.
Linguistische Arbeitsberichte 96: Gisbert Fanselow’s Contributions to Syntactic Theory (edited volume, to appear), 2024
The theory of chain linearization I propose in a number of works predicts a typology in which Ger... more The theory of chain linearization I propose in a number of works predicts a typology in which German would exemplify a type if some cases of incomplete category fronting in this language do not involve VP remnant movement. This is precisely what Gisbert Fanselow argues for in one of his papers. In this note, I present this argument in its dialectical background and respond to some issues which arise from it.
Vietnamese has two types of NPIs, simple and complex, and two types of polar questions, yes/no qu... more Vietnamese has two types of NPIs, simple and complex, and two types of polar questions, yes/no questions and agreement questions. Simple NPIs can occur in both types of polar questions while complex NPIs can occur in yes/no but not in agreement questions. I propose an account for this fact using familiar ingredients of semantic and syntactic analyses. I then discuss some ways in which Vietnamese and English differ with respect to how distinctions in meaning align with distinctions in form.
Polar questions in Vietnamese consist of an affirmative sentence followed by a negation particle.... more Polar questions in Vietnamese consist of an affirmative sentence followed by a negation particle. Modern Vietnamese has three negation particles, but only two can occur in this function. This note proposes an account for this gap. The account is premised on the analysis of questions as sets of alternatives, and draws on facts of diachronic change gleaned from historical texts.
We present novel observations about a type of questions which occur quite frequently in natural d... more We present novel observations about a type of questions which occur quite frequently in natural discourse but which have so far remained unanalyzed. These are questions which inquire about a question act. We then propose an account which derives the observations. Our account relies crucially on the assumption that speech acts are grammatically represented.
The cross-linguistic research on "negative polarity items" (NPIs) not only reveals what contraint... more The cross-linguistic research on "negative polarity items" (NPIs) not only reveals what contraints are imposed by semantics on the output of syntax but also provides insights into how individual languages differ with respect to the way they satisfy these constraints. This note makes a small contribution to this enterprise: it discusses some differences in distribution between NPIs in English and their counterparts in Vietnamese. The discussion is preluded by a brief introduction to background concepts and assumptions. The Vietnamese data are presented as a challenge which motivates further thought and investigation. A sketch of an approach is provided at the end.
The derivation of strengthened meanings as proposed by Bar-Lev and Fox (2017, 2020) and the deriv... more The derivation of strengthened meanings as proposed by Bar-Lev and Fox (2017, 2020) and the derivation of modal domains as proposed by Kratzer (1977, 1981, 1991) both involve an "inclusion" step of assigning true to as many propositions in a given set as possible. In the case of strengthened meanings, this set contains the scalar alternatives. In the case of modal domains, it contains the propositions in the ordering source. In this note, we explicate what is common and what is distinct between the two inclusion procedures. We then point out that the formal distinction makes no empirical difference for the cases of strengthened meaning so far considered in the literature. We conjecture that this fact holds generally for all cases of strengthened meaning.
Beiträge der Österreichischen Ludwig Wittgenstein Gesellschaft, Band XXIX, 2023
Wittgenstein's picture theory of language (PTL) unites grammar and logic as two sides of the same... more Wittgenstein's picture theory of language (PTL) unites grammar and logic as two sides of the same coin. A consequence of this theory, which Wittgenstein refuses to accept, is that trivialities are ill-formed. This turns out to be precisely what is claimed by Logicality, a recently developed thesis about natural language which has been corroborated by a large amount of empirical arguments. Logicality also provides an explanation for Wittgenstein's
Tạp chí Khoa học & Công nghệ Đại học Duy Tân, 2023
Bài này mô tả một đặc tính luận lý của đại từ có khả năng lý giải sự hiện diện phổ quát của phạm ... more Bài này mô tả một đặc tính luận lý của đại từ có khả năng lý giải sự hiện diện phổ quát của phạm trù này trong các ngôn ngữ tự nhiên. Sau đó, nó phác thảo một phương pháp phân loại đại từ cho tiếng Việt. Tiếp theo là một thảo luận về quan hệ giữa tính khả chấp của câu và tính trùng ngôn cũng như mâu thuẫn của nó, trong đó hệ quả hình thức của nghĩa xã hội được đề cập đến như một hiện tượng quan yếu đối với nghiên cứu giao diện luận lý – ngữ dụng học. Phần cuối của bài phân tích sự khác nhau giữa tiếng Việt và tiếng Anh liên quan đến việc sử dụng tên riêng để chỉ người nói và người nghe.
The syntax and semantics of only is controversial, in particular in cases where only appears off ... more The syntax and semantics of only is controversial, in particular in cases where only appears off the clausal spine, such as when only precedes an object DP. In one view, only composes with the DP to form a quantifier. In another view, pre-DP only is locally vacuous, and signals the presence in the LF of a covert propositional operator. Based on the scope possibilities of pre-DP only relative to modals and their interaction with ellipsis, we provide a new argument (following Benbaji 2022) for a theory according to which the meaning associated with only does always come from a propositional operator at LF, despite surface appearances.
This paper investigates the interpretation of the epistemic modal adjectives possible, certain an... more This paper investigates the interpretation of the epistemic modal adjectives possible, certain and their adverbial counterparts possibly, certainly, taking the perspective that the former express objective modality, whereas the latter express subjective modality. In support of this view, we report on two experiments that assess speakers' acceptance of possible, certain, possibly, certainly in different contexts. Our results extend those of Lassiter (2016) in demonstrating a difference in interpretation between the adjectival and adverbial modals, with possibly less acceptable than possible but conversely certainly more acceptable than certain in the same situations. Furthermore, the results of our experiments suggest a new insight, namely that these differences depend, to some extent, on the probability of the eventuality in question and polarity of the prejacent sentence.
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