bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Nasalization as a Repair for Voiced Obstruent Codas in Noon
Authors: Merrill John
Published: June 2015

The Senegalese language Noon exhibits a pattern by which the voiced stop phonemes /b, d, ɟ, g/ surface as nasals [m, n ɲ, ŋ] in coda position, undergoing complete neutralization with /m, n, ɲ, ŋ/. This allophonic alternation can be seen as a repair to the cross-linguistic constraint against voiced obstruents in coda position. However, the only otherwise attested repair to this marked structure is devoicing. Why should devoicing be so overwhelmingly preferred to other logical alternatives such as nasalization or gliding? Steriade (2008) answers this question with reference to her P-Map hypothesis, arguing that a [b~p] alternation is preferred because the perceptual distance between these sounds is less in this environment than between [b] and [m]; in essence, the synchronic system prefers a repair that changes a sound as little as possible, as determined by perceptual distinctness. The Noon facts are a clear counter-example to this prediction, and challenge any answer to the above question which requires synchronic systems to prefer the most “phonetically natural” repair.
A Topic Time coreference analysis of tense ‘harmony’ in pseudoclefts
Authors: O'Neill Teresa
Published: June 2015

This paper offers a new analysis of so-called tense ‘harmony’ in specificational pseudoclefts (Higgins 1979; Sharvit 2003; Romero 2004). I take a referential approach to tense, where tenses relate two time pronominals: Topic Time (TT, Klein 1994) and Reference Time (RT) (Utterance Time, UT, in main clauses). Although binding between either UT or matrix Event Time (ET) and embedded RT derives the interpretations of most embedded tenses, binding cannot fully account for embedded tenses in specificational pseudoclefts.I propose that Topic Time coreference derives puzzling restrictions on embedded tenses in pseudoclefts in languages both with and without sequence of tenses (SOT). 
Improving juror comprehension: reading while listening
Authors: Randall Janet H.
Published: June 2015

see attached pdf. [charts don't paste properly into this box]
Testing accessibility: A cross-linguistic comparison of the syntax of referring expressions
Authors: Torregrossa Jacopo , Bongartz Christiane , Tsimpli Ianthi Maria
Published: June 2015

Focusing on the discourse conditions that license the use of null subjects (pro) in Greek and Italian, this paper shows that the distribution of referring expressions (RE, e.g., overt and null pronoun, clitic, definite description, etc.) does not only depend on the referents’ discourse status (alias accessibility). Syntactic constraints play an important role too.
Accent and description: An account of anaphoric epithets
Authors: Beller Charley Evan
Published: June 2015

Anaphoric epithets are definite descriptions that achieve reference anaphorically. They also convey some expressive content. Potts (2003) analyzes the expressive component as a Conventional Implicature. He proposes that the expressive component is provided by the nominal, reference is provided by a phonologically null variable adjacent to the nominal, and the definite article is semantically contentless. The current analysis agrees that the nominal provides the attitudinal meaning. Rather than positing a null syntactic element reference is achieved by incorporating Elbourne's (2005) proposal that the definite determiner takes an index argument and a nominal argument.
An Output-Output analysis of German i-truncations
Authors: Schuhmann Katharina S
Published: June 2015

This paper argues for an Output-Output-analysis of i-truncations in German and shows that Sympathy Theory is not necessary to analyze German i-truncations (contra Ito & Mester 1997). I further argue that German i-truncations and reduplications are not the same phenomenon (contra Wiese 2001), although i-truncations and reduplicated forms in German (such as lari-fari, ‘nonsense’) both have an /i/-morpheme. The crucial restrictions on word-medial consonant sequences in German i-truncations can be explained with the syllable contact principle (“SyllCont”), the requirement for nasal-consonant sequences to be homorganic (“NasCodaCond”) (Féry 1997), and a prohibition of complex margins in unstressed syllables (“PrefLaw” & “NoComplMargins”).
Context Dependence in English Futures
Authors: Klecha Peter
Published: June 2015

No abstract.
Instrumental with, locatum with and the argument/adjunct distinction
Authors: Rissman Lilia
Published: June 2015

The objects of the proposition 'with', as in 'I cut the bread with a knife' and 'I covered the ground with a blanket', have received conflicting analyses as to whether they are arguments or adjuncts of the verb. Utilizing a variety of semantic and syntactic diagnostics of argumenthood, I argue that the first kind of participant, an instrument, is an adjunct/modifier and the second kind of participant, what I call a locatum, is an argument/complement of the verbal head.
Licensing of argument structures by functional heads: evidence from English have
Authors: Kim Kyumin
Published: June 2015

This paper provides a unified syntactic account for the distribution of English have in causative and experiencer constructions. I argue that have is realized in the context of an applicative head (Appl) and an event introducer v, regardless of the type of v. In causative, have is spelled out when Appl merges under vCAUSE, and in experiencer when Appl merges under vBE. The proposed account supports a theoretical claim that argument structure is licensed by functional syntactic structure (Borer 2005); unlike this study, however, it shows that the relevant functional heads are not aspectual heads, but Appl and v.
MaxElide and it's Domain of Application
Authors: Parker Daniel , Seely T. Daniel
Published: June 2015

No abstract.
Overt Subjects in Raising and Control Complements and the Null Subject Parameter
Authors: Barbosa Maria do Pilar Pereira
Published: June 2015

This paper argues that control and raising (non-inflected) infinitives have overt subjects in European Portuguese, in conformity with Szabolcsi’s (2009) generalization: (1) the overt subjects of control complements can only be pronouns; the overt subjects of raising complements can be pronouns or lexical DPs. It is shown that (1) constitutes a strong case in favour of a non-raising approach to Obligatory Control. Relying on the observation that all of the Romance Null Subject Languages comply with (1), we present an Agree-based theory of Obigatory Control that aims to capture the association between this phenomenon and the Null Subject Property.
Personal Pronouns and Gendered Speech in Popular Manga (Japanese Comics)
Authors: Unser-Schutz Giancarla
Published: June 2015

Manga—Japanese comics—are often said to be influential in young women's using more masculine first person pronouns. However, research hitherto has not focused on the actual distribution of personal pronouns in manga, leaving that relationship unclear. To assess this question, I examined the different forms found in the lines from a corpus of six popular series. Against popular expectations, I found that no female characters used masculine first-person pronouns, with few examples of them using masculine second-person pronoun. With this gap between popular thought and actual usage patterns in mind, I then reexamine manga's possible role in influencing language change.
Sensitivity of the gamma band auditory steady state response to linguistic features of a stimulus.
Authors: Norton-Ford Jessamy Sara , Deng Siyi , Srinivasan Ramesh , Kean Mary Louise
Published: June 2015

Recent work has found differences in lateralization of gamma band auditory steady state response power (?-aSSR) in temporo-parietal areas to speech vs. non-speech stim- uli, based on differences in “meaningfulness” (Deng & Srinivasan, 2009). To investigate sensitivity of ?-aSSR to linguistic features of a stimulus, EEG data was collected from six participants in response to 40Hz amplitude-modulated speech, jabberwocky, reversed speech and spectrally-rotated (“unintelligible”) speech. Significance tests were conducted for the four conditions, within and across-hemisphere. Additionally, correlational analysis of stimulus speech envelope and EEG output will be conducted. Initial results indicate overall right-lateralization, and additional left-hemisphere distinction by condition.
Testing the sensory hypothesis of the early left anterior negativity with auditory stimuli
Authors: Bradley Evan David , Hestvik Arild
Published: June 2015

Recent work has shown that the visual ELAN is sensitive to morphological and phonological features of words in sentence processing, indicating that a) sensory cortex accesses syntactic information, and b) early parsing is not ‘syntax-only’. The current study examines predictions of this sensory hypothesis in auditory processing using EEG. Ungrammatical filled-gap NPs which contain closed-class functional morphology elicited an early negativity indexing unexpected grammatical category, while those without such morphology elicited an N400 indexing argument structure integration difficulty. These results extend the sensory hypothesis into the auditory domain, and prompt further questions about the role of form in structure-building.
The Acquisition of Prefix and Particle Verbs in German: Evidence from CHILDES
Authors: Richter Evelyn
Published: June 2015

German prefix and particle verbs differ in their morphological composition and morpho-syntactic behavior (see Zeller 2001). This project investigates errors children do (not) make in the acquisition of these verb types using semi-automatically extracted CHILDES data from one child (1.9 to 4.0). The results support our prediction that children distinguish prefix and particle verbs: Prefix verbs are not split. Perfective ge- is not inserted between prefix and root. ge- is not attached before the particle. Verb dropping only occurs with particle verbs. Contrasting stress patterns could be explored as the reason for the child’s ability to distinguish these verb types.
Two Missing Pieces in a Nyulnyulan Jigsaw Puzzle
Authors: Bowern Claire
Published: June 2015

Nyulnyulan is a fairly closeknit language family of northwestern Australia. It has been suggested that the family may be an old dialect continuum. While most classifications have recognized two branches, the languages in the middle were all but unattested. It has therefore proven difficult to judge whether the two branches are a result of a tree?like split, or a consequence of missing data. I show from previously missing data that Nyulnyulan is not a dialect chain; there is a clear split even when considering data from the middle languages. This is further evidence that Australian languages are not outside the methods of traditional historical linguistics.
What Errors Can’t Tell Us About Heritage Grammars: On Covert Restructuring of Aspect in Russian
Authors: Laleko Oksana
Published: June 2015

The paper examines covert restructuring of the aspectual system of Russian in the context of heritage acquisition, i.e. systematic grammatical reorganization not manifested in overt errors. The interaction between VP-level aspectuality and sentential aspect is examined in the data from high-proficiency heritage speakers and baseline speakers of Russian. While the two grammars largely converge at the VP level (particularly in atelic contexts), they differ with respect to how sentential aspect is expressed, suggesting that the differences lie at the syntax-pragmatics interface: heritage grammar diverges from the baseline grammar in those contexts where syntactic knowledge must be integrated with discourse-pragmatic knowledge.
A phase theoretic account of coreference relations in picture DPs
Authors: Ginsburg Jason , Fong Sandiway
Published: June 2015

An experimental study of native speaker judgments by Keller & Asudeh (2001) demonstrated that in picture DPs, pronouns and anaphors are in complementary distribution in some cases (e.g., "Hannah_i found a picture of ?*her_i/herself_i"), but not in others (e.g., "Hannah_i found Peter's picture of her_i/herself_i"). We demonstrate that these facts result from two factors: 1) whether or not a pronominal and antecedent originate in a strong phase, 2) the availability of a process whereby an element with an uninterpretable feature can be reinserted into a subnumeration as a Last Resort, in order to avoid being sent to Spell-Out.
Cross-linguistic variation in 'before'-clauses
Authors: Sharvit Yael , Tieu Lyn Shan
Published: June 2015

No abstract.
Crossover and ethical pronouns in Brazilian Portuguese
Authors: Bastos-Gee Ana C
Published: June 2015

Ethical pronouns, used to express that someone is negatively affected by the content of the main assertion, cannot co-refer with referential elements in the same clause in Brazilian Portuguese. I propose a syntactic account for this constraint in co-reference by showing that ethical pronouns undergo A’-movement to a projection in the split IP system (called OrientP), in order to check a feature [+S] related to the sentential force and speaker orientation. While undergoing this movement, if the ethical pronoun crosses a co-indexed phrase, it causes a strong crossover violation in the sense of Postal 1971, Wasow 1972, Lasnik 1976.
Frozen Scope and WCO: New Insights into the Structure of Russian Ditransitives
Authors: Antonyuk-Yudina Svitlana , Bailyn John
Published: June 2015

We present novel data on Russian ditransitives with two Quantificational objects, which parallel the relevant English facts (Larson 1990) whereby inverse scope disappears when the quantificational Dative precedes the quantificational Accusative within the VP. We argue that the Russian facts should not be analyzed in terms of Superiority, as in English (Bruening 2001). Furthermore, wider possibilities for overt QP displacement in Russian and the scope freezing that obtains in such contexts (Antonyuk-Yudina 2009), taken with the observed parallelism between the two languages in the relevant respects, allow us a new perspective on the scope freezing in ditransitives for both languages.
Neighborhood density and word frequency in child German
Authors: Zaba Aleksandra , Schmidt Thomas
Published: June 2015

High word frequency and neighborhood density contribute to the accuracy and speed of word production in English adults (e.g., Vitevitch & Sommers 2003), and characterize early words in child English (e.g., Storkel 2004). The present study investigated a speech corpus of child German (ages 2;00-3;00) to further the understanding of the influence of frequency and density on production. Results for four children suggest that, contrary to English, words produced early are not from denser neighborhoods in an adult lexicon than later words. As in English, frequent words are produced before less frequent words. Implications on theory and methodology are discussed.
"No news is good news": The Quantifier/State-of-Affairs ambiguity in English
Authors: Whitman Neal
Published: June 2015

Under normal generalized-quantifier semantics, No news is good news means there is no such thing as good news. However, the intended meaning interprets the quantifier as a state of affairs (SOA): “The situation in which there is no news is good news.” Quantifier/SOA ambiguity is possible with existential NPs. It is easiest to spot with negations; hardest with bare plural and mass NPs. The desired semantics is obtained via two semantic type-shifting operations. One is the SOA function \phi.SOA(te)(phi), which turns a formula into the SOA in which that formula is true. The other is the Quantifier-to-SOA shifting mechanism \P(ett).SOA(P(exist')).
On the grammaticalization of nominalization marker =ay in Kavalan and Amis: a contrastive study
Authors: Jiang Haowen
Published: June 2015

In light of a functional perspective on nominalization, this paper investigates the nominalization marker =ay in two Formosan languages Kavalan and Amis. In addition to denoting persons/things or events, the marker also indicates perfectivity or emphasis. The latter non-referring functions of =ay are argued to derive from its grammatical status as an epistemic modality marker conveying a speaker’s strong commitment to a proposition, which presumably has been grammaticalized from its referring functions. Several types of evidence are presented to support the hypothesized grammaticalization path, including synchronic-intralingual, synchronic-interlingual, historical, and typological.
One =Mi: An Evidential, Epistemic Modal, and Focus Marker
Authors: Kwon Iksoo
Published: June 2015

The aim of this paper is to support Faller’s (2003) claim that an enclitic -mi in Imbabura Quechua cannot be classified as a pure evidential (EV, henceforth) or as a pure epistemic modal (EM, henceforth), but encode both notions, based on elicited data from two native Imbabura Quechua speakers. This paper also observes that the marker is used as a focus marker and explores a possibility that its focus marking function can be conceptually related to the other functions in that all the functions indicate that the origo’s attention is given to more cognitively salient portion of stimuli in the given context.
Perceptual Cues to Lexical Tone in Burmese
Authors: Gruber James
Published: June 2015

Lexical tone in Modern Burmese is a complex contrast where systematic differences in intensity, duration, phonation type, and vowel quality operate alongside pitch distinctions. Prior phonetic studies have confirmed that speakers produce distinct values for each of these phonetic qualities with each tone (Thein Tun 1982, Watkins 2005, Gruber 2010). This study asked twelve native speakers of Burmese to identify resynthesized single syllable stimuli as bearing one of the four tones in a forced-choice test. Results indicate that Burmese listeners necessarily use all three properties examined (duration, pitch, and phonation type) in their perception grammar.
Rising intonation and uncertainty
Authors: Zaroukian Erin
Published: June 2015

Uncertain declaratives present several problems for analyses of rising intonation, among which is why, though maybe avoids speaker commitment as does rising intonation in (1a,b), (1c) without rising intonation is odd. (1) A: What’s John’s favorite color? B: (a) Blue? / (b) Maybe blue? / (c) #Maybe blue. I propose that for rising declaratives, discourse context update is dependent on corroboration by some unspecified source. And while maybe also allows the speaker to avoid committing, it does so differently from rising intonation (suggesting possibility, not requiring corroboration), and when the two co-occur, maybe acts in concord with the intonation.
The level of perception of illusory vowels
Authors: Hwang Jiwon , Broselow Ellen
Published: June 2015

We report on results of perception experiments comparing Korean and English native speakers on stop-nasal sequences. In a categorization task, Korean listeners reported the presence of a vowel significantly more often than English listeners only when the stop was voiced. However, in an ERP experiment, both groups displayed significant MMN responses to the presence/absence of the vowel regardless of the voicing of the stop. The results of the current experiments provide evidence that language-specific perception of the absence/presence of a vowel in stop-nasal sequences takes place not at the preattentive auditory level but rather at the level of phonological categorization.
Vowel hiatus and Dispersion Theory
Authors: Varis Erika
Published: June 2015

This paper presents a Dispersion Theoretic (Flemming 2004) perspective on cross-syllable vowel hiatus in Spanish and Western Catalan. Evidence from these languages’ determiner-noun sequences points to a scale of sensitivity to perceptual contrast among vowels, along with augmentation in stressed syllables. These sequences show four patterns of sensitivity to vowel quality: complete tolerance (Spanish unstressed), all but the least contrastive pair tolerated (Spanish stressed), all but the most contrastive pairs not tolerated (Catalan unstressed), and complete intolerance (Catalan stressed). Using MINIMUM DISTANCE and markedness augmentation (Smith 2002), these patterns are explored within the larger typology of possible vowel hiatus sensitivity.
Conceptual effects on agreement: A corpus study of mismatch in English copular constructions
Authors: Duffield Cecily Jill
Published: June 2015

Research on the production of subject-verb agreement has focused on the features of the subject rather than the larger construction in which subject-verb agreement is produced or how the conceptual relationship between subjects and predicates may interact in affecting subject-verb agreement patterns. This corpus study describes subject-verb number agreement mismatch in English copular constructions which take the frame of (SEMANTICALLY LIGHT) N + [REL] + COP + (SPECIFIC) PRED NOM, where the copula reflects the grammatical number of the predicate. Results suggest that speakers make use of conceptual information from the entire construction, and not just the subject, when formulating agreement morphology.
Focus-marking in a tone language: Prosodic cues in Mandarin Chinese
Authors: Ouyang Iris Chuoying , Kaiser Elsi
Published: June 2015

No abstract.
On the Linearity of Information Structure
Authors: Stevens Jon Scott
Published: June 2015

No abstract.
Performance in an ASL Boundary Perception Task Using Naturalistic Stimuli
Authors: Mesh Kate
Published: June 2015

This study compares the performance of two groups on an American Sign Language (ASL) perception task. Twenty-two L1 signers of ASL and twelve sign-naive English speakers watched a filmed lecture in ASL and pressed a response pad to identify "natural breaks" in the signing. Responses from each subject group were analyzed into agreement clusters--time slices of up to 2 seconds in which a substantial percentage of participants identified a boundary. Comparison of the response patterns of signers and non-signers revealed a one-way implication between signer agreement clusters and non-signer agreement clusters. That is, where signers agreed about the location of a boundary, non-signers did as well, but it was not the case that non-signer agreement about a boundary was a predictor that signers would identify the same boundary.
Peripheral fragments: Dislocation as ellipsis
Authors: Ott Dennis
Published: June 2015

Left- and right-dislocation constructions have so far resisted reduction to basic mechanisms of grammar, and in fact pose various theoretically challenging problems. Focusing on Germanic, I argue that "dislocation" is in fact a kind of juxtaposition of two clauses, one of which is reduced by IP-ellipsis (as attested in sluicing and fragment answers). Analyzing dislocated XPs as remnants of clausal ellipsis directly predicts various otherwise puzzling properties of dislocation, such as reconstruction into the main clause, now reanalyzed as reconstruction internally to the reduced clause. I show that the analysis receives independent support from parallels between sluicing/fragment answers and dislocation.
Prosodic focus in Bangla: A psycholinguistic investigation of production and perception
Authors: Choudhury Arunima , Kaiser Elsi
Published: June 2015

The paper investigates the prosodic distinctions available in Bangla/Bengali to differentiate focus-types. Bangla has canonical SOV order. The immediate preverbal position is the default focus position. We conducted an elicitation study followed by a perception study to investigate whether Bangla speakers distinguish new-information vs. contrastive focus prosodically and whether the syntactic position of the focused constituent matters. We found reliable effects between focus-types only when the focused constituent is an object, in the default focus position. Therefore, Bangla uses prosodic cues to mark focus, but the perceptibility interacts with syntactic position: Differences between focus-types are amplified in default focus position.
Referential Hierarchy Effects on Grammar: Toward a Unifying Functional Approach
Authors: Jany Carmen
Published: June 2015

It is still unclear whether grammatical systems based on referential hierarchies should be treated as an alignment type in its own right (Nichols 1992, Siewierska 2005, Zúñiga 2006), viewed in terms of voice (Givón 1994, Shibatani 2006), or analyzed based on the properties of individual systems (Bickel 2008). This paper examines referential hierarchy effects on grammatical marking in 45 languages showing that all systems can be explained in terms of subjectivity, politeness, and topicality, and that in different languages these functions are fulfilled in structurally distinct ways conditioned by genetic inheritance and contact�induced change, consequently supporting Bickel’s idiosyncratic approach.
Right-edge lapse has prominence alternation
Authors: Deschenes Nicholas , Lunden Anya
Published: June 2015

*Lapse and *Clash have previously been seen to go a long way toward capturing the alternating pattern of stress systems, without reference to feet (e.g. Gordon 2002). We propose a perceptual reason for the fact that many languages allow a lapse to occur specifically at the right edge, arguing that final lengthening can be perceived as a type of prominence and showing a correlation between languages that allow final lapse and having duration as a stress correlate. We show how a typical final-lapse-allowed pattern can be captured under this assumption.
Temporal transitions in narrative production with wordless picture books
Authors: Lee Choonkyu , Kharkwal Gaurav , Stromswold Karin
Published: June 2015

We present empirical results that demonstrate temporal intervals in story time affect narrative structure. Eight native English-speaking adults estimated the duration of intervals between events depicted in consecutive pictures in Mercer and Marianna Mayer’s wordless picture books, and a separate group of 37 adults wrote stories to accompany these picture books. Analyses revealed that adults used significantly more temporal connectives (when, while, etc.) after long intervals than short ones. We argue that writers use temporal anchors to help readers update the temporal dimension of discourse representation, and that situation models (Zwaan, 1999) are relevant to narrative production.
Overt Degree Arguments as Internal Heads of Relative Clauses of Degree
Authors: Oda Toshiko
Published: June 2015

Overt Degree Arguments as Internal Heads of Relative Clauses of Degree
Verb Phrase Ellipsis and v: Evidence from Hocak
Authors: Johnson Meredith
Published: June 2015

Verb Phrase Ellipsis and v: Evidence from Hocak
Postverbal DPs in Hocąk as Rightward Scrambling
Authors: Rosen Bryan
Published: June 2015

Postverbal DPs in Hocąk as Rightward Scrambling
Suffixing Preferences as a Consequence of Probabilistic Reasoning Yoshihiko Asao
Authors: Asao Yoshihiko
Published: June 2015

Suffixing Preferences as a Consequence of Probabilistic
Reasoning
Yoshihiko Asao
A Gestural Interpretation of Variation and Variability in Minor Syllables
Authors: Butler Becky
Published: June 2015

A Gestural Interpretation of Variation and Variability in Minor Syllables
Japanese Predicate Cleft Constructions as a Morphological Reduplication
Authors: Kotani Sachie
Published: June 2015

Japanese Predicate Cleft Constructions as a Morphological Reduplication
Individual on-line processing differences are not necessarily reflected in off-line acceptability judgments.
Authors: Michel Dan
Published: June 2015

Individual on-line processing differences are not necessarily reflected in off-line
acceptability judgments.
Two Adpositional Predicates in Mayrinax Atayal— predicate selection and further implications
Authors: Huang Zong-Rong
Published: June 2015

Two Adpositional Predicates in Mayrinax Atayal—
predicate selection and further implications
Mandarin utterance-final particle ba in the conversational scoreboard
Authors: Ettinger Allyson , Malamud Sophia A.
Published: June 2015

Mandarin utterance-final particle ba in the conversational scoreboard
Semantic and phonological knowledge of native signers of American Sign Language (ASL) in a synonym task
Authors: Novogrodsky Rama , Fish Sarah , Hoffmeister Robert
Published: June 2015

Semantic and phonological knowledge of native signers of American Sign Language (ASL) in a synonym task
Degree Infinitival Clauses
Authors: Bylinina Lisa
Published: June 2015

I discuss the structure and semantic composition of the so-called "Attributive-with-Infinitive" construction -- a construction that contains a positive gradable adjective in the attributive position, and a gapped infinitival clause. Studying the way the adjective combines with the infinitival clause will suggest a new type of an infinitival clause -- a degree interval-denoting one. The analysis will have consequences for the nature of a positive morpheme.
Investigating the alternative-sensitivity of "know"
Authors: Uegaki Wataru , Marty Paul
Published: June 2015

Several semantic analyses of know have been proposed in recent years to account for the so-called Gettier Problem. These analyses make distinct predictions regarding the sensitivity of know to the alternative possibilities expressed by its complement, as induced by expressions such as disjunction. These predictions were tested in two experiments. Results show that knowledge sentences with a disjunctive complement (e.g., John knows that Mary has a son or a daughter) are more likely to be judged as false than classically-equivalent sentences with non- disjunctive complements (e.g., John knows that Mary has a child) under Gettier-like scenarios. We discuss how these findings provide evidence for the alternative- sensitive approach to know.
On the tri-ambiguous status of 'any': The view from child language
Authors: Tieu Lyn Shan
Published: June 2015

This paper examines the monolingual acquisition of the English polarity-sensitive item 'any', and uses evidence from child language acquisition to shed light on two questions that arise from the theoretical semantics literature. First, evidence from child spontaneous speech production is used to argue that children are grammatically conservative in their acquisition of negative polarity item (NPI) licensing. The same child data are then used to argue the following: (i) there is only one NPI 'any', subject to a disjunctive licensing condition; (ii) NPI 'any' differs in some way from free choice (FC) 'any', resulting in the later emergence of FC 'any'.
Quantity and gradability across categories
Authors: Bochnak M. Ryan
Published: June 2015

This paper proposes a unified analysis of scalar modifiers across the adjec- tival, nominal and verbal domains, with a special focus on the proportional modifier half in English. I claim that half has a scalar meaning in all the environments in which it appears. Specifically, I show that in partitive and event-modifying uses, half targets a quantity-based scale whose scale structure crucially depends on the part structure of a nominal argument, just like many adjectival cases. To formalize the analysis, I extend the degree-based analysis of Kennedy & McNally (2005) for gradable adjectives to partitives and VPs headed by incremental theme verbs, with some discussion of compounding uses of half with both nouns and verbs.
Quantity implicature and access to scalar alternatives in language acquisition
Authors: Bale Alan Clinton , Brooks Neon , Barner David
Published: June 2015

When faced with a sentence like "Some of the toys are on the table," adults, but not preschoolers, compute a scalar implicature, taking the sentence to imply that not all the toys are on the table. This paper explores the hypothesis that children fail to compute scalar implicatures because they lack knowledge of the relevant scalar alternatives to words like "some." Four-year-olds were shown pictures in which three out of three objects fit a description (e.g., three animals reading), and were asked to evaluate statements that relied on context-independent alternatives (e.g., knowing that "all" is an alternative to "some" for the utterance "Some of the animals are reading") or contextual alternatives (e.g., knowing that the set of all three visible animals is an alternative to a set of two for the utterance "Only the cat and the dog are reading"). Children failed to reject the false statements containing context-independent scales even when the word "only" was used (e.g., "only some"), but correctly rejected equivalent statements containing contextual alternatives (e.g., "only the cat and dog"). These results support the hypothesis that children’s difficulties with scalar implicature are due to a failure to generate relevant alternatives for specific scales. Consequences for number word learning are also discussed.
Simultaneous analyses for simultaneous present
Authors: Percus Orin , Lungu Oana
Published: June 2015

“Simultaneous” uses of the present tense pose a challenge for the position that present tense is essentially indexical. Two kinds of accounts have been given that stay close to this position: on the Tense Deletion account, present tense can get converted into a simple bound variable over times; on the Shifting Indexical account, present tense interacts with a context variable that can get bound below a character-selecting operator. We argue that in fact both of these mechanisms are needed. We specifically argue that a Shifting Indexical approach is useful in accounting for cross-linguistic variation in the use of simultaneous present; our arguments are based on a comparison of English and Romanian data. We suggest moreover that the Romanian data have important consequences for what a Shifting Indexical analysis of present tense should look like.
The meanings of positive polarity minimizers in Japanese: a unified approach
Authors: Sawada Osamu
Published: June 2015

In Japanese there are multiple lexical items for positive polarity minimizers (hereinafter, minimizer PPIs), each of which can differ in meaning/use. For example, while sukoshi ‘lit. a bit/a little’ can only express a quantitative (amount) meaning, chotto ‘lit. a bit/a little’ can express either a quantitative meaning or an ‘expressive’ meaning (i.e. attenuation in degree of the force of a speech act). The purpose of this paper is to investigate the semantics and pragmatics of the Japanese minimizer PPIs chotto and sukoshi and to consider (i) the parallelism/non-parallelism between truth conditional scalar meanings and non-truth conditional scalar meanings, and (ii) what mechanism can explain the cross-linguistic and language internal variation between minimizer PPIs. As for the semantics/pragmatics of minimizers, I will argue that although the meanings of the amount and expressive minimizers are logically and dimensionally different (non-parallelism), they can systematically be captured by positing a single lexical item (parallelism). As for the language internal and cross-linguistic variations, it will be shown that there is a point of variation with respect to whether a particular degree morpheme allows a dimensional shift (i.e. an extension from a semantic scale to a pragmatic scale). Based on the above proposals, this paper will also investigate the pragmatic motivation behind the use of minimizers in an evaluative context.
Type-theoretical semantics with coercive subtyping
Authors: Luo Zhaohui
Published: June 2015

In the formal semantics based on modern type theories, common nouns are interpreted as types, rather than as functional subsets of entities as in Montague grammar. This brings about important advantages in linguistic interpretations but also leads to a limitation of expressive power because there are fewer operations on types as compared with those on functional subsets. The theory of coercive subtyping adequately extends the modern type theories with a notion of subtyping and, as shown in this paper, plays a very useful role in making type theories more expressive for formal semantics. In particular, it gives a satisfactory treatment of the type-theoretic interpretation of modified common nouns and allows straightforward interpretations of interesting linguistic phenomena such as copredication, whose interpretations have been found difficult in a Montagovian setting. We shall also study some type-theoretic constructs that provide useful representational tools for formal lexical semantics, including how the so-called dot-types for representing logical polysemy may be expressed in a type theory with coercive subtyping.
Universal laziness of pronouns
Authors: Ivlieva Natalia
Published: June 2015

The goal of the paper is to try to account for an interesting binding phenomenon, namely the fact that pronouns sometimes appear to be bound by universal quanti?ers out of islands. Speci?cally, my claim is that the appearance of binding is an illusion which results from the fact that pronouns can stand for universal quanti?ers, i.e. there is a new type of pronouns of laziness. However, the distribution of such pronouns of laziness is highly restricted. These restrictions can be derived by means of Maximize Presupposition principle and situation semantics. The structure of the paper is as follows. In section 1, I illustrate the phenomenon. In section 2, I show that this phenomenon is not a case of real binding but a binding illusion which is made possible by the fact that pronouns can stand for universal quanti?ers like everyone. In sections 3 and 4, I show that there are certain restrictions on the environments in which such a binding illusion is possible. First, it is ruled out in cases where it is in con?ict with Maximize Presupposition principle (section 3). Second, it is only possible when the clause containing a quanti?er and the clause containing a pronoun in a sense describe the same situation (section 4). In section 5, two readings of illusive binding sentences are discussed and an analysis of how they are derived is proposed. Section 6 concludes the paper.
Vivid attitudes: Centered situations in the semantics of 'remember' and 'imagine'
Authors: Stephenson Tamina
Published: June 2015

This paper deals with a subset of uses of propositional attitude predicates such as 'remember' and 'imagine.' I argue that these have a distinct "vivid" reading, which requires direct witnessing or sensory perception similar to that required in direct perception reports. To account for this use, I introduce a notion of centered situations, combining situations in the sense of Kratzer (1989) with centered worlds in the sense of Lewis (1979) and others. I propose that, on their vivid uses, these predicates make reference to a (real or possible) centered situation. This makes it possible in particular to account for attitude reports that are simultaneously vivid and obligatorily 'de se.'
Weak definites and reference to kinds
Authors: Aguilar-Guevara Ana , Zwarts Joost
Published: June 2015

Weak definite NPs do not presuppose the existence of uniquely identifiable entities. In addition, they display a range of other peculiar properties such as sloppy readings in VPs ellipsis, narrow scope interpretations, lexical restrictions and enriched meaning. In order to account for these, in this paper we analyze weak definites as expressions that refer to the same sort of kind individuals that definite generics refer to. We propose that the combination of weak definites with object- level predicates is made possible by a lexical rule that lifts object-level relations to ‘enriched’ kind-level relations.
A possible worlds semantics for Cuzco Quechua evidentials
Authors: Faller Martina T
Published: June 2015

This paper proposes an analysis of Cuzco Quechua evidentials within the possible worlds framework developed by \citet{kratzer-catmod,kratzer,kratzer10}, and explores how the tools provided by this framework can be used to best capture their evidential and epistemic modal aspects. In particular, it will be discussed how differences between evidentials can be accounted for by different restrictions on the modal base and ordering source.
'Same', Models and Representation
Authors: Lasersohn Peter
Published: June 2015

No abstract.
Counterfactuals, Temporal Adverbs, and Association with Focus
Authors: Ogihara Toshiyuki
Published: June 2015

No abstract.
Front matter
Authors: Jackson Brendan , Matthews Tanya
Published: June 2015

Proceedings of the 10th Semantics and Linguistic Theory Conference, held June 2-4, 2000 at Cornell University, edited by Brendan Jackson and Tanya Matthews.
On Distributivity and Pluractionality
Authors: Matthewson Lisa
Published: June 2015

No abstract.
Front matter
Authors: Moore Steven K. , Wyner Adam Zachary
Published: June 2015

Proceedings of the 1st Semantics and Linguistic Theory Conference, held April 19-21, 1991 at Cornell University, edited by Steven K. Moore and Adam Zachary Wyner.
Uniqueness and Bijection in Wh Constructions
Authors: Srivastav Veneeta
Published: June 2015

No abstract.
'Whatever'
Authors: Von Fintel Kai
Published: June 2015

No abstract.
Meaning components in the constitution of Russian verbs: Presuppositions or implicatures?
Authors: Zinova Yulia , Filip Hana
Published: June 2015

In this paper we discuss the inferences triggered by perfective accomplishments and two verbal prefixes (the completive prefix do- and the iterative prefix pere-) in Russian. Contrary to most works that attempt to analyze those inferences as presuppositions, we show that there is no ground for such a claim and argue that the inferences discussed here are better analyzed in terms of entailments and scalar implicatures. We use standard tests from the previous research on semantic and pragmatic presupposition. For those cases where the standard tests prove to be insufficient, the empirical data from the questionnaire we conducted is provided. The methodology used to construct the questionnaire is based on the results of an empirical study by Chemla (2009).
On the exceptional status of reportative evidentials
Authors: AnderBois Scott
Published: June 2015

One of the central questions in the study of evidentials cross-linguistically is to what extent (and in what ways) evidentials differ across languages and across evidence types. This paper examines one such instance of variation: the ability for a single speaker to deny the scope of a reportative evidential, an instance of what we dub ‘reportative exceptionality’ (RE). Empirically, we show that RE is widely attested across a diverse range of reportatives. Theoretically, we propose a pragmatic account treating RE as an instance of pragmatically-induced perspective shift. Having done so, we propose a semantics for illocutionary evidentials on which reportatives are given a treatment uniform to other evidence types.
Filtering Semantics for Counterfactuals: Bridging Causal Models and Premise Semantics
Authors: Santorio Paolo
Published: June 2015

I argue that classical counterfactual semantics in the style of Stalnaker, Lewis, and Kratzer validates an inference pattern that is disconfirmed in natural language. The solution is to alter the algorithm we use to handle inconsistency in premise sets: rather than checking all maximally consistent fragments of a premise sets, as in Krazter's semantics, we selectively remove some of the premises. The proposed implementation starts from standard premise semantics and involves a new 'filtering' operation that achieves just this removal. The resulting semantics is interestingly related to the semantics for counterfactuals emerging from Judea Pearl's causal models framework in computer science: in particular, filtering is a possible worlds semantics counterpart of Pearl's interventions.
Salience, uniqueness, and the definite determiner -te in Bulu
Authors: Barlew Jefferson
Published: June 2015

Analyses of the meanings of definite determiners both in English (Kadmon 1990, Roberts 2003, Elbourne 2013, a.o.) and crosslinguistically (Schwarz 2013,  Arkoh and Matthewson 2013) have been framed in terms of two dimensions of meaning: familiarity and uniqueness.  This paper presents an analysis of the Bulu (Bantu, Cameroon) definite determiner -te. I argue that the antecedent of an NP with -te is required to be salient and unique.  Thus, salience is an additional dimension along which there is crosslinguistic variation in the meanings of definite determiners.
On the Semantics and Pragmatics of dake (and only)
Authors: Harada Yasunari , Noguchi Naohiko
Published: June 2015

No abstract.
Strong and Weak Novelty and Familiarity
Authors: Condoravdi Cleo
Published: June 2015

No abstract.
Object Wide Scope and Semantic Trees
Authors: Ben-Shalom Dorit
Published: June 2015

No abstract.
Effective Training for International Cross-Cultural Collaboration and Leadership
Authors: Durazo Yvette , Manning Margaret , Wright Giuseppina
Published: June 2015

The purpose of this chapter is to share effective training methods designed to prepare business leaders for global cross-cultural collaboration and for the preparation to be utilized by practitioners, theorists and researchers from fields as diverse as humanities, sociology, psychology, Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) and business. The chapter analyzes existing literature with real-life case studies, such as integration policy in Sweden, the teaching of International Peacebuilding, training for Alternative Dispute Resolution in Mexico and first-hand observations of Morocco. Chapter findings suggest that experiential learning or learning-by-doing works best to effectively instill cross-cultural collaboration to shape global leaders. The authors propose further research be conducted to measure qualitative and quantitative results of cross-cultural training and implementation.
Stakeholder Positioning and Cultural Diversity in the Creative Sector
Authors: Aalbers Hendrik Leendert , Kamp Annemarie Charlotte
Published: June 2015

This chapter explores the antecedents of stakeholder positioning in the creative sector, a sector well known for its diversity in organizational cultures. Drawing from empirical data collected at the heart of London's modern architecture scene we analyze the interactive process of commissioned artwork among architects and professional modern artists. We examine how positioning by artists and their commissioning architects relates to bringing creative outputs to the market, while taking the diversity of organizational cultures into account. First, we show that an accurate understanding of one's positioning and the positioning of one's counterparts in a commissioned arts work process is critical to steer creative collaboration. Second, we provide an overview of positioning criteria to take into account by artists or commissioning architects operating in a culturally diverse environment. The insights rendered illustrate a gap in the heart of our understanding of positioning and leadership.
Developing Global Competences through Learning Mobility
Authors: Finell Peter
Published: June 2015

This chapter looks at the development of global competences during a study abroad experience from the perspective of a host institution to inbound students. It examines the concept of global competence how mobile students themselves regard their study abroad experience, and how the international experiences gained through learning mobility are valued by employers. Having found that exchange programmes such as Erasmus+ places obligations of a rather practical nature on the host institution, this chapter seeks to argue that the host institution should play a bigger role in enhancing the development of global competences of their inbound exchange students. The chapter relies heavily upon the recent Erasmus Impact Study entitled “ The Effects of mobility on the skills and employability of students and the internationalisation of higher education institutions”, published by the European Commission in September 2014 as well as other similar studies and the latest doctrine in the field.