Compositional trace conversion
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 19544010 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Robert Pasternak (0000-0002-3024-1900, Leibniz-Centre General Linguistics, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2020 |
| Volume | 13 |
| Issue | 14 |
| Pages | 1-48 |
| Publication date | 2020-11-09 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Semantics and Pragmatics (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1937-8912 • E-ISSN: 1937-8912 |
| Publisher | Linguistic Society of America (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.3765/sp.13.14 |
| OpenAlex | W3103168557 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 4 |
| References cited | 18 |
In order to eliminate traces as stipulated grammatical objects, syntactic movement has been reformulated in terms of multiple-merge: it is the result of the same constituent being merged into the structure multiple times, using either copies or multidominance structures. In spite of their empirical and conceptual advantages, multiple-merge theories pose known challenges for the semantic interpretation of movement, as there are no variable-denoting traces in lower positions. The most common means of resolving this conundrum is trace conversion (Fox 2002, 2003), in which either a syntactic operation makes alterations at lower merge sites in order to generate trace-like interpretations, or the semantics behaves as if such a syntactic operation had occurred. In this paper I discuss problems faced by presently formulated versions of trace conversion and propose an alternative, compositional trace conversion, in which multiple-merge structures can be directly interpreted in a straightforwardly compositional manner. This approach is shown to generalize well, extending to modals and degree phrases as well as DPs. BibTeX info
Information retrieval · Linguistics · Natural language processing · Principle of compositionality · Semantic interpretation · Syntactic structure · Syntax · Computer Science · Natural Language Processing Techniques · Neurobiology of Language and Bilingualism · Philosophy · Syntax, Semantics, Linguistic Variation · Artificial Intelligence
Modals and ConditionalsNew and Revised Perspectives
Degree Operators and Scope
Constraints on Some Other Variables in Syntax
A semantic characterization of natural language determiners
Generalized quantifiers and natural language
Comparing Semantic Theories of Comparison
Semantics in Generative Grammar
Extraction and reconstruction
A Minimalist Condition on Semantic Reconstruction
Towards deriving differences in how Wh Movement and QR are pronounced
Connectivity in Specificational Sentences
The Interpretation of Traces
Wholesale Late Merger in Ā-movement
Wholesale Late Merger
CPs
Negation, Polarity, and Deontic Modals
Antecedent-Contained Deletion and the Copy Theory of Movement
Late Merger of Degree Clauses
| Citations per year | 0.8 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2021 - 2026 (6) |
| Highly cited | No |