Indefinites (Linguistic Inquiry Monographs)

Indefinites Investigates The Relationship Between The Syntactic And Semantic Representations Of Sentences Within The Framework Of Generative Grammar. It Proposes A Means Of Relating Government-binding Theory, Which Is Primarily Syntactic, To The Semantic Theory Of Noun Phrase Interpretation Developed By Kamp And Heim, And Introduces A Novel Mapping Algorithm That Describes The Relation Between Syntactic Configurations And Logical Representations. Diesing Focuses On The Problem Of Deriving Logical Representations From Syntactic Representations Of Sentences, With An Emphasis On Issues Of Quantification And The Interpretation Of Indefinites. The Two Central Questions Addressed Are The Possible Semantic Interpretations Of Indefinites And Quantificational Noun Phrases, And The Role Played By Syntactic Representation In Deriving The Semantic Representation Of Noun Phrases. The Mapping Algorithm Used Is Applied To Derive The Logical Representations Of Indefinites To A Wide Range Of Syntactic And Semantic Phenomena In German Including Scrambling, Vp-deletion, And Extraction From Np. -- Publisher Description. Chapter I. Deriving Logical Representations: A Proposal. 1. Introduction --- 2. The Syntactic Roots Of Indefinite Interpretations --- 3. Semantic Partition And The Interpretation Of Indefinites --- 4. Syntactic Factors In The Semantics Of Nps: A Preview ---- Chapter Ii. Initial Evidence In Favor Of The Mapping Hypothesis. 1. Introduction --- 2. The Readings Of Bare Plurals --- 3. The Syntactic Connection: Deriving The Two Readings --- 4. Two Subject Positions In German: An Ip/vp Contrast --- 5. Delineating The Limits Of The Predicate Classification --- 6. Focus And The Bare Plural Readings --- 7. Conclusion ----- Chapter Iii. 1. Tree Splitting And The Interpretation. 1. Introduction --- 2. Tree Splitting And Quantification --- 3. Qr, Presuppositions, And The Mapping Hypothesis --- 4. Dutch Subjects, Turkish Objects, And Specificity --- 5. Some Final Remarks On The Nature Of Specificity --- 6. Conclusion ---- Chapter Iv. Presupposition, Extraction, And Logical Form. 1. Introduction --- 2. A Taxonomy Of Indefinites --- 3. Extraction From Np: Some Initial Observations --- 4. Quantification And Extraction From Np --- 5. Formulating The Extraction Constraint --- 6. Concluding Remarks. Molly Diesing. Includes Bibliographical References And Index.