Evidence for a mixed approach to E-type anaphora
Date
2021
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
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Publisher
University of Delaware
Abstract
The program of the field of semantics is to model or formally represent the
meaning in natural language of sentences and discourses and of different constructions
and interpretations. E-type anaphora constitutes a family of constructions and
interpretations that have proved especially difficult to model formally. Previous
approaches generally have aimed to analyze all E-type anaphora using similar semantic
tools. This has resulted in models or representations that are complex in order
to deal with the full range of E-type anaphora. We can trade off complexity of
representation with number of different semantic tools that we are allowed to use
to analyze different categories of E-type anaphora. In this work, I argue that E-type
anaphora should receive a “mixed approach” in that different semantic tools should be
applied to different categories of E-type anaphora to arrive at simpler analyses. Simpler
analyses are preferable a priori. Though mixed approaches are not preferable a priori,
a mixed approach to E-type anaphora is justified because different sorts of expressions
in natural language are more aligned with certain subcategories of E-type anaphora.
The use of choice functions to model a subset of E-type anaphora is one of the main
novel theoretical contributions of this work. This subset of E-type anaphora includes
an interpretation of donkey anaphora introduced here using the term “coreferential
existential”. This interpretation has received little attention in the literature. The main
empirical contribution of this work is to show that indefinite syntax and semantics has
a larger effect on interpretation of donkey sentences than definite or pronoun syntax
and semantics. Therefore, an approach that traces differences in interpretation to the
indefinite antecedent NP/DP in an E-type anaphoric dependency is best supported,
contra previous works that focus only on anaphoric definite or pronoun.
Description
Keywords
Donkey anaphora, E-type anaphora, Linguistics, Semantics