Abstract Mandarin Chinese lexically distinguishes the disjunctors in alternative questions (háishi) and in disjunctive assertions (huòzhe), reflecting a distinction that Haspelmath (2007) and others have called interrogative versus standard disjunction. I argue that the two disjunctors share their basic syntax and semantics as junction heads (J) that project their disjuncts as Roothian alternatives, which are then interpreted by a corresponding question-forming operator or existential operator. I motivate this view from island insensitivity and focus intervention effects, which I show to apply in parallel to both alternative question formation with háishi and the scope-taking of huòzhe. Háishi also allows for a number of non-interrogative uses, subject to significant speaker variation. I argue that these patterns reflect broadly two types of grammars: those where háishi syntactically enforces that its alternatives be interpreted by certain operators, and those that do not. For the latter, more liberal speakers, háishi can be used non-interrogatively in the same environments that wh-phrases can be. The study and analysis of this pattern of variation leads to the conclusion that a so-called “interrogative disjunction” could be so specified via its syntactic specification or through its semantics alone, with both strategies being attested by different sets of Mandarin Chinese speakers.

Abstract Under what conditions can a pronoun refer to a given antecedent? It has long been noted that there is a connection between pronouns’ accessibility conditions and patterns of presupposition satisfaction. In this paper, this connection is explicitly spelled out in the form of the existence generalization: a pronoun may refer to an (indefinite) antecedent if and only if a witness for that indefinite can be presupposed to exist at the point where the pronoun is used. We show that, while dynamic approaches and E-type approaches do expect some parallels to hold between presupposition satisfaction and accessibility conditions for pronouns, they do not validate the existence generalization as a matter of principle. As a result, they face various under-generation problems, which they must solve through a set of unrelated assumptions. This work proposes a system that revives the choice-functional approach of Egli and Von Heusinger (1995) ; van der Does (1993) and can account for the generalization in full. In this system, a pronoun’s accessibility conditions is an existence presupposition simpliciter and the existence generalization is validated as a matter of principle. With relatively minimal tooling, this approach derives an interesting range of cases (bathroom sentences, cataphoric possibilities, donkey sentences, subordination). Some limitations and possible extensions are discussed: existential/universal readings and non-indefinite antecedents.

Abstract There is a long line of previous research arguing for a tight connection between the meaning of definites and demonstratives, see e.g. Ahn (2019); Dayal and Jiang (2022); Ebert et al. (2020); Elbourne (2008); King (2001); Roberts (2003); Wolter (2006). New data from Ga (Kwa), an under-researched language spoken in Ghana, directly supports the view that demonstratives are kind of marked definites: the meaning of demonstratives is transparently composed from the meaning of the definite determiner and the meaning of the particle restricting the interpretation of the DP. This transparent structure raises, however, a general compositional problem, i.e. how the anti-uniqueness inference of the demonstrative is derived, if the definite determiner conveys uniqueness. The paper solves this issue, addressing therefore one of the most pertinent issues in the semantics of demonstratives and definites across languages.

Abstract Morpho-syntactic markedness for number does not always seem to align with a singular or plural semantics. I show that in Alasha Mongolian (Mongolic) unmarked inanimate nouns are number neutral whereas their animate counterparts are strictly singular (cp. Bylinina and Podobryaev 2020). Unmarked inanimates, however, can be strictly singular if modified by a subclass of APs (e.g. big) and numerals. Plural-marked nouns can be exclusively or inclusively plural depending on upward/downward entailingness (like English). Adopting Harbour’s (2007, 2011, 2014) theory of number, I propose that the generalizations are best explained if unmarked number neutral nouns lack NumP, which would otherwise mark the NP for [$\pm $atomic], whereas their animate counterparts always project it. I argue that inanimates may project NumP if there is morpho-syntactic evidence to do so (some APs, overt plural-marking, and numerals). In addition, I propose a new solution for the inclusive/exclusive ambiguity of the plural: it is the result of syntactically conditioned allosemy at LF. Last but not least, the results of the analysis paired with cross-linguistic observations about number give rise to a novel generalization that correlates morphological markedness and semantic interpretation.

Abstract A prominent view of homogeneity takes it to be the result of a trivalent distributivity operator. Križ (2015) challenged this view by pointing out the existence of non-distributive plural predication, which is nonetheless homogeneous. In this paper I argue that this challenge disappears once a trivalent cumulativity operator (based on Link’s star operator), which derives meanings that are underspecified for distributivity and collectivity, is taken to be responsible for homogeneity instead. I point out that when this view is combined with a solution offered by Schwarzschild (1994) and Heim (1994) for the challenge of deriving both underspecified and ambiguous meanings (using ‘covers’), the challenge of deriving both distributive and non-distributive homogeneity is immediately resolved. I further argue that the view that emerges provides an explanation for the variation between predicates with respect to homogeneity and underspecification, and correctly predicts it to be context-dependent.

Abstract A key breakthrough in research on the semantics/pragmatics interface was the discovery of ‘locally computed’ scalar implicatures. While initial accounts modified the interpretive procedure to account for them (Chierchia 2004), the dominant view within the grammatical tradition to scalar implicatures is now that local implicatures are computed by an invisible but syntactically real version of only, the exhaustivity operator Exh (Chierchia et al. 2012). We argue that all current accounts (including the operator-based view) are faced with a challenge because some expressions display a Janus-faced behavior: they simultaneously seem to include and to exclude Exh. Take the discourse Jane flew to Spain or Portugal during the break. However Bill doesn’t believe it. The first sentence is naturally understood to mean that Jane flew to Spain or Portugal but not both, but the second sentence means that Bill doubts that Jane flew to Spain or Portugal (or both). We uncover several types of Janus sentences of this sort using pronouns and (in an appendix) using ellipsis. Janus sentences are found with unaccented scalar terms, but usually not with controls involving overt only or accented scalar terms. Without solving the puzzle, we discuss one broad solution strategies. This solution consists in complicating the semantics of the exhaustivity operator so that it can always be present, but with semantic effects that are systematically trivialized in some environments. This view becomes nearly indistinguishable from one where exhaustification is made part of the interpretive procedure itself, as in Chierchia (2004).

Abstract Recent experimental literature has investigated across-scale variation in scalar implicature calculation, probing why lexical scales differ from each other in their likelihood of being strengthened (e.g. old $\rightarrow $ not ancient v. smart $\rightarrow $ not brilliant). But in existing studies of this scalar diversity, less attention has been paid to potential variation introduced by the carrier sentences that scales occur in. In this paper, we carry out a systematic investigation of the role of sentential context on scalar diversity, focusing on scales formed by two gradable adjectives. We find within-scale variation: different subject nouns (e.g. The employee is smart v. The scientist is smart) have a significant effect on how robustly a scalar implicature arises. We then explore the relationship between a noun’s prior likelihood of exhibiting the stronger adjectival property (e.g. brilliance) and the rate of implicature calculation, and find that they are negatively correlated. We also test whether a previously identified factor in scalar diversity, adjectival threshold distance between the weaker (smart) and stronger (brilliant) adjective, is sensitive to the subject noun manipulation, but do not find evidence for this. In addition to their theoretical import, our findings also highlight the methodological importance of controlling carrier sentences.

Abstract This paper offers a unified account of the English particle just that covers its exclusive, emphatic/intensifying, precisifying, unexplanatory, unelaborative, and counter-expectational uses. Drawing on an insight from another semantic domain, we claim that the chameleon-like behavior of just can be made sense of if we treat it as having a domain-widening function. The key proposal is as follows: the use of just indicates that the speaker is considering the widest set of alternative answers relevant at the context. The analysis relies on the notion of the optimal construal of an underspecified question, which makes use of a comparison between the inquisitivity of questions, modeled as the width of a question. The optimal construal of a question further depends on its answerability – i.e. whether the speaker considers a true answer to be accessible at the context (satisfying Quality) and whether the speaker considers addressing it to be relevant to discourse goals (satisfying Relevance). The diverse contextual effects of just that are observed arise from the interaction between the way in which the set of alternative answers to the underspecified question is construed and what is taken to be the speaker’s motivation for signaling that the widest answerable construal of the question is being addressed via the prejacent.

Abstract When engaged in conversation, do listeners make default assumptions about the epistemic states of speakers? According to some accounts, when listeners hear a sentence like “Sarah solved some of the math problems,” they infer by default that speakers believe that the stronger statement involving “all” is false (i.e. that Sarah did not solve all of the problems). However, drawing on tests of reading time, eye tracking, and manipulations of cognitive load, multiple studies have argued that this form of inference (i.e. strong scalar implicature) is not computed by default. In this study, while acknowledging this claim, we explore whether important subprocesses of implicature might nevertheless involve default inferences. In particular, we tested whether listeners assume by default that speakers are knowledgeable about alternative utterances that are left unsaid—a critical precondition for computing strong scalar implicatures. To do this, we tested 60 English-speaking participants who heard utterances made by either knowledgeable speakers or ignorant speakers. In addition, half of these participants were placed under cognitive load using a dot-array memory task. We found that participants placed under load over-computed implicatures when speakers were ignorant, as though assuming that they were knowledgeable by default.

Abstract This article is an extension of the previous work of the author on the semantic explanation of constraints on the choice of sentential complements and thus on the form of specific sentence modifiers. First, various semantic properties of sentence modifiers or sentential operators are described. Second, a novel notion of non-informative or trivial sentence modifier is proposed. This notion is a generalization of the notion of an analytic sentence in which the notion of presupposition plays an essential role. It is shown that the presence or absence of the complementizer that or whether in the sentence modifier (sentence operator) depends on whether the modifier forms an informative or non-informative sentence with its sentential argument. Among new examples of sentential operators complex operators in which additionally verbal modifiers occur are discussed. Such additional modification may force a change of the choice of the complementizer. All these considerations are made within a framework in which no possible worlds or similar entities are used.