E-type Pronoun Research Articles

« Je t’aime. – Moi aussi (je t’aime). »

In dialogs like “I love you – I do too”, the pronoun in the ellipsis site can be interpreted as dependent on the preceding overt pronoun (i.e. I do love you too). This dependency can neither be explained by Kaplan’s (1977/1989) theory implying the fixity of indexicals, nor by the various theories of bound indexicals: due to mismatch in person features, the identity in the ellipsis is not sloppy, but supersloppy in such cases. Based on experimentally collected English data, I proposed in Charnavel (2019) to reduce supersloppy readings to sloppy readings by hypothesizing that indexicals can be interpreted as context-dependent descriptions containing a bindable pronoun, i.e. as indexical e-type pronouns (e.g. you as my interlocutor). But due to some limitations in my English data, I left open two interrelated issues: (i) whether supersloppy readings, like sloppy readings, rely on focus blindness to presuppositions of bound pronouns; (ii) whether supersloppy readings can be analyzed in the same way in ellipsis and focus constructions. I here use novel French data to settle these two issues partly based on some morphosyntactic specificities of French. By clarifying the analysis of supersloppy readings, this provides new insight into the theories of indexicals and e-type pronouns.

Wh & self : On correlating wh -conditionals and reflexive doubling

ABSTRACT: Chinese wh -conditionals hold a very special status in linguistic typology. Cheng and Huang (1996) argues that the construction can be properly analyzed by treating a pair of identical wh -expressions as syntactic variables unselectively bound by an implicit necessity operator. Over the years, this line of thinking has been challenged by various proposals based on the comparison with indefinites, correlatives, E-type pronouns and questions. This Insight article argues for the unselective binding approach to this particular type of donkey sentences by alluding to quantificational reflexive doubling. Our findings not only lend support to the idea that an operator-variable pair is built on a sentential scale in Chinese, but also call for a fine-grained syntax and semantics of the typological correlations between reflexives and wh -in-situ. 摘要: 汉语的疑问词条件句在语言类型学中有其特殊的地位：Cheng & Huang (1996) 认为，将一对相同的疑问词分析为句法变量，并藉由隐性必要 算子进行无择约束，即可正确分析这类结构。基于无定名词组、对接 关系句、E 型代词和疑问结构的比较，多年来此一思路受到了来自各 方的挑战。本文鉴于量化性反身重复的平行用法，指出无择约束仍是 这类特殊驴子句的最佳分析。此一发现不仅支持汉语以语句规模来建 构「算子─变项」配对的观点，更敦促学界对反身词和在位疑问词的 类型关联进行更为细致的句法和语义研究。

Type-Restricted Argument Ellipsis and Generalized Quantifiers

Theories of argument ellipsis based on PF deletion or LF copying do not generate predictions regarding possible constraints on the semantic type of the elided argument. Yet such constraints obtain, as documented in Landau 2022: only type-e arguments can be targeted by argument ellipsis. Focusing on quantificational arguments here, I show that when they yield readings expressible by type-e denotations, they may elide, but when they denote genuine generalized quantifiers, they may not. Utilizing the restricted range of interpretations made available by choice function binding and E-type pronouns, the analysis derives a number of peculiar scopal properties of indefinite NPs, quantifiers, and exceptive phrases under argument ellipsis.

WH & SELF: ON CORRELATING WH-CONDITIONALS AND REFLEXIVE DOUBLING

Chinese wh-conditionals hold a very special status in linguistic typology. Cheng and Huang (1996) argues that the construction can be properly analyzed by treating a pair of identical wh-expressions as syntactic variables unselectively bound by an implicit necessity operator. Over the years, this line of thinking has been challenged by various proposals based on the comparison with indefinites, correlatives, E-type pronouns and questions. This Insight article argues for the unselective binding approach to this particular type of donkey sentences by alluding to quantificational reflexive doubling. Our findings not only lend support to the idea that an operator-variable pair is built on a sentential scale in Chinese, but also call for a fine-grained syntax and semantics of the typological correlations between reflexives and wh-in-situ.

Decomposing definiteness: Evidence from Chuj

AbstractThis article explores the realization of definiteness in Chuj, an underdocumented Mayan language. I show that Chuj provides support for recent theories that distinguish betweenweakandstrongdefinite descriptions (e.g., Schwarz 2009, 2013; Arkoh and Matthewson 2013; Hanink 2018; Jenks 2018). A set of morphemes called “noun classifiers” contribute a uniqueness presupposition, composing directly with nominals to form weak definites. To form strong definites, I show that two pieces are required: (i) the noun classifier, which again contributes a uniqueness presupposition, and (ii) extra morphology that contributes an anaphoricity presupposition. Chuj strong definites thus provide explicit evidence for a decompositional account of weak and strong definites, as also advocated in Hanink 2018. I then extend this analysis to third person pronouns, which are realized in Chuj with bare classifiers, and which I propose come in two guises depending on their use. On the one hand, based on previous work (Postal 1966, Cooper 1979, Heim 1990), I argue that classifier pronouns can sometimes be E-type pronouns: weak definite determiners which combine with a covert index-introducing predicate. In such cases, classifier pronouns represent a strong definite description. On the other hand, I argue, based on diagnostics established in Bi and Jenks 2019, that Chuj classifier pronouns sometimes arise as a result of NP ellipsis (Elbourne 2001, 2005). In such cases, classifier pronouns reflect a weak definite description.

A Computational Treatment of Anaphora and Its Algorithmic Implementation

In this paper, we propose a framework capable of dealing with anaphora and ellipsis which is both general and algorithmic. This generality is ensured by the compination of two general ideas. First, we use a dynamic semantics which reperent effects using a monad structure. Second we treat scopes flexibly, extending them as needed. We additionally implement this framework as an algorithm which translates abstract syntax to logical formulas. We argue that this framework can provide a unified account of a large number of anaphoric phenomena. Specifically, we show its effectiveness in dealing with pronominal and VP-anaphora, strict and lazy pronouns, lazy identity, bound variable anaphora, e-type pronouns, and cataphora. This means that in particular we can handle complex cases like Bach–Peters sentences, which require an account dealing simultaneously with several phenomena. We use Haskell as a meta-language to present the theory, which also consitutes an implementation of all the phenomena discussed in the paper. To demonstrate coverage, we propose a test suite that can be used to evaluate computational approaches to anaphora.

Conjunction saves multiple sluicing: How *(and) why?

Our goal in this paper is to analyze coordinated wh-sluicing in English and compare its properties to the properties of multiple sluicing, coordinated wh-questions and coordinated clefts. We show that none of these constructions has the properties of coordinated sluices, and conclude that coordinated sluices are not derivationally related to them. We propose, instead, that coordinated sluices underlyingly involve coordination of two interrogative CPs with a single fronted wh-phrase and an elided TP in each CP. In addition, we propose that the elided TP of the second conjunct in a coordinated sluice contains a pronominal element (an E-type pronoun) coindexed with the trace of the fronted wh-phrase in the first conjunct. We show that this analysis derives the properties of coordinated sluices and explains why they differ from multiple sluices, coordinated wh-questions and coordinated clefts.

Pseudo-sluicing in Turkish: A pro-form Analysis

This study investigates pseudo-sluicing constructions in Turkish and argues that they can be best accounted for by a pro-form analysis. The explanation rests on the properties of pseudo-sluicing in Turkish such as lack of case connectivity, presence of copula in the pseudo-sluice, lack of island effect and the ungrammaticality with sprouting. All these characteristics significantly challenge a possible elliptical cleft approach, and provide evidence for a pro-form analysis where the wh-word is preceded by a null e-type pronoun, as originally suggested for sluicing-like constructions in Mandarin Chinese (cf. Adams 2004, Adams and Tomioka 2012).

The <i>pro</i>-head analysis of the Japanese internally-headed relative clause

The objective of this paper is two-fold. One is to advance the view (call it the pro-head analysis) that the so-called internally-headed relative clause (IHRC) in Japanese is a nonrestrictive relative clause whose external head position is occupied by pro functioning as an E-type pronoun. It demonstrates that this view provides a natural framework in terms of which sundry and significant phenomena associated with Japanese IHRCs can be accounted for, including their characteristic properties contrasting with the corresponding change relatives and the doubly-headed relatives. The pro-head analysis contradicts a currently popular claim propagated by a series of papers that rely on null operator movement leading to the thesis that: (i) Japanese IHRCs may exhibit a “change sub-variety” (i.e., “Change IHRC”) that is not reducible to gapless externally light-headed relatives; (ii) Japanese IHRCs are strictly island-sensitive; and (iii) they disallow definite referential semantic heads. The other objective of this paper, therefore, is to present this long overdue challenge by arguing that their claims (i) ~ (iii) are not empirically sustainable, although their claim (iii) presents some difficult issues that defy clear-cut treatment as yet.

Supersloppy Readings: Indexicals as Bound Descriptions

AbstractThis article explores understudied dependent readings in (English) ellipsis and focus constructions and their theoretical consequences. The main focus is on “supersloppy” readings of person indexicals in VP-ellipsis, in which you can be bound by I and vice versa. The empirical properties of these cases, tested in a large-scale systematically controlled questionnaire, show that I and you can be construed as e-type pronouns dependent on each other. This challenges the Kaplanian fixity theory of indexicals in a new way: not only can first- and second-person pronouns be bound, they can also contribute descriptive meanings that affect the interpretation of (elided) sentences. Readings similar to supersloppy readings furthermore extend to time and location indexicals, demonstratives and proper names, which indicates the linguistic relevance of other relations between indexicals and between non-indexicals. All these types of dependent readings shed new light on the theories of indexicals, demonstratives and proper names as well as e-type pronouns.

More appositives in heaven and earth than are dreamt of in your Linguistics

In this paper I lay out a proposal for a typology of appositive relative clauses. By studying the characteristics of appositive relative clauses in five languages (Mandarin Chinese, Japanese, French, Italian and English), I identify three types of appositive relative clauses: non-integrated, semi-integrated and (fully)-integrated. The empirical investigation leads to the following findings: 1. Mandarin Chinese and Japanese appositive relative clauses belong to the class of fully integrated appositives; 2. English appositive relative clauses are diametrically different from the fully integrated ones. I classify them as non-integrated appositives; 3. Italian and French have two types of appositives: semi-integrated and non-integrated; 4. Reduced relative clauses can also be appositive: if pre-nominal, they are fully integrated; if post nominal, they are semi-integrated.The empirical data is accounted for by a proposal that is based on the following elements: 1. the syntax of non-integrated and semi-integrated appositive relative clauses involves a CommaP projection and/or a ForceP projection; fully integrated appositives lack both of these projections; 2. the non-integrated appositives’ relative pronoun is E-type; 3. the syntax of prenominal appositive relative clauses prevents them from licensing an overt relative pronoun, and therefore an E-type pronoun; 4. the CommaP triggers the intonational break at PF and, following Koev (2013) in spirit, it introduces a variable for the content of the constituents in its scope, thereby preventing such constituents from being bound from operators and quantifiers in the host clause. The empirical data analyzed and the account proposed leave us with an interesting fine-grained typology of appositives, thereby confirming a trend in the research on appositives pointing to the conclusion that we are dealing with a more variegated set of constructions than previously thought.

The Syntax of Relative Clauses in European Portuguese. Extending the Determiner Hypothesis of Relativizers to Relative que

This paper discusses the syntax of relative clauses in European Portuguese (EP) by focussing on the status of the relativizer que in restrictive and appositive relative clauses. We propose a unified account of que in terms of a D-element and discuss the syntactic implications of this assumption for an adequate analysis of relative clauses in EP. We assume that relative que has properties of demonstrative and interrogative determiners. In restrictive object and subject relative clauses, que occurs as a transitive determiner [DP que [NP e]], which selects for a nominal complement, whereas in prepositional and appositive relative clauses, [DP que] is an intransitive determiner parallel to an e-type pronoun. We discuss the position of restrictive relative clauses in the DP containing the modified noun, and propose that they are merged pre-nominally, in the same fashion as demonstratives.

Number Neutrality and Anaphoric Update of Pseudo-Incorporated Nominals in Persian (and Weak Definites in English)

Persian shows differential object marking. We argue that objects withoutthe object marker rā are pseudo-incorporated in the verbal predicate. Specifically,we argue for an existential closure operator over the vP that binds the eventvariable of the verbal predicate, and that nominals within the vP are interpretedas dependent definites with respect to the event. We show that this results in anapparent number neutrality of such nominals, and a maximality interpretation ofanaphoric uptakes typical of E-type pronouns. The semantic contribution of nominalswithin and outside of the vP is modeled in DRT. We also argue that weakdefinites in English make use of the same strategy as pseudo-incorporated nominalsin Persian, and offer an explanation why they are restricted to readings referringto institutionalized activities.

The Sticky Reading: VP Ellipsis Without Parallel Binding

Abstract VP Ellipsis (VPE) whose antecedent VP contains a pronoun famously gives rise to an ambiguity between strict and sloppy readings. Since Sag’s (1976) seminal work, it is generally assumed that the strict reading involves free pronouns in both the elided VP and its antecedent, whereas the sloppy reading involves bound pronouns. The majority of current approaches to VPE are tailored to derive this parallel binding requirement, ruling out mixed readings where one of the VPs involves a bound pronoun and the other a free pronoun in parallel positions. Contrary to this assumption, it is observed that there are cases of VPE where the antecedent VP contains a bound pronoun but the elided VP contains a free E-type pronoun anchored to the quantifier, in violation of parallel binding. We dub this the ‘sticky reading’ of VPE. To account for it, we propose a new identity condition on VPE which is less stringent than is standardly assumed. We formalize this using an extension of Roberts’s (2012) Question under Discussion (QuD) theory of information structure.

The Bound Variable Hierarchy and Donkey Anaphora in Mandarin Chinese

Cheng and Huang (1996) argue that both unselective binding and E-type pronoun strategies are necessary for the interpretation of natural language sentences and claim that there exists a correspondence between two sentence types in Chinese and the two strategies, namely that the interpretation of the “wh … wh” construction (which they call “bare conditional”) employs the unselective binding strategy, while the ruguo ‘if’ and dou ‘all’ conditionals use the E-type pronoun strategy. They also suggest that there is a complementary distribution between bare conditionals and ruguo/dou conditionals in the sense that the latter allows all the NP forms, e.g. (empty) pronouns and definite NPs, except for wh-phrases in their consequent clauses, and can even have a consequent clause with no anaphoric NP in it, while the former permits only the same wh-phrase appearing in both the antecedent clause and the consequent clause. Although we agree with Cheng and Huang on the necessity of the two strategies in natural language interpretation, we see apparent exceptions to the correspondence between sentence types and interpretation strategies and the complementary distribution between wh-phrases and other NPs in bare conditionals and ruguo/dou conditionals. We think that the claimed correspondence and complementary distribution are the default or preferred patterns, or a special case of a more general picture, namely that (i) bare conditionals prefer the unselective binding strategy and the ruguo ‘if’ and dou ‘all’ conditionals, the E-type pronoun strategy; and (ii) wh-phrases are more suitable for being a bound variable, and pronouns are more suitable for being the E-type pronoun. This paper proposes a Bound Variable Hierarchy to help account for the distribution of wh-phrases and pronouns in Chinese conditionals and claims that any deviation from the preferred patterns will require additional contexts or accommodation.

E-type interpretation without E-type pronoun: how Peirce’s Graphs capture the uniqueness implication of donkey pronouns in discourse anaphora

In this essay, we propose that Peirce’s Existential Graphs can derive the desired uniqueness implication (or in a weaker claim, the definite description readings) of donkey pronouns in conjunctive discourse (A man walks in the park. He whistles), without postulating a separate category of E-type pronouns.

A Discourse Analysis Approach to the Sluicing Conundrum

With a critical review of previous analyses on sluicing construction, this study points out problems with structural analyses on sluicing and demonstrates a way to retrieve putative sources for the elided portion in sluicing, minimizing the complexity of deriving sluicing constructions. This paper focuses on so called connectivity effects that constitute a prima facie piece of evidence of movement of the sluice out of a sentential constituent. Much work has been done to resolve the sluicing conundrum between the connectivity effect and absence of syntactic island violation. This paper argues that employing the Cooper style E-type pronoun in the derivation of the second conjunct of sluicing constructions can account for the conundrum without unnecessary complication of grammar. This paper also shows the necessity of considering relevant discourse that affects the acceptability of sluicing which can be represented as a continuum depending on the prominency of the correlate. Degraded acceptability of sluicing with implicit antecedents is from difficulties in parsing the sluice with non-prominent antecendent.

E-type anaphora and three types of kes-construction in Korean

The overarching goal of this article is to account for why the Internally-Headed Relative Clause, the direct perception, and the factive constructions in Korean have an identical form involving the pronominal kes and the relativizer -un, despite the fact that one construction instantiates relativization and the other two instantiate complementation. I solve this puzzle by recasting Kim’s (2007) analysis of Internally-Headed relatives in a Kratzerian situation semantic framework (e.g., Kratzer 1989, 1998, 2002). The central claim is that the three kes-constructions have an identical form because they all instantiate situation subordination that is facilitated by an E-type pronoun and a relativization strategy. The proposed analysis shows that E-type pronouns and relativizers can have more flexible semantics than widely assumed. It also sheds new light on the connection between modification and complementation across languages. Furthermore, it provides an argument for Kratzerian situation semantic theory in dealing with the interpretations of complex clauses.

Reference and Introduction

In this paper, I try to characterize reference and introduction as two distinct modes of making de re statements. Roughly speaking, introduction differs from reference in that an introducing utterance makes its hearer to get to know some new particular. In cases of discourse anaphora whose antecedents are indefinite descriptions, pronouns seem to have a characteristic feature, which I shall call “inheritance requirement,” that they must be interpreted as bearing, if any, the same particulars introduced by their antecedents. And I give a brief remark on how this feature relates to two semantics purposed to handle discourse anaphora, namely Discourse Representation Theory and E-type Pronoun Theory.

Donkey anaphora is in-scope binding

We propose that the antecedent of a donkey pronoun takes scope over and binds the donkey pronoun, just like any other quantificational antecedent would bind a pronoun. We flesh out this idea in a grammar that compositionally derives the truth conditions of donkey sentences containing conditionals and relative clauses, including those involving modals and proportional quantifiers. For example, an indefinite in the antecedent of a conditional can bind a donkey pronoun in the consequent by taking scope over the entire conditional. Our grammar manages continuations using three independently motivated type-shifters, Lift, Lower, and Bind. Empirical support comes from donkey weak crossover (*He beats it if a farmer owns a donkey): in our system, a quantificational binder need not c-command a pronoun that it binds, but must be evaluated before it, so that donkey weak crossover is just a special case of weak crossover. We compare our approach to situation-based E-type pronoun analyses, as well as to dynamic accounts such as Dynamic Predicate Logic. A new 'tower' notation makes derivations considerably easier to follow and manipulate than some previous grammars based on continuations. http://dx.doi.org/10.3765/sp.1.1 BibTeX info See also the interactive tutorial about the system in this paper