LINGUIST List 9.111

Fri Jan 23 1998

TOC: De Dag.Proceedings of the Workshop on Definites

Editor for this issue: Anita Huang <anitalinguistlist.org>

Directory

1. UiL OTS (Leslie Dijkstra), "De Dag. Proceedings of the Workshop on Definites"

"De Dag. Proceedings of the Workshop on Definites"
edited by Paul Dekker, Jaap van der Does, Helen de Hoop

***

This collection of original papers on definites presents current
research from the Netherlands. Definiteness, one of the central topics
in linguistic research, remains an intriguing subject with many issues
unresolved. Many of the papers in this collection do not only
contribute to the characterization of definites in one particular area
of language or logic: they also shed light on issues of the interfaces
between semantics, pragmatics, syntax and processing.

 A quick reminder of the semantic characteristics of (in)definites is
added to the introduction by Jaap van der Does. Paul Dekker's paper studies
the semantics and pragmatics
of the referential interpretation of definites and the specific
interpretation of indefinites, using notions of information from dynamic
semantic theory. Differences in syntactic behaviour (in particular with
respect to scrambling)between definites and indefinites are studied in
relation to their semantic properties by Helen de Hoop. Edith Kaan shows
that the processing mechanism is not only driven by structure but also
sensitive to the (in)definiteness of the NP involved.

 A new version of Van der Sandt's presuppositions-as-anaphors theory
is presented by Emiel Krahmer and Kees van Deemter,
dealing particularly well with partial match phenomena between anaphoric and
antecedent NPs. Manuela Pinto focuses on the syntactic licensing and
interpretation of definite inverted
subjects in Italian. An extension of the study of (in)definites to the
domain of temporal measuring nouns is provided by Henk Verkuyl. In the last
paper of the volume,Yoad Winter presents an analysis of unary distributivity to
account for the seemingly polyadic effects in sentences with multiple
occurrences of plural definites.

***

Copy's of "De Dag. Proceedings of the Workshop on Definites" cost Dfl. 20,-
for members of LOT and Dfl. 25,- for others, and are available from the
Utrecht institute of Linguistics OTS.

If you would like to order a copy, please send an e-mail (with your name and
(e-mail) address) to uil-otslet.ruu.nl.