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The Structural Design of Language

By Thomas S. Stroik, Michael T. Putnam

In this book, Stroik and Putnam take on Turing's challenge. They argue that the narrow syntax – the lexicon, the Numeration, and the computational system – must reside, for reasons of conceptual necessity, within the performance systems.

Summary Details


Query:   A summary of
Author:  Eung-Cheon Hah
Submitter Email:  click here to access email
Linguistic LingField(s):   Pragmatics
Semantics
Syntax

Summary:   Dear linguists,

Around seven weeks ago, I asked your judgements on the scopal facts of
the following sentences. I thank the following people for their
immediate response to the test.

Linda Merlo <lmerlo@oclc.k12.ca.us>
Deborah Milam Berkley <dberkley@babel.ling.nwu.edu>
David Parkinson <dpll@cornell.edu>
Michael Israel <israel@ling.ucsd.edu>
anonymous <htaber@email.gc.cuny.edu>
Robert Orr <roborr@uottawa.ca>

Of these linguists, Robert Orr replied: "With regard to your recent
posting, I am a native speaker of English (British(Scottish with a
Canadian overlay), and, for what it's worth, my first reaction is that I
can't imagine these sentences pronounced without some sort of tonal
accentuation (possibly accompanied by a change in facial expression!)."


A summary of the responses is given below the original query.

> I'm currently investigaing scope phenomena in English. Your intuitive
> judgement on the followin sentences would be gratly appreciated. If the
> sentence is ambiguous, marginally ambiguous, or unambiguous between the
> relevant scope-bearing elements given in the parenthesis, please mark it
> with (+A), (mA), or (-A), respectively. I assume that all the
> scope-bearing elements receive neutral stress.
>
> *********************************************************************
> 1. Someone doesn't love everyone. (between 'someone' and 'everyone')
> 2. Someone doesn't love John. (between 'someone' and 'not')
> 3. I expected someone not to have arrived. (between 'someone' and 'not')
> 4. I expected everyone not to have arrived.(between 'everyone' and 'not)
> 5. I expected someone not to like everyone.
> (between 'someone' and 'everyone')
> 6. I expected someone to like everyone.
> (between 'someone' and 'everyone')
> *********************************************************

1. (+A: 2, mA: 1, -A: 2)
2. (+A: 0, mA: 0, -A: 5)
3. (+A: 0, mA: 1, -A: 4)
4. (+A: 2, mA: 1, -A: 2)
5. (+A: 2, mA: 1, -A: 2)
6. (+A: 3, mA: 2, -A: 0)


Thanks again.

Best,
Eung-Cheon Hah

LL Issue: 9.909
Date Posted: 19-Jun-1998
Original Query: Read original query


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