LINGUIST List 18.1954
Fri Jun 29 2007
Diss: Syntax/Semantics/Pragmatics: Eggert: 'Disconcordance: The syn...'
Editor for this issue: Hunter Lockwood
<hunterlinguistlist.org>
Directory
1. Randall
Eggert,
Disconcordance: The syntax, semantics, and pragmatics of or- agreement
Message 1: Disconcordance: The syntax, semantics, and pragmatics of or- agreement
Date: 29-Jun-2007
From: Randall Eggert <reggertlinguistics.utah.edu>
Subject: Disconcordance: The syntax, semantics, and pragmatics of or- agreement
Institution: University of Chicago
Program: Department of Linguistics
Dissertation Status: Completed
Degree Date: 2002
Author: Randall Eggert
Dissertation Title: Disconcordance: The syntax, semantics, and pragmatics of or- agreement
Linguistic Field(s):
Pragmatics
Semantics
Syntax
Dissertation Director:
Ted Cohen
Amy Dahlstrom
Jerrold Sadock
Dissertation Abstract:
Linguists have analyzed agreement from different perspectives. Some haveargued that it is a syntactic phenomenon, others that it is a semanticphenomenon, and still others that it is a discourse phenomenon. While eachperspective is correct to some degree, no single perspective is sufficient.Agreement cannot be adequately described in any single realm. Rather, it isdetermined by many factors: syntactic, semantic, discourse, referential,and pragmatic. In most cases, the factors tend to align in producing thesame agreement forms. For this reason, one analytic method--say syntax,semantics, or discourse--can account for a vast amount of data. To see therole of each factor, we need to look at cases where there are mismatches.For this reason, linguists have been paying more and more attention toagreement with coordinative subjects. Although linguists have progressed inunderstanding coordinative agreement, they have mostly concentrated onconjunction, assuming their analyses apply equally to disjunction. We canobtain a better picture by looking at disjunction as well, sincedisjunction commonly leads to modular misalignments. This dissertationmarks the first extensive study of agreement with disjunctive subjects. Inorder to analyze the grammatical structures of disjunction, I use anAutolexical framework, which allows for independent semantic and syntacticrepresentations of grammatical structure. Such independent structures makeit possible to isolate the factors involved, a crucial step in analyzingagreement data. I supplement this framework with a discourse level that ismapped off of semantic structure and with a set of weighted agreementconstraints. Among the constraints I posit are syntactic, semantic,discourse, and referential constraints. Individual speakers differ in howthey assign relative weight to the constraints, and this difference leadsto variation, which is widespread with agreement (especially disjunctiveagreement). For example, some speakers place more weight on semanticfactors than others do. Indeed, some speakers even make use of contextualcues in determining agreement. This last fact may force us to reevaluatepragmatics' role in grammar. Traditionally pragmatics is viewed as outsidegrammar; however, I argue that it permeates grammar.
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