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Intensifiers Meaning and Distribution View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by UCL Discovery INTENSIFIERS MEANING AND DISTRIBUTION Harris Constantinou Thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Linguistics UCL 2014 Declaration I, Harris Constantinou, confirm that the work presented in this thesis is my own. Where information has been derived from other sources, I confirm that this has been indicated in the thesis. 2 Στην οικογένειά µου 3 Abstract This monograph explores the meaning and distribution of intensifiers (otherwise referred to as emphatic reflexives). Intensifiers are invariably stressed and anaphorically dependent on a nominal antecedent. Their use induces alternatives, an indication that their prosodic prominence results from some sort of information-structural marking. An intensifier can adjoin directly to its antecedent or to some clausal projection. The first part of the monograph is concerned with the meaning of intensifiers. Depending on its distribution, an intensifier may take up to three radically different readings; adnominal, inclusive or exclusive. I first suggest that the common characteristic of the three readings is that they require the antecedent to be central against the induced alternative referents. Their interpretive differences lie in that the antecedent must be central in a different way. The rest of the meaning characteristics of each reading fall out from this basic variation. I discuss how syntax, semantics, information structure, general principles of the grammar (e.g. the Elsewhere condition) and extra-linguistic factors conspire to deliver these effects. The second part of this monograph focuses on the distribution of the intensifier. I establish that the intensifier forms a syntactic dependency with its antecedent and propose a particular characterization of the relevant dependency that renders it quite similar to a binding relation. The final contribution of the thesis is concerned with the largely novel observation that the information-structural marking of the intensifier restricts its positioning with respect to other quantificational and information- structurally marked categories. I provide an account for the observed interactions in terms of an independently motivated condition of scope shift. The thesis is mainly based on data from English and Dutch. 4 Table of Contents Acknowledgements 8 1. Introduction 11 PART I: INTERPRETATION 18 2. Previous analyses on the interpretation of intensifiers 19 2.1. Introduction 19 2.2. Multiple lexical entries 20 2.2.1. Scalar analyses 20 2.2.2. Centralizing focus particles 24 2.2.3. Denoting the identity function or the ASSIST adverb 29 2.3. One lexical entry (denoting the identity function) 34 2.4. Conclusion 46 3. The interpretation of the adnominal intensifier 47 3.1. Introduction 47 3.2. Information Structure 50 3.3. The interpretation of the adnominal intensifier 54 3.3.1. On the nature of centrality imposed by the adnominal intensifier 54 3.3.2. Semantics and Information Structure of the adnominal intensifier 62 3.3.2.1. Semantics 62 3.3.2.2. Information Structure 66 3.4. Summary 84 4. The interpretation of the exclusive and inclusive intensifiers 86 4.1. Introduction 86 4.2. Exclusive intensifier 87 4.2.1. Basic characteristics 87 4.2.2. On the nature of centrality imposed by the exclusive intensifier 89 4.2.2.1. General discussion 89 4.2.2.2. Conclusion 109 4.3. Inclusive intensifier 109 4.3.1. Basic characteristics 109 5 4.3.2. On the nature of centrality imposed by the inclusive intensifier 118 4.4. Different event-related centralities 127 4.5. Interim summary 130 4.6. The semantics of adverbial intensifiers; preliminaries 131 4.7. Semantics and Information Structure of the exclusive intensifier 135 4.7.1. Semantics 136 4.7.2. Information Structure 141 4.8. A note on the distribution of adverbial intensifiers in English 147 4.9. Semantics and Information Structure of the inclusive intensifier 151 4.9.1. Semantics 151 4.9.2. Information Structure 156 4.10. The Elsewhere Condition and some cross-linguistic predictions 158 4.11. Summary 161 PART II: DISTRIBUTION 162 5. The Syntax of intensifiers 163 5.1. Introduction 163 5.2. Gast (2006) on the syntax of intensifiers: a movement approach 165 5.3. Basic syntax 168 5.4. A syntactic dependency 169 5.5. Deriving the dependency between intensifiers and their antecedent 172 5.5.1. Encoding syntactic dependencies; Neeleman & van de Koot (2002) 172 5.5.2. Zelf as a syntactically dependent element 174 5.6. Against linking intensifiers and their antecedent in semantics 183 5.7. Summary 186 6. Information Structure and the distribution of intensifiers 187 6.1. Introduction 187 6.2. Neeleman & van de Koot (2012a); a theory of contrastive scope 189 6.3. Reflecting on the scope marking of intensifiers 197 6.4. Information Structure restrictions on the distribution intensifiers 209 6.5. Scope interactions between intensifiers and quantificational arguments 219 6.6. Summary 225 6 7. Conclusion 226 References 229 7 Acknowledgements Looking back, I would like to express my appreciation and gratitude to the following people. This thesis could not have come into existence without their contribution. First and foremost, I wish to express my deepest thanks to my primary supervisor, Hans van de Koot. I consider myself privileged to have had the opportunity to collaborate with him. Hans has been a unique and constant source of inspiration, support and knowledge. He has always patiently discussed, challenged and developed ideas during our lively meetings. Though they lasted longer and longer in the course of the years, they never became any less lively. My work, including this thesis, has immensely benefited from Hans’s detailed and challenging feedback. He has not only taught me how to do research in Linguistics, but also how to teach Linguistics. His advice and guidance on linguistic and non-linguistic issues has been invaluable. I would also like to thank my secondary supervisor, Ad Neeleman, for contributing to the improvement of my ideas in various ways. Ad, together with Kriszta Szendroi, formed the committee for my upgrade from an MPhil to a PhD candidate. I appreciate their willingness to read my upgrade paper and extensively discuss it with me. I am also grateful to Nathan Klinedinst and Klaus Abels for discussions and advice related to the interpretation of intensifiers. I am further particularly indebted to Diana Mazzarella for spending hours and hours discussing with me issues related to the interpretation of intensifiers. My special thanks to the following people for the grammaticality judgments in this thesis: Hans van de Koot (Dutch), Ad Neeleman (Dutch), Diana Mazzarella (Italian), Matthew Gotham (English), Patrick Elliott (English), Ana Gomes Ferreira (English), Elizabeth Eden (English), Sam Green (English), Nick Neasom (English), Matthew Reeve (English), Felicity Deamer (English), Alison Hall (English), Jonny McIntosh (English), Isabelle Needham-Didsbury (English), Irini Symeonidou (English) and Ezekiel Panitz (English). I have been fortunate to spend the past few years in the UCL department of Linguistics, which has not only been an endless source of intellectual and personal development, but also a friendly environment. I would like to thank the following people for contributing in their own way to such a setting: Klaus Abels, Robyn Carston, Nathan Klinedinst, Ad Neeleman, Matthew Reeve, Kriszta Szendroi, Hans van de Koot, Nino Grillo, Alison Hall, Zoë Belk, Filippo Domaneschi, Natalia Cichosz, Akis 8 Kechagias, Thiago Galery, Giulio Dulcinati, Elizabeth Eden, Elena Titov, Patrick Elliott, Matthew Gotham, Sam Green, Jiri Kaspar, Ya-Fang Lu, Diana Mazzarella, Nick Neasom, Isabelle Needham-Didsbury, Ezekiel Panitz, Thanasis Soultatis, Irini Symeonidou, Kevin Tang, Ye Tian and Maria Varkanitsa. I also gratefully acknowledge the financial support from the Leventis foundation and the Arts and Humanities Research Council that has enabled me to carry out the research recorded in this thesis. My life in London wouldn’t have been fun and fulfilling without the presence of Diana, Nikolas, Akis, Maria, Andreas, Irini, George, Ana, Zenonas and Filippo. Through their love, support and company they have managed to make London feel like home. Finally, I wish to thank my parents, Dinos and Anthi, my brother, Chrysanthos, and my sister, Stephanie, for their love and constant encouragement. This thesis is dedicated to them. 9 List of textual conventions and abbreviations SMALL CAPS Focus double underlining Topic ITALICIZED SMALL CAPS Contrastive Focus (CF) italicized double underlining Contrastive Topic (CT) R Relation ID Identity function PER Peripherality function CCF Crucial Contributory Factor CSS Condition on Scope Shift 10 1. Introduction The present study deals with the interpretation and distribution of intensifiers in English and Dutch. Cross-linguistically, intensifiers are elements that are often partially or completely identical in form with a reflexive pronoun in the language (König et al 2013). English, for instance, is a case of complete morphological identity of the two expressions (e.g. x-self), whereas Dutch exemplifies an instance of partial identity (e.g. zichzelf vs zelf). Similarly to reflexive pronouns, intensifiers are intuitively understood to associate with some referential expression in the sentence, what I will be referring to as the antecedent.1 Despite these similarities, there are good reasons for drawing a distinction between intensifiers and reflexives pronouns. In contrast to reflexive pronouns, intensifiers occur in non-argument positions, they are invariably stressed and their use always induces alternative propositions (or utterances) differing in the position held by the intensifier’s antecedent in the asserted proposition. Quite naturally, the latter two characteristics have led previous analyses to the claim that intensifiers interact with Information Structure (IS), in some way. (1) - (3) exemplify the different uses of intensifiers in English. (1) John himself will build his house. (2) John will himself build his house.
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