DOCSLIB.ORG

Existential Quantification in Tiwa

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Existential Quantification in Tiwa Existential quantification in Tiwa: disjunction and indefinites by Virginia Ellen Dawson A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Linguistics in the Graduate Division of the University of California, Berkeley Committee in charge: Professor Amy Rose Deal, Chair Professor Line Mikkelsen Professor Peter Jenks Professor Seth Yalcin Summer 2020 Existential quantification in Tiwa: disjunction and indefinites Copyright 2020 by Virginia Ellen Dawson 1 Abstract Existential quantification in Tiwa: disjunction and indefinites by Virginia Ellen Dawson Doctor of Philosophy in Linguistics University of California, Berkeley Professor Amy Rose Deal, Chair This dissertation examines the semantics and pragmatics of disjunction and indefinites in Tiwa, an understudied Tibeto-Burman language of northeast India. The core focus of the dis- sertation concerns cross-linguistic variation and its implications for semantic theory. Broadly, I address the extent to which languages encode similar meanings through the same semantic means; what mechanisms are best suited to model those meanings; and how the theory can best model what cross-linguistic variation we do find. Concretely, I provide novel cross- linguistic evidence from phrasal comparatives that disjunction is alternative-denoting, and argue that languages can employ different semantic mechanisms in deriving exceptional wide scope. Tiwa's large system of indefinites and disjunction particles, which are in part morphologi- cally related, provide an ideal subject for exploring the logical connection between disjunction and indefinites (which amount to existential quantification over explicit and non-explicit do- mains respectively). While cross-linguistic studies of indefinites have seen an increase in recent years, disjunction has not received the same level of attention. In this dissertation, I provide a detailed description of the semantic and pragmatic behavior of Tiwa's various dis- junction particles and their related indefinites, which, among other things, explicitly encode scope. Additionally, the dissertation contains a broader sketch of Tiwa grammar as a whole, which provides documentation and formal description of many aspects of the language. This empirical contribution is the result of original fieldwork in Assam, India, over the course of four years. i To my Tiwa teachers: Bibiana Maslai, Juliana Maslai, and Mary Maslai ii Contents Contents ii List of Tables v List of Abbreviations vi 1 Introduction 1 1.1 Indefinites and disjunction . 1 1.2 Structure of the dissertation . 6 1.3 Background on Tiwa and the data . 6 2 Tiwa grammar sketch 10 2.1 Phonology . 10 2.1.1 Phonemes and phonotactics . 10 2.1.2 Major phonological processes . 12 2.1.3 Orthography . 13 2.2 Morphology . 14 2.2.1 Verb inflection . 14 2.2.1.1 Tense, aspect and negation . 16 2.2.1.2 Agreement . 25 2.2.2 Case . 27 2.2.3 Pronouns and demonstratives . 33 2.2.4 Number marking . 35 2.2.5 Information structure . 38 2.3 Nominals . 44 2.3.1 The DP . 44 2.3.2 Numerals and classifiers . 48 2.3.3 Adjectives and relative clauses . 52 2.3.4 Definiteness . 54 2.4 The clause . 57 2.4.1 The clausal spine . 57 2.4.2 Auxiliary verbs . 58 iii 2.4.3 Complement clauses . 63 2.4.4 Scrambling and extraposition . 66 2.4.5 Discontinuous DPs . 69 2.4.6 Conditionals . 71 2.4.7 Comparatives . 75 2.4.8 Questions . 78 2.4.9 Imperatives . 82 2.5 Coordination . 84 2.5.1 Conjunction . 85 2.5.2 Disjunction . 87 2.6 Quantification . 91 2.6.1 Quantifiers . 92 2.6.2 Indefinites . 93 2.6.2.1 Bare nouns and the numeral `one' . 94 2.6.2.2 Indeterminate-based indefinites . 96 2.6.2.3 Free choice indeterminates and NPIs . 101 2.7 Summary . 104 3 Disjunction as alternatives 105 3.1 Two approaches to disjunction . 105 3.2 Disjunction as the Boolean join . 106 3.3 The alternative view . 108 3.4 The ongoing debate . 111 3.5 Disjunctions of names . 115 3.6 ba disjunction in Tiwa . 116 3.6.1 Obligatory narrow scope . 118 3.7 Testing the prediction: ba disjunction in unreduced phrasal comparatives . 121 3.7.1 Phrasal comparatives in Tiwa . 122 3.7.2 Quantifiers in phrasal comparatives . 125 3.7.3 Disjunctions of names in phrasal comparatives . 129 3.8 ba disjunctions as alternative-denoting . 131 3.8.1 The basic analysis . 132 3.8.2 Handling the alternatives . 134 3.8.3 Obligatory narrow scope . 136 3.9 Conclusion . 140 4 Paths to exceptional wide scope 141 4.1 Deriving wide scope . 141 4.2 kh´ı phrases in Tiwa . 144 4.2.1 Indefinites . 144 4.2.2 Disjunction . 146 4.3 Widest scope in the minimal finite clause . 148 iv 4.3.1 Widest scope in minimal finite clause . 148 4.3.2 Evidence against scope-taking by standard movement . 150 4.3.3 Evidence against domain restriction and topicality as sources of wide scope . 154 4.4 A choice functional approach . 155 4.4.1 kh´ı as a choice function variable . 156 4.4.2 Existential closure . 159 4.4.3 Summary . 162 4.5 Binding into indefinites and disjunction . 163 4.5.1 Bound pronouns in kh´ı phrases . 164 4.5.2 Covariation and static sets . 166 4.6 Outscoping the binding operator . 168 4.6.1 Downward-entailing environments in English . 169 4.6.2 kh´ı phrases outscope binding operators . 171 4.7 The pragmatics of choice functions . 175 4.7.1 A certain ................................. 175 4.7.2 The pragmatics of kh´ı . 177 4.7.3 Choice functions, existential closure and ignorance . 183 4.8 Obligatory wide scope: the cross-linguistic outlook . 186 4.9 Conclusion . 191 5 Conclusion 192 5.1 Summary of findings and broader implications . 192 5.2 The interaction of ba and kh´ı . 194 5.3 Open questions and future directions . 196 Bibliography 198 v List of Tables 2.1 Phonemic consonant inventory . 11 2.2 Phonemic vowel inventory . 11 2.3 Consonant graphemes . 13 2.4 Vowel graphemes . 13 2.5 Finite verb inflection . 15 2.6 Case suffixes . 27 2.7 Temporal expressions with dative . 30 2.8 Pronouns . 33 2.9 Pronominal case forms . 33 2.10 Proximal demonstratives . 35 2.11 Core information structure morphology . 39 2.12 Count classifiers . 49 2.13 Common auxiliary verbs . 59 2.14 Wh-words . 80 2.15 Quantifiers . 92 2.16 khi and pha indefinites . 97 2.17 Free choice indeterminates . ..
Load more

Recommended publications
  • The Interpretation of Tense — I Didn't Turn Off the Stove Toshiyuki Ogihara
    The interpretation of tense — I didn’t turn off the stove Toshiyuki Ogihara — University of Washington [email protected] Kiyomi Kusumoto — Kwansei Gakuin University [email protected] Abstract This chapter examines Partee’s (1973) celeBrated claim that tenses are not existential quantifiers but pronouns. In the first half of the chapter, we show that this proposal successfully accounts for the Behavior of tense morphemes regarding deixis, anaphora, and presupposition. It is also compatiBle with cases where tense morphemes Behave like Bound variables. In the second half of the chapter, we turn to the syntax-semantics interface and propose some concrete implementations Based on three different assumptions aBout the semantics of tense: (i) quantificational; (ii) pronominal; (iii) relational. Finally, we touch on some tense-related issues involving temporal adverBials and cross-linguistic differences. Keywords tense, pronoun, quantification, Bound variaBle, referential, presupposition, temporal adverbial (7 key words) 1. Introduction This article discusses the question of whether the past tense morpheme is analogous to pronouns and if so how tense is encoded in the system of the interfaces between syntax and semantics. The languages we will deal with in this article have tense morphemes that are attached to verbs. We use 1 this type of language as our guide and model. Whether tense is part of natural language universals, at least in the area of semantic interpretation, is debatable.1 Montague’s PTQ (1973) introduces a formal semantic system that incorporates some tense and aspect forms in natural language and their model-theoretic interpretation. It introduces tense operators based on Prior’s (1957, 1967) work on tense logic.
    [Show full text]
  • Overt Existential Closure in Bura (Central Chadic) 
    Overt Existential Closure in Bura (Central Chadic) Malte Zimmermann University of Potsdam 1. Introduction The article presents a semantic-based account of the syntactic distribution of the morpheme adi in Bura. This morpheme is traditionally glossed as an existential predicate there is (Hoffmann 1955) and occurs only in a limited set of – at first sight – heterogeneous syntactic environments, namely (i.) in (most) negative clauses; (ii.) in thetic constructions used for introducing new discourse referents (there is x ...); and (iii.) in existential clefts (there is some x that ...). The article will identify the semantic contribution of adi and give a unified account of its distribution. It is argued that adi is an overt marker of existential closure that can bind individual or event variables with existential force. The insertion of adi is argued to be a last resort operation. It applies if and only if alternative means of existentially closing a variable fail. The analysis of adi as an overt indicator of existential closure has repercussions for semantic theory as whole. For once, given that adi is overt, it gives us a better insight into the workings and the grammatical locus of existential closure, which can be accessed only indirectly in European languages (Diesing 1992). Second, given that adi must existentially close off event variables in negative clauses, it can be used as a diagnostic for the ability of verbal predicates to introduce an event argument into the semantic representation (Kratzer 1995). The structure of the article is as follows: Section 2 provides some background information on Bura. Section 3 lays out the main facts surrounding the distribution of adi.
    [Show full text]
  • Bibliography
    BIBLIOGRAPHY Allan, Keith. 1977. ‘Classifiers’, Language 53: 285–311. Benedict, Paul King (Contributing Editor: James Alan Matisoff ). 1972. Sino-Tibetan: A Conspectus. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Bhattacharya, Promod Chandra. 1977. A Descriptive Analysis of Boro. Gauhati: Guwahati University, Department of Publication. Bauer, Laurie. 1983. English Word-formation. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Bhat, D.N. Shankara. 1968. Boro Vocabulary (With a Grammatical Sketch). Poona: Deccan College Post-Graduate and Research Institute. Blake, Barry J. 1994. Case. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Bradley, David. 1994. ‘The subgrouping of Tibeto-Burman’, pp. 59–78 in Hajime Kitamura, Tatsuo Nishida and Yasuhiko Nagano (eds.) Current Issues in Sino-Tibetan Linguistics. Osaka: The organizing Committee, The 26th International Conference on Sino-Tibetan Languages and Linguistics. Breton, Roland J.-L. 1977. Atlas of the Languages and Ethnic Communities of South Asia. New Delhi: Sage Publications. Burling, Robbins. 1959. ‘Proto-Bodo’, Language ( Journal of the Linguistic Society of America) 35: 433–453. ——. 1961. A Garo Grammar. Poona: Deccan College Post-Graduate and Research Institute. ——. 1981. ‘Garo spelling and Garo phonology’, Linguistics of the Tibeto-Burman Area 6 (1): 61–81. ——. 1983. ‘The Sal languages’, Linguistics of the Tibeto-Burman Area 7 (2): 1–31. ——. 1984. ‘Noun compounding in Garo’, Linguistics of the Tibeto-Burman Area 8 (1): 14–42. ——. 1992. ‘Garo as a minimal tone language’, Linguistics of the Tibeto-Burman Area 15 (2): 33–51. Burton-Page, J. 1955. ‘An analysis of the syllable in Boro’, Indian Linguistics ( Journal of the Linguistic Society of India, incorporating the Indian Philological Association) 16: 334–344. Comrie, Bernard. 1985. Tense.
    [Show full text]
  • Quantification and Predication in Mandarin Chinese: a Case Study of Dou
    University of Pennsylvania ScholarlyCommons IRCS Technical Reports Series Institute for Research in Cognitive Science December 1996 Quantification and Predication in Mandarin Chinese: A Case Study of Dou Shi-Zhe Huang University of Pennsylvania Follow this and additional works at: https://repository.upenn.edu/ircs_reports Huang, Shi-Zhe, "Quantification and Predication in Mandarin Chinese: A Case Study of Dou" (1996). IRCS Technical Reports Series. 114. https://repository.upenn.edu/ircs_reports/114 University of Pennsylvania Institute for Research in Cognitive Science Technical Report No. IRCS-96-36. This paper is posted at ScholarlyCommons. https://repository.upenn.edu/ircs_reports/114 For more information, please contact [email protected]. Quantification and Predication in Mandarin Chinese: A Case Study of Dou Abstract In the more recent generalized quantifier theory, 'every' is defined as a elationr between two sets such that the first set is a subset of the second set (Cooper (1987), anv Benthem (1986)). We argue in this dissertation that the formal definition of e' very' ought to reflect our intuition that this quantifier is always associated with a pairing. For instance, 'Every student left' means that for every student there is an event (Davidson (1966), Kroch (1974), Mourelatos (1978), Bach (1986)) such that the student left in that event. We propose that the formal translation of EVERY be augmented by relating its two arguments via a skolem function. A skolem function links two variables by making the choice of a value for one variable depend on the choice of a value for the other. This definition of EVERY, after which 'every' and its Chinese counterpart 'mei' can be modeled, can help us explain the co-occurrence pattern between 'mei' and the adverb 'dou'.
    [Show full text]
  • Utopia of Global Education
    S.R.S.D. Memorial Shiksha Shodh Sansthan, Agra, India UGC Sl. No. 64416 UTOPIA OF GLOBAL EDUCATION A Peer Reviewed Refereed International Research Journal ONLINE ISSN-2454-7387 Volume IV, Issue I, June 2018 www.srsshodhsansthan.org Where do Women Stand in Assam of North East India? Examining Socio- Economic Status of Tribal and Non-Tribal Women in Assamese Societies 1 2 3 Dr. Ira Das , Dr. Gargee Sharmah , Dr. Runima Baishya 1Associate Professor, Department of Economics, Pragjyotish College, Guwahati, Assam, India 2Assistant Professor, Department of History, Pragjyotish College, Guwahati, Assam, India 3Associate Professor, Department of Physics, Pragjyotish College, Guwahati, Assam, India Abstract A detailed examination of women’s status in a specific location is necessary to have adequate and correct information for effective planning and implementation of government policies. The paper intends to examine and compare the socio-economic status of tribal and non-tribal women of different communities in Assam of North East India. It is found from the study that the status of women in Assam is somewhat better in terms of fulfilling strategic gender needs like participation in decision making process, control over own body etc.. In tribal societies, women are even in better position in terms of participation in decision making process in the society. However, the socio-economic status of women of Assam in respect of fulfilling practical gender needs like women workforce participation, health status etc. is not at all better than the all India average. The paper concludes with the view that women should be aware of their rights and responsibilities to make a change in the society as well as for upliftment of the status of women in the society.
    [Show full text]
  • UNIT-I Mathematical Logic Statements and Notations
    UNIT-I Mathematical Logic Statements and notations: A proposition or statement is a declarative sentence that is either true or false (but not both). For instance, the following are propositions: “Paris is in France” (true), “London is in Denmark” (false), “2 < 4” (true), “4 = 7 (false)”. However the following are not propositions: “what is your name?” (this is a question), “do your homework” (this is a command), “this sentence is false” (neither true nor false), “x is an even number” (it depends on what x represents), “Socrates” (it is not even a sentence). The truth or falsehood of a proposition is called its truth value. Connectives: Connectives are used for making compound propositions. The main ones are the following (p and q represent given propositions): Name Represented Meaning Negation ¬p “not p” Conjunction p q “p and q” Disjunction p q “p or q (or both)” Exclusive Or p q “either p or q, but not both” Implication p ⊕ q “if p then q” Biconditional p q “p if and only if q” Truth Tables: Logical identity Logical identity is an operation on one logical value, typically the value of a proposition that produces a value of true if its operand is true and a value of false if its operand is false. The truth table for the logical identity operator is as follows: Logical Identity p p T T F F Logical negation Logical negation is an operation on one logical value, typically the value of a proposition that produces a value of true if its operand is false and a value of false if its operand is true.
    [Show full text]
  • Lz-^ P-,^-=O.,U-- 15 15 No
    ASSAM STATE ELECTION COMMISSION ADITYA TOWER, 2}TD FI.,OO& DO\AAITO\^AI, G.S. ROAD DISPUR, GUWAHATI -781W. PTT. NO. M1263210/ 2264920 email - [email protected] NOTIFICATION Dated Dispur 17m November,2020 No.SEC.86l2020l7 : Whereas, the state Election Commission, Assam has been notified to act as the Authority to supervise, direct & conduct election of constituencies of General Councils of Tiwa Autonomous Council by the Governor of Assam in exercise of Power conferred under Rule 4 of Tiwa Autonomous Council Rules, 2005 and Section 50 (4) of Tiwa Autonomous Council Act, 1995; And, whereas, the State Election Commission, Assam notified Schedule for preparation and publication of constituency wise Photo Electoral Roll for Election to the Tiwa Autonomous Council vide Notification No. 5EC.5412020147 dated 01 .09.2020 and SEC 5 4 I 2020 I | 0 4 dated 22.1 0 .2020 ; Whereas, in exercise of powers conferred under the provision of the Rule 4 of the Tiwa Autonomous Council (Election) Rules, 2005, the final Photo Electoral Rolls in 30 (thirty) Constituencies under MorigaonA.lagaonl Hojai districts have been published on 22.10.2020 and in 6 (six) Constituencies in Kamrup (M) district have been published on t5.rr.2020; Whereas, reservation of seats for women in the Tiwa Autonomous Council has been notified vide No. TAD/BC/I5712015151 dt.21.07.2015; Now, therefore, in pursuance of Rule 17(I) and Rule 18 of the Tiwa Autonomous Council (Election) Rules 2005, the State Election Commission, Assam calls upon electors of 36 (thirfy-six) nos. of Tiwa Autonomous Council constituencies as enumerated below to elect members to the General Council of the Tiwa Autonomous Council while sfictly following the Broad Guidelines for conduct of Election dwing COVID-l9 given by Election Commission of India and adopted by State Election Commissioq Assam TABLE consistins names of Constituencies of the TAC sl.
    [Show full text]
  • Chapter 1 Logic and Set Theory
    Chapter 1 Logic and Set Theory To criticize mathematics for its abstraction is to miss the point entirely. Abstraction is what makes mathematics work. If you concentrate too closely on too limited an application of a mathematical idea, you rob the mathematician of his most important tools: analogy, generality, and simplicity. – Ian Stewart Does God play dice? The mathematics of chaos In mathematics, a proof is a demonstration that, assuming certain axioms, some statement is necessarily true. That is, a proof is a logical argument, not an empir- ical one. One must demonstrate that a proposition is true in all cases before it is considered a theorem of mathematics. An unproven proposition for which there is some sort of empirical evidence is known as a conjecture. Mathematical logic is the framework upon which rigorous proofs are built. It is the study of the principles and criteria of valid inference and demonstrations. Logicians have analyzed set theory in great details, formulating a collection of axioms that affords a broad enough and strong enough foundation to mathematical reasoning. The standard form of axiomatic set theory is denoted ZFC and it consists of the Zermelo-Fraenkel (ZF) axioms combined with the axiom of choice (C). Each of the axioms included in this theory expresses a property of sets that is widely accepted by mathematicians. It is unfortunately true that careless use of set theory can lead to contradictions. Avoiding such contradictions was one of the original motivations for the axiomatization of set theory. 1 2 CHAPTER 1. LOGIC AND SET THEORY A rigorous analysis of set theory belongs to the foundations of mathematics and mathematical logic.
    [Show full text]
  • Folktale Documentation Release 1.0
    Folktale Documentation Release 1.0 Quildreen Motta Nov 05, 2017 Contents 1 Guides 3 2 Indices and tables 5 3 Other resources 7 3.1 Getting started..............................................7 3.2 Folktale by Example........................................... 10 3.3 API Reference.............................................. 12 3.4 How do I................................................... 63 3.5 Glossary................................................. 63 Python Module Index 65 i ii Folktale Documentation, Release 1.0 Folktale is a suite of libraries for generic functional programming in JavaScript that allows you to write elegant modular applications with fewer bugs, and more reuse. Contents 1 Folktale Documentation, Release 1.0 2 Contents CHAPTER 1 Guides • Getting Started A series of quick tutorials to get you up and running quickly with the Folktale libraries. • API reference A quick reference of Folktale’s libraries, including usage examples and cross-references. 3 Folktale Documentation, Release 1.0 4 Chapter 1. Guides CHAPTER 2 Indices and tables • Global Module Index Quick access to all modules. • General Index All functions, classes, terms, sections. • Search page Search this documentation. 5 Folktale Documentation, Release 1.0 6 Chapter 2. Indices and tables CHAPTER 3 Other resources • Licence information 3.1 Getting started This guide will cover everything you need to start using the Folktale project right away, from giving you a brief overview of the project, to installing it, to creating a simple example. Once you get the hang of things, the Folktale By Example guide should help you understanding the concepts behind the library, and mapping them to real use cases. 3.1.1 So, what’s Folktale anyways? Folktale is a suite of libraries for allowing a particular style of functional programming in JavaScript.
    [Show full text]
  • A Diachronic and Semantic Study of Italian Free Choice
    Meaning through Time A Diachronic and Semantic Study of Italian Free Choice MSc Thesis (Afstudeerscriptie) written by Marco Degano (born June, 6th 1995 in Udine, Italy) under the supervision of Dr. Maria Aloni, and submitted to the Board of Examiners in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of MSc in Logic at the Universiteit van Amsterdam. Date of the public defense: Members of the Thesis Committee: July, 12th 2019 Dr. Maria Aloni Dr. Paul Dekker (chair) Dr. Luca Incurvati Dr. Floris Roelofsen ABSTRACT Formal semantics and historical linguistics have been often considered two distinct and unrelated disciplines, studied by different people with different methodologies and different concerns. The aim of this thesis is to bring them together. Our case study is the Italian indefinite determiner qualsiasi, which exhibits Free Choice functions. We adopt an implementa- tion in Hamblin semantics for the analysis of Free Choice, where qualsiasi is associated with a default [8] operator. We employ corpus-based tools to build a database of our item from its origin to its current usage with more than 500 examples. We show how the diachronic studies motivate the presence of the [8] operator in our formal treatment of Free Choice. We use our database, together with information obtained from historical dictionaries, to reconstruct the grammaticalization phases of the indefinite determiner qualsiasi. We show how a semantic compositional treatment of qualsiasi can be integrated in our diachronic investigation, explaining how the mode of composition changes in each phase. In the second part of the thesis, we extend our semantic framework to account for the contribution of un qualsiasi (the combination of qualsiasi with the indefinite article un), which exhibits other readings beyond Free Choice.
    [Show full text]
  • Socio-Economic Significances of the Festivals of the Tiwas and the the Assamese Hindus of Middle Assam
    www.ijcrt.org © 2020 IJCRT | Volume 8, Issue 5 May 2020 | ISSN: 2320-28820 SOCIO-ECONOMIC SIGNIFICANCES OF THE FESTIVALS OF THE TIWAS AND THE THE ASSAMESE HINDUS OF MIDDLE ASSAM Abstract:- The Tiwas of Mongoloid group migrated to Assam and scattered into different parts of Nagaon, Morigaon and Karbi Anglong districts and settled with the Assamese Hindus as an inseparable part of their society. The Festivals observed by the Tiwas and the Assamese caste Hindus have their distinct identity and tradition. The festivals celebrated by these communities are both of seasonal and calenderic and some festivals celebrated time to time. Bihu is the greatest festival of the region and the Tiwas celebrate it with a slight variation. The Gosain Uliuwa Mela, Jonbeel Mela and the Barat festival are some specific festivals. Influence of Neo-Vaisnative culture is diffusively and widely seen in the festivals of the plain Tiwas and the other Assamese caste Hindus. The Committee Bhaona festival of Ankiya drama performance celebrated in Charaibahi area is a unique one. This paper is an attempt to look into the socio-economic significances of the festivals of the Tiwas and Assamese Hindus of Middle Assam. Key Words:- Bihu, Gosain Uliuwn, Bhaona. 1. Introduction : In the valley of the mighty river Brahmaputra in Assam, different groups of people of different ethnicity, culture, religion and following various customs and traditions began to live from the very ancient times. Some of them were autochthonous while others came across the Northern or the Eastern hill from the plains on the west as traders or pilgrims.
    [Show full text]
  • Free Choice and Homogeneity
    Semantics & Pragmatics Volume 12, Article 23, 2019 https://doi.org/10.3765/sp.12.23 This is an early access version of Goldstein, Simon. 2019. Free choice and homogeneity. Semantics and Prag- matics 12(23). 1–47. https://doi.org/10.3765/sp.12.23. This version will be replaced with the final typeset version in due course. Note that page numbers will change, so cite with caution. ©2019 Simon Goldstein This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of a Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/). early access Free choice and homogeneity* Simon Goldstein Australian Catholic University Abstract This paper develops a semantic solution to the puzzle of Free Choice permission. The paper begins with a battery of impossibility results showing that Free Choice is in tension with a variety of classical principles, including Disjunction Introduction and the Law of Excluded Middle. Most interestingly, Free Choice appears incompatible with a principle concerning the behavior of Free Choice under negation, Double Prohibition, which says that Mary can’t have soup or salad implies Mary can’t have soup and Mary can’t have salad. Alonso-Ovalle 2006 and others have appealed to Double Prohibition to motivate pragmatic accounts of Free Choice. Aher 2012, Aloni 2018, and others have developed semantic accounts of Free Choice that also explain Double Prohibition. This paper offers a new semantic analysis of Free Choice designed to handle the full range of impossibility results involved in Free Choice. The paper develops the hypothesis that Free Choice is a homogeneity effect.
    [Show full text]