Browsing by Author "Klecha, Peter"

Now showing 1 - 10 of 10
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    Coindexation under Attitude Complements
    (2018) Faville, James; Klecha, Peter
    Coindexed nominals within attitude complements appear unable to be read de re as distinct individuals, contrary to judgements previously reported in the literature. Most theories which derive de re interpretation of nominals in attitude complements cannot account for this, with the notable exception of Santorio (2014), who links de re interpretation to assignments on raised indices. We develop a similar theory of shifting assignments which is able to account for the restriction on coindexed de re readings. Locating quantification over assignment functions in a Speech-Act Projection (SaP) may provide a principled solution to issues of de se interpretation.
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    Gapping through the Lens of Sentence Parsing
    (2019) Qi, Davy; Klecha, Peter
    In this thesis, I first discuss how generative grammar and categorical grammar have attempted to accommodate the phenomenon of gapping. I identify problems of over-generation and self-consistencies in existing approaches within the two grammatical frameworks and conclude that the acceptability of gapping structures cannot be explained by grammar alone. Instead, I argue that unacceptable gapping structures generated by even the most basic generative or categorical grammar framework are not ungrammatical, but rather unparsable. In Chomsky's terms, it is a matter of performance, not competence. I support my argument by identifying parsing difficulties in the data of interest and I also show that they are consistent with sentence parsing theories, especially ellipsis parsing theories. Therefore, by introducing parsing considerations, previously over-generated gapping examples are fully accounted for, since their unacceptability is accommodated by sentence parsing constraints.
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    Going Right? Double Down! Mandarin Right Dislocation
    (2018) Dong, Jinjie; Klecha, Peter
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    Nominal Structure in Burmese
    (2018) Schmidt, Benjamin; Klecha, Peter
    A wide range of Burmese nominal data are considered. Selectional considerations support the structure of [N Num CI Q] that is presented, which itself mandates an analysis of twei and my a as quantifiers generated in Q rather than true plural markers generated in Num. Li's (1999) analysis of Mandarin -men is adapted to apply to Burmese tau, and a structure is given for Burmese DP. Certain exceptional data with pronouns allow us set the stage for refinements of the ideas developed to this point.
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    Nominal structure in Burmese
    (2018) Schmidt, Benjamin; Klecha, Peter
    A wide range of Burmese nominal data are considered. Selectional considerations support the structure of [N Num CI Q] that is presented, which itself mandates an analysis of twei and my a as quantifiers generated in Q rather than true plural markers generated in Num. Li's (1999) analysis of Mandarin -men is adapted to apply to Burmese tau, and a structure is given for Burmese DP. Certain exceptional data with pronouns allow us set the stage for refinements of the ideas developed to this point.
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    A Pragmatic Account of Demands for Recognition
    (2018) Piscitelli, Lyra; Klecha, Peter
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    A Pragmatic Account of Demands for Recognition
    (2018) Piscitelli, Lyra; Klecha, Peter
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    Referential Predictability and Topicality Diverge in Implicit Causality
    (2019) Guan, Shuang; Klecha, Peter
    Intuitively, two important discourse properties of referents, referential predictability and topicality, seem to be related; given that a referent is topical, we expect it to be re-mentioned in the following discourse, On the contrary, the relationship between predictability and topicality is highly debated in current theories on pronoun comprehension and pronoun production, Some studies suggest that discourse topics are predictable, even in part defined by being predictable (Arnold, 2010; Giv6n, 1983; Prince, 1981), Other research assumes that predictability and topicality are distinct and have separate influences on pronoun interpretation and production (Fukumura & Van Gompel, 2010; Rohde & Kehler, 2014), Much of this work is done involving implicit causality, a phenomenon of pronoun interpretation and re-mention biases towards the referent causally implicated in the event (Garvey & Caramazza, 1974; Kehler et at, , 2008), The current study uses implicit causality stories to investigate the relatedness of referential predictability and topicality, We ask three main questions, How is topic status identified in implicit causality contexts? Do contextual factors known to affect judgments of predictability also affect judgments of topicality? Do participants judge the referent chosen as topical to also be predictable? We find that referential predictability and topicality are influenced by different factors; topicality is mostly determined by subjecthood, while predictablity is affected by subjecthood and contextual factors, Overall, topicality and predictability judgments do not pattern together, which suggests that they are distinct properties, at least for the implicit causality context.
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    Speech Act Intensification in Mandarin
    (2019) Kim, Juhyae; Klecha, Peter