Lyn Frazier
University of Massachusetts at Amherst
Issues concerning Logical Form (LF) will be used as the skeleton for an overview of recent semantic processing studies. Principles of quantifier scope favor interpretations isomorphic to the surface syntax in both adults (Tunstall, 1998) and children (Musolino, ms.). It will be argued that familiar syntactic processing principles (don't postulate entities without evidence, don't move without evidence) can account for isomorphic quantifier scope interpretations, as well as collective-distributive preferences (Frazier, Pacht & Rayner,1999, Frazier & Clifton, submitted) and processing of antecedent-contained deletion (Frazier & Clifton, in progress). Difficulties for this view will be discussed, in particular, problems posed by quantificational questions (Villalta, 1999).
The topic-focus articulation of sentences will be taken up, including the relation to the Mapping Hypothesis (Diesing, l992; Frazier et al., in progress; Kaan & Wijnen, 2001; Hendriks & de Hoop, 2001), recent evidence on spatio-temporal arguments and subject position effects in Italian (Carminati, 2001) and Spanish (Alonso-Ovalle et al., in progress) and information structure-constituent structure correlations (Bader & Meng, 1999; Kaiser & Trueswell, 2001; Keller & Alexopooulou, 2001). Contra Herburger (1997), it will be argued that syntax dictates the division of a sentence into restrictor vs. nuclear scope (Bader & Frazier, in progress).
I will argue against the view that discourse processing can be equated with intersentential processing (Frazier & Clifton, to appear, Carminati, Frazier & Rayner, to appear) and argue instead that discourse has its own properties, including salience relations distinct from those of the syntactic system.
References
Alonso-Ovalle, L., Fernandez-Solera, S., Frazier, L., & Clifton, C. (in progress). Null vs. overt pronouns and the topic-focus articulation in Spanish.
Bader, M., & Meng, M. (1999). Subject-object ambiguities in German embedded clauses: An across-the-board comparison. Journal of Psycholinguistic Research, 28, 121-144.
Bader, M., & Frazier, L. (in progress). Processing split-topicalizations in German.
Carminati, M. (2001). Processing Italian subject pronouns. UMass doctoral dissertation.
Carminati, M., Frazier, L., & Rayner, K. (to appear). Bound variables and c-command. Journal of Semantics.
Diesing, M. (1992). Indefinites. Cambridge: MIT Press.
Frazier, L. & Clifton, C. (to appear). Processing d-linked phrases. Journal of Psycholinguistic Research.
Frazier, L. & Clifton, C. (submitted). Interpreting plural subjects: Collective-distributive preferences.
Frazier, L. & Clifton, C. (under revision). Should given information come before new? Yes and No.
Frazier, L. & Clifton, C. (in progress). The syntax-discourse divide: Processing ellipsis.
Frazier, L., Clifton, C., Rayner, K., Deevy, P. & Koh, S. (in progress, possibly in purgatory). Interface problems: Processing sentences in context.
Frazier, L., Pacht, J., & Rayner, K. (1999). Taking on semantic commitments, II: Collective vs. distributive readings. Cognition, 70, 87-104.
Herburger, E. (1997). Focus and weak noun phrases. Natural Language Semantics, 5, 53-78.
Hendriks, P., & de Hoop, H. (2001). OT semantics. Linguistics & Philosophy, 24, 1-32.
Kaan, E., & Wijnen, F. (2001). Interpreting anaphoric quantifiers in context. CUNY, 2001.
Kaiser, E., & Trueswell, J. (2001). The role of context: Processing scrambled sentences in Finnish. CUNY, 2001.
Keller, F., & Alexopoulou, T. (2001). Phonology competes with syntax: Experimental evidence for the interaction of word order and accent placement in the realization of information structure. Cognition, 79, 301-372.
Musolino, J. (under review). Structure and meaning in the acquisition of scope. Indiana University manuscript.
Tunstall, S. (1998). The interpretation of quantifiers: Semantics and processing. UMass doctoral dissertation.
Villalta, E. (1997). The role of context in the resolution of quantifier scope ambiguities. CUNY, 1997.