Project A2

3rd Phase - Information structure in non-assertive speech acts

For assertive speech acts IS phenomena have been investigated in detail and with considerable success. For non-assertive speech acts there are markedly fewer investigations and hardly any standard analyses. There are rather more programmatic approaches like Jacobs (1984 ), which assume for all illocutionary operators that they associate with focus but apart from interrogatives this hypothesis has not been substantiated. Most recent analyses of IS phenomena build on the truth-conditional character of assertives (e.g. Rooth's alternative semantics, Schwarz­schild's givenness account). This also holds for Krifka's pragmatic concept of common ground manage­ment, which operates on sets of propositional objects. Although there is some agreement that the meaning of interrogatives, and of the clause types imperative and exclamative, can be modelled in terms of (sets of) propositions, for the speech acts imperative and exclamative it is unclear whether this reduction can explain the characteristics of IS categories or whether there should an interaction with the illocutionary level be assumed.

For interrogatives, approaches especially within the framework of alternative semantics have shown that the focus meaning of a clause interacts in a specific way with the question operator (= the semantic correlate of the illocutionary operator). Syntactically the role of focus movement in constituent questions has been suggested to be crucial on the one hand for the explanation of certain superiority patterns, and on the other hand for the cross-linguistic availability of coordination for certain question words. As far as imperatives are concerned there are sporadic observations with respect to the role of IS but no systematic investigations. For exclamatives and other speech act types characteristic prosodic patterns have been identified but the relevance of these in terms of IS is unclear.

The envisaged project is set up to examine IS phenomena in non-assertive speech acts and to deliver a theoretical analysis of them. There are two main parts. In the first part all main speech act types that hitherto have not been investigated systematically will be investigated with a special emphasis on common characteristics and a cross-speech-act analysis of them in particular with respect to an interaction on or with the illocutionary level. The second part consists of a detailed analysis of interrogatives and exclamatives – two speech acts whose associated clause types in many languages show great similarities – with respect to the specific grammar of IS categories. Here it is the specifics of the two speech acts that are of particular interest so that the precise contribution of IS can be brought out. Overall, the empirical basis will be provided by examination of previous literature, systematic interviewing of informants and experimental work.

2nd Phase - Semantic and Pragmatic Effects of Topicality

The project continues the work of the first project phase; it extends its interest from the subject of quantification and information structure to the semantic and pragmatic nature of information structure relationships, with an emphasis on the concept of topicality. It has been shown that (grammatically marked) topicality has a number of semantic and pragmatic effects. In the next phase of the project we want to try to investigate the broadest possible spectrum of these effects. In particular, we want to investigate the following topic complexes: The relation between topic / comment and subject / predication relationships, the theoretical reconstruction of frameworks, empirical evidence for the file card concept of aboutnesstopiks, the recursion of topic / comment structures, the The role of topicality in temporal and conditional adjunct clauses, the relationships between indefiniteness, specificity and topicality, and finally the role of topicality in ellipse type gaping.

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1st Phase - Quantification and information structure

Project A2 investigates the relationship between quantification and information structure. Our main concern is the influence of information structural properties of certain utterances on the scope behaviour of quantifiers and other scope inducing elements. Besides the well-known discourse pragmatic dimensions of topic and focus, the informational syntactic properties in consideration include the division into presupposition and assertion and the integration of expressions induced by prosodic or syntactic rules.

In research so far, quantifier scope and sentence information structure have been investigated independently of each other: the former as part of semantics, which aims at deriving the truth conditions of sentences in a systematic way; the latter as part of discourse pragmatics, which tries to explain the context dependent modification of expressions and their meanings. Since the end of the 80s, however, semanticists realized that scope behaviour is highly influenced by information structural properties.

In this project, we take this interdependence seriously. Our working hypothesis is that the scope taking behaviour of quantifiers is mainly determined by information structure as both are based on a sequential strategy of information processing which is also evident in the processing of presuppositions.

The first phase of the project is concerned with the interpretation of indefinite NPs (in their specific reading or in the context of other quantifiers) as well as topical and focused quantifiers. In the long run, we plan to investigate the interplay between the information structural and the truth conditional aspects of interpretation.

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Principal Investigators

  • Prof. Dr. Manfred Krifka (1st Phase, 2nd Phase, 3rd Phase)
  • Prof. Dr. Peter Staudacher (1st Phase)
  • Prof. Dr. Sophie Repp (3rd Phase)

Former Staff Members

  • Dr. Cornelia Ebert (Endriss)
  • Dr. Andreas Haida
  • Dr. Stefan Hinterwimmer
  • Imke Driemel
  • PhD. Tue Trinh

Student Assistants

  • Lena Rosin
  • Margit Scheibel

Activities

March 2009 Talk Repp, S.: On the interplay of discourse particles and illocutionary negation. Expressives and other kinds of non-truth-conditional meaning. Workgroup auf der 31. Jahrestagung der DGfS, Universität Osnabrück.
November 2008 Talk Repp, S.: VP focus small, VP focus large. Predicate Focus, Verum Focus, Verb Focus: Similarities and Differences. Workshop. Universität Potsdam.
November 2008 Talk Repp, S. & Haida, A.: Monoclausal question word coordinations across languages. NELS 39. Cornell University, Ithaca, N.Y., USA.
September 2008 Talk Repp, S.: Topics and corrections. Sinn Bedeutung 13. Universität Stuttgart.
May 2008 Talk Hinterwimmer, S., Ebert, C. & Endriss, C.: Topics as Speech Acts - An Analysis of Conditionals. WCCFL 27. UCLA.
March 2008 Talk Krifka, M.: What do Contrastive Topics and Frame Setters have in Common? The Role of Addressing and Delimitation in Information Structure. Conference on Contrastive Information Structure Analysis. Bergische Universität Wuppertal.
March 2008 Poster Hinterwimmer, S.: Why Free Relatives Sometimes Behave as Indefinites. SALT 18. University of Massachusetts at Amherst.
March 2008 Talk Hinterwimmer, S., Ebert, C. & Endriss, C.: A Unified Analysis of Indicative and Biscuit Conditionals as Topics. SALT 18. University of Massachusetts at Amherst.
February 2008 Workgroup Endriss, C., Hinterwimmer, S. & Repp, S.: Topicality. 30. Jahrestagung der DGfS. Bamberg.
January 2008 Talk Repp, S. & Haida, A.: Question Word Coordinations. Zas Syntaxkreis. Berlin.
December 2007 Guest Talk Repp, S.: Ellipsis and the right kind of contrast. Seminar für Englische Philologie, Universität Tübingen.
December 2007 Talk Krifka, M.: Fünf linguistische Schnittstellen. Universität Bielefeld.
December 2007 Talk Krifka, M.: Koordination und Topik/Kommentar-Strukturierung. Universität Bielefeld.
October 2007 Talk Ebert, C., Endriss, C. & Hinterwimmer, S.: Embedding Topic-Comment Structures Results in Intermediate Scope Readings. NELS 38. University of Ottawa.
October 2007 Talk Endriss, C. & Hinterwimmer, S.: Selective vs. Unselective Quantification over the Atomic Parts of Plural Entities: A Comparison of for the most part and usually. Plurality Unity, and Structure in Semantics, Paris.
October 2007 Poster Hinterwimmer, S. & Repp, S.: Fixed Abode. What topical indefinites and wh-terms have in common. NELS 38, University of Ottawa.
September 2007 Talk Hinterwimmer, S. & Repp, S.: Different alternatives for topics and foci: Evidence from indefinites and multiple wh. Sinn Bedeutung 12, Oslo.
September 2007 Talk Ebert, C., Endriss, C. & Hinterwimmer, S.: Intermediate Scope Readings as Embedded Speech Acts. Sinn und Bedeutung 12, Universität Oslo.
September 2007 Guest Talk Krifka, M.: Basic notions of information structure. XXX. Romanistentag, Workshop Fokus und Hintergrund in den romanischen Sprachen, Universität Wien.
July 2007 Workshop Endriss, C., Hinterwimmer, S., Krifka, M. & Repp, S.: Funny Indefinites-Workshop on Different Kinds of Specificity Across Languages. ZAS Berlin.
July 2007 Talk Endriss, C., Hinterwimmer, S. & Repp, S.: The Interplay of Topicality and Specificity in German. Funny Indefinites-Workshop on Different Kinds of Specificity Across Languages, ZAS Berlin.
June 2007 Talk Krifka, M.: Bimanuale Koordination und Topik/Kommentar- Struktur. Berlin Gesture Center, Museum für Kommunikation.
June 2007 Guest Talk Krifka, M.: Grundbegriffe der Informationsstruktur. LIPP Symposium, Universität München.
May 2007 Workshop Cook, P., Frey, W. Lang, E., Repp, S. & Salfner, F.: 3rd Workshop on Contrast: Contrast towards a closer definition.
May 2007 Vortrag Krifka, M.: Stressed postposed additive particles as markers of givenness. Dept. of Linguistics, Stanford University.
April 2007 Vortrag Krifka, M.: More on the difference between more than two and at least three. University of California at Santa Cruz.
March 2007 Talk Krifka, M.: Postposed additive particles -- Markers of givenness? Workshop on Information Structure in Child and Adult Language. Max Planck Institute of Psycholinguistics, Nijmegen.
January 2007 Talk Hinterwimmer, S.: The Interpretation of Direct and Indirect Aboutness Topics. What’s the Topic?, Workshop, Centre for Language Studies (CLS), Radboud University Nijmegen.
January 2007 Talk Endriss, C. & Hinterwimmer, S.: The interpretation of direct and indirect aboutness topics. Workshop, Radboud University Nijmegen.
October 2006 Poster Hinterwimmer, S.: If vs. When, Wenn vs. Als: Microvariation in the Semantics of Temporal and Conditional Complementizers in Englisch and German. Conference - University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign: NELS 37.
June 2006 Talk Endriss, C. & Hinterwimmer, S.: Quantification and Topicality. University of Potsdam: 1st International Conference of SFB 632: Information Structure between Linguistic Theory and Empirical Methods.
June 2006 Guest Talk Endriss, C. & Hinterwimmer, S.: Quantificational Variability Effects with Singular Indefinites and Bare Plurals. Workshop - Universität Tübingen: Tübinger Welten, Ereignisse, Situationen und Zeiten.
June 2006 Talk Hinterwimmer, S.: The Interpretation of Singular Definites and Universally Quantified DPs in Adverbially Quantified Sentences. Conference - Palazzo Feltrinelli, Gargnano: Milan Meeting.
April 2006 Talk Hinterwimmer, S.: The Interpretation of Singular Definites and Universally Quantified DPs in Adverbially Quantified Sentences. Conference - University of Washington, Seattle: WCCFL 25.
2006 Guest Talk Endriss, C.: Semantische Effekte der Topikalität. Kolloquium - Universität Bielefeld.
November 2005 Talk Endriss, C.: Quantificational Topics - Interpretation and Semantic Effects. Vorlesungsreihe - Boston: LingLunch, MIT.
November 2005 Guest Talk Endriss, C.: Quantificational Topics - Interpretation and Semantic Effects. Vorlesungsreihe - University of Connecticut: LingLunch.
October 2005 Poster Endriss, C.: Hinterwimmer, S. Topic Interpretation in Determiner and Adverbial Quantification. Conference - University of Massachusetts, Amherst: NELS 36.
August 2005 Talk Ebert, C., Endriss, C. & Gärtner, H.-M.: German Integrated Verb Second Clauses, Relative Clauses, and Information Structure. Conference - Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh, Schottland: ESSLLI'05 Workshop on Empirical Challenges and Analytical Alternatives to Strict Compositionality.
January 2005 Talk Endriss, C. & Hinterwimmer, S.: Quantification over Events: The Case of Bare Plurals and Plural Definites. Conference - Brussels: Brussels International Conference on Indefinites and Weak Quantifiers, The Linguistic Society of Belgium The Royal Flemish Academy of Belgium of Arts and Sciences.
December 2004 Talk Endriss, C. & Hinterwimmer, S.: Quantification over Events: The Case of Bare Plurals and Plural Definites. Vorlesungsreihe - Berlin: Semantikzirkel, ZAS.
November 2004 Talk Endriss, C. & Hinterwimmer, S.: Time Intervals and Sum Eventualities. Conference - University of Nijmegen: Sinn und Bedeutung 9 (the Ninth Annual Meeting of the Gesellschaft für Semantik).
October 2004 Talk Endriss, C. & Gärtner, H.-M.: Relative-like Verb Second Clauses and Definiteness. Vorlesungsreihe - Berlin: Semantikzirkel, ZAS.
August 2004 Talk Endriss, C. & Hinterwimmer, S.: The Influence of Tense on Adverbial Quantification. Vorlesungsreihe - Berlin: Semantikzirkel, ZAS.
June 2004 Talk Endriss, C. & Hinterwimmer, S.: Tense and Context Variables in Quantification. Workshop - University of Milan, Palazzo Feltrinelli, Gargnano: Covert Variables at LF (2004 Milan Meeting).
May 2004 Guest Talk Endriss, C. & Gärtner, H.-M.: Relativische Verb-Zweit Sätze und Definitheit. Conference - Göteborg University: Symposium Deutsche Syntax: Empirie und Theorie.
Mär 2004 Talk Endriss, C. & Hinterwimmer, S.: The Influence of Tense and Number Marking on Quantificational Variability Effects. Conference - University of Leipzig: Event Structures in Linguistic Form and Interpretation.
December 2003 Guest Talk Endriss, C.: Die informationsstrukturellen Grundlagen weiter Skopusphänomene. Kolloquium - Frankfurt/Mayn: Logisch-semantisches Kolloquium, Johann Wolfgang Goethe-Universität.
November 2003 Poster Ebert, C. & Endriss, C.: Topic Interpretation and Wide Scope Indefinites. Conference - University of Massachusetts, Amherst: NELS 34.
October 2003 Talk Ebert, C. & Endriss, C.: Wide Scope Indefinites as Aboutness Topics. Conference - Johann Wolfgang Goethe-Universität Frankfurt/Mayn: Sinn und Bedeutung 8 (the Eighth Annual Meeting of the Gesellschaft für Semantik).
August 2003 Talk Endriss, C. & Hinterwimmer, S.: Die Auswirkungen von Tempus bei adverbieller Quantifikation. Vorlesungsreihe - Berlin: Semantikzirkel, ZAS.
June 2003 Guest Talk Endriss, C.: The Information Structural Basis of Wide Scope Phenomena. Conference - Amsterdam: DIP-Kolloquium.
May 2003 Talk Endriss, C.: Die informationsstrukturellen Grundlagen weiter Skopusphänomene. Vorlesungsreihe - Berlin: Semantikzirkel, ZAS.
May 2003 Talk Endriss, C. & Hinterwimmer, S.: "Ihr seid doch meistens Tiermediziner" - Quantificational Variability and Individual Level Predicates. Workshop - ZAS, Berlin: First Student Workshop of the Graduate Schools of Humboldt-University Berlin/University of Potsdam and University of Leipzig.