Two New Papers by Larson

Miyuki Sawada and Richard K. Larson: “Presupposition & root transforms in adjunct clauses”:http://semlab5.sbs.sunysb.edu/~rlarson/sawada_larson.pdf. to appear in Proceedings of NELS 34, GLSA, University of Massachusetts at Amherst.

bq. In this paper, we have that proposed that Hopper & Thompson’s striking correlation between presupposition and the availability of root transformations in adjunct clauses is essentially an artifact of semantics, and its projection into syntax. Specifically, using the semantics for adverbials proposed by Johnston (1994) we have explored the following claims:

  • Temporal connectives combine with open event sentences, yielding interval descriptions.
  • These restrict (covert or overt) adverbial quantifiers and are presupposed.
  • Causal connectives combine with closed event sentences, do not restrict adverbial quantifiers, and are not presupposed.
Closed event sentences are semantically and syntactically “larger” than open ones, and the larger syntactic domain of causal adjuncts makes room for root transforms. We briefly reviewed some independent syntactic evidence that such a “size difference” does indeed exist.

Richard K. Larson and Franc Marusic: “On Indefinite Pronoun Structures with APs: Reply to Kishimoto”:http://semlab5.sbs.sunysb.edu/~rlarson/larsonmarusic.pdf, to appear in Linguistic Inquiry.

bq. A number of authors have claimed that indefinite pronoun constructions like everything red are formed by raising a noun (thing) over a higher prenominal adjective (red). We examine phenomena in English and other languages which appear to show that adjectives participating in the indefinite pronoun construction do not correspond to prenominal forms, but to postnominal ones. we evaluate the challenges these results present for the N-raising account, showing that while some can be met, others apparently cannot. This outcome calls for a reexamination of postnominal position with indefinite pronouns.

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