21.1093, Diss: Semantics: Port: 'Omitted Arguments and Complexity of...'

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LINGUIST List: Vol-21-1093. Sat Mar 06 2010. ISSN: 1068 - 4875.

Subject: 21.1093, Diss: Semantics: Port: 'Omitted Arguments and Complexity of...'

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1)
Date: 02-Mar-2010
From: Martin Port < mport2500 at aol.com >
Subject: Omitted Arguments and Complexity of Predication
 

	
-------------------------Message 1 ---------------------------------- 
Date: Sat, 06 Mar 2010 10:19:04
From: Martin Port [mport2500 at aol.com]
Subject: Omitted Arguments and Complexity of Predication

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Institution: City University of New York 
Program: Linguistics 
Dissertation Status: Completed 
Degree Date: 2010 

Author: Martin A. Port

Dissertation Title: Omitted Arguments and Complexity of Predication 

Linguistic Field(s): Semantics

Subject Language(s): English (eng)


Dissertation Director(s):
William McClure

Dissertation Abstract:

This work focuses on the licensing conditions and logical structure of 
understood-argument constructions, or complement-drop 
constructions, in English. There are two main types of such arguments:  
Indefinite Understood Arguments (IUA) and Definite Understood 
Arguments (DUA). IUA readings occur in such cases in He ate, He 
cooked. In such cases, the reference of the dropped element need not 
be known for the sentence to be satisfactorily interpretable. DUA 
readings are given in such examples as She followed, She won. Here 
the reference of the missing element must be known to the 
speaker/hearer; it must appear in discourse.        

Our central claim is that it is not necessary to resort to explanatory 
factors outside the lexical-semantic structure of verbs in order to 
account for the alternations. We propose that for both IUA and DUA, 
the structure of the understood argument is a complex structure 
involving existential quantification: '?x [P(x)]'. It is never a simplex, 
atomic element that could be represented by an individual constant. 
For IUA cases, we justify this complex structure by showing that it is 
mirrored in the structure of the alternating verbs. We note in particular 
that IUA verbs often undergo other alternations such as the 
material/product alternation, which we consider to be an indication of a 
complex lexical structure.

For Definite Understood Arguments, we give two licensing factors that 
correspond to the variable and the predicate in the logical form. We  
motivate existential quantification in DUA constructions, by considering 
such contrasts as I know/I know about that vs. I believe/*I believe about 
that. Selecting for a PP-complement correlates with the possibility of 
DUA. We claim that in this example, the about-phrase provides a slot 
for a variable, since the phrase makes allusion to some object without 
stating explicitly what it is.

We conclude by analyzing subject-drop alternations--the causative-
inchoative alternation--in the light of our findings regarding complement 
drop. We note that this alternation occurs with verbs of a simplex 
structure; and we offer a description of the general system of argument 
drop in English. 




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