32.2867, Diss: English; German; Semantics: Jan Köpping: ''The individual parameter''

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LINGUIST List: Vol-32-2867. Thu Sep 09 2021. ISSN: 1069 - 4875.

Subject: 32.2867, Diss: English; German; Semantics: Jan Köpping: ''The individual parameter''

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Date: Thu, 09 Sep 2021 01:38:55
From: Jan Köpping [JanKoepping at Web.de]
Subject: The individual parameter

 
Institution: Goethe University Frankfurt 
Program: Institute for Linguistics 
Dissertation Status: Completed 
Degree Date: 2018 

Author: Jan Köpping

Dissertation Title: The individual parameter 

Dissertation URL:  http://publikationen.ub.uni-frankfurt.de/frontdoor/index/index/docId/59070

Linguistic Field(s): Semantics

Subject Language(s): English (eng)
                     German (deu)


Dissertation Director(s):
Thomas Ede Zimmermann
Manfred Sailer
Philippe Schlenker

Dissertation Abstract:

The present thesis tackles the unification of two-dimensional semantic
systems, which are designed to deal with context-dependency of a certain kind
i.e. indexicality, with dynamic theories of meaning, designed to capture facts
about anaphoricity and the distribution of definite and indefinite articles.
The need for a more principled look at this unification is twofold. Firstly,
there is an overlap of these two families of theories in terms of empirical
data, namely third person personal pronouns, as well as definite descriptions.
Both kinds of expressions have anaphoric as well as non-anaphoric usages,
whereas some of the latter ones can be captured in terms of indexicality. But,
on the other hand, no language, especially not German and English, the main
sources of data in this thesis, seems to distinguish these two usages
formally, i.e. by employing different expressions. Hence the need for a
unified framework in which this sort of ambiguity can be treated. Secondly,
the theoretical state is dissatisfactory in the sense that the families of
theories take very disparate forms that are not easy to relate conceptually.

The overlap in empirical area of application strongly suggests that this
dichotomy is an artifact of the way these theories traditionally are developed
and justified. This thesis seeks to overcome this state of the field. It
proceeds as follows.

The first chapter discusses the way in which theories indexicality are
designed. After taking a closer look some hallmarks of these theories such as
the notions of index- and context-dependency themselves, double indexing,
etc., it develops a notion of index dependency that makes use of a more
complex individual parameter than the one that is usually assumed in the
literature. Apart from agents and addressees, the two standard components of
indices that represent contexts, additional objects are assumed. This leads to
a variant of the semantics of deictically used third person expression that is
called ‘indexical theory of demonstratives’, which is then investigated
further.

The second chapter discusses the classics of dynamic semantics: DRT, DPL, and
FCS. It arrives at the common core of all of these theories that consists in
the assumption of a novel sort of variable namely active variables as opposed
to free and bound ones that are intended to model the behavior of (in)definite
descriptions and pronouns. The projection behavior of these variables or
discourse referents is described either in (discourse-)syntactic or semantic
terms. The chapter also arrives at a new formulation of the uniqueness
condition that is thought to be part of the semantics of definite descriptions
and sketches an account of transparent negation.

The third chapter then combines the insights of the previous ones by
developing the notion of representation that connects the entities of
evaluation of the first chapter i.e. indices with those of the second namely
sets of assignments, a.k.a. files. The formal language that emerged in the
second chapter is endowed with two kinds of variables for situations to allow
for double indexing within a dynamic setting. A novel interpretation mechanism
for the so designed language is proposed, which is shown to capture not only
those aspects that are known to exist in two-dimensional frameworks, but also
certain other index-index interactions that are described in yet another body
of literature.

The final chapter discusses potential flaws of the theory and sketches an
account of allegedly bound indexicals that is compatible with Kaplan’s
infamous ban on monsters.




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