Semantic content & linguistic objects in DM

Wed Mar 24 17:06:50 UTC 2004

Hi everyone,

Let me introduce myself quickly: currently writing a Ph.D. dissertation  at University of Ottawa, under Prf. Rivero's supervision, on Event Structure and Aspect: a study of Berber verbs. 

I have a question regarding the association of semantic content with linguistic objects in DM.

It was proposed that semantic interpretation intervenes later than vocabulary insertion. According to Harley and Noyer (2000, Formal vs. Encyclopedic Properties) "a phonological annotated syntactic representation is then interpreted in consultation with the encyclopedia, along with universal semantic mechanisms" (p. 4 in the ms I have). If the terminal nodes are not specified semantically how then can the right phonological features be targeted? In other words, at which point in the derivation is the feature [+ voiced] of the phoneme /g/ specified so that the word gap be inserted instead of the word cap in a sentence for or even cat instead of a dog ? 

Your help will be appreciated

Karim Achab
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