23.3714, Diss: Philosophy of Language/ Pragmatics/ Semantics: Burnett: 'The Grammar of Tolerance...'

Wed Sep 5 18:00:05 UTC 2012

LINGUIST List: Vol-23-3714. Wed Sep 05 2012. ISSN: 1069 - 4875.

Subject: 23.3714, Diss: Philosophy of Language/ Pragmatics/ Semantics: Burnett: 'The Grammar of Tolerance...'

Moderators: Anthony Aristar, Eastern Michigan U <aristar at linguistlist.org>
            Helen Aristar-Dry, Eastern Michigan U <hdry at linguistlist.org>

Reviews: Veronika Drake, U of Wisconsin Madison
Monica Macaulay, U of Wisconsin Madison
Rajiv Rao, U of Wisconsin Madison
Joseph Salmons, U of Wisconsin Madison
Anja Wanner, U of Wisconsin Madison
       <reviews at linguistlist.org>

Homepage: http://linguistlist.org

Do you want to donate to LINGUIST without spending an extra penny? Bookmark
the Amazon link for your country below; then use it whenever you buy from
Amazon!

USA: http://www.amazon.com/?_encoding=UTF8&tag=linguistlist-20
Britain: http://www.amazon.co.uk/?_encoding=UTF8&tag=linguistlist-21
Germany: http://www.amazon.de/?_encoding=UTF8&tag=linguistlistd-21
Japan: http://www.amazon.co.jp/?_encoding=UTF8&tag=linguistlist-22
Canada: http://www.amazon.ca/?_encoding=UTF8&tag=linguistlistc-20
France: http://www.amazon.fr/?_encoding=UTF8&tag=linguistlistf-21

For more information on the LINGUIST Amazon store please visit our
FAQ at http://linguistlist.org/amazon-faq.cfm.

Editor for this issue: Lili Xia <lxia at linguistlist.org>
================================================================  

Date: Wed, 05 Sep 2012 13:59:33
From: Heather Burnett [heather.susan.burnett at gmail.com]
Subject: The Grammar of Tolerance: On Vagueness, Context-Sensitivity, and the Origin of Scale Structure

E-mail this message to a friend:
http://linguistlist.org/issues/emailmessage/verification.cfm?iss=23-3714.html&submissionid=4552982&topicid=14&msgnumber=1

Institution: University of California, Los Angeles 
Program: Department of Linguistics 
Dissertation Status: Completed 
Degree Date: 2012 

Author: Heather Burnett

Dissertation Title: The Grammar of Tolerance: On Vagueness,
Context-Sensitivity, and the Origin of Scale Structure 

Linguistic Field(s): Philosophy of Language
                     Pragmatics
                     Semantics

Dissertation Director(s):
Edward L. Keenan
Dominique Sportiche
Paul Égré
Edward P. Stabler
Jessica Rett

Dissertation Abstract:

This thesis presents a new theory of the relationship between context-
sensitivity, vagueness, and adjectival scale structure. From an 
empirical point of view, I argue that the four principle subclasses of 
adjectival predicates (relative adjectives (ex. tall), total absolute 
adjectives (ex. dry), partial absolute adjectives (ex. wet), and non-
scalar adjectives (ex. atomic)) can be distinguished along three 
dimensions: 1) how their criteria of application can vary depending on 
context; 2) how they display the characteristic properties of vague 
language; and 3) what the properties of their associated orders (a.k.a. 
scales) are. It has been known for a long time in the literature (cf. 
Unger (1975), Pinkal (1995), Kennedy (2007), a.o.) that there exist 
connections between context-sensitivity, vagueness, and scale 
structure; however, a formal system that expresses these connections 
has yet to be developed. By combining insights into the relationship 
between context-sensitivity and scalarity from the delineation semantics 
framework (Klein (1980), a.o.) with insights into the relationship 
between tolerance relations and the Sorites paradox from Cobreros, 
Égré, Ripley & van Rooij (2012)'s Tolerant, Classical, Strict (TCS) 
framework, I propose such a logical system. 

In chapter 2 ('Context-Sensitivity in the Adjectival Domain'), I present 
data concerning contextual variation in the meaning of adjectival 
predicates. Following previous work, I argue that relative adjectives like 
'tall' and 'expensive', absolute adjectives like 'straight' and 'empty', 
and non-scalar adjectives like 'prime' and 'hexagonal' all display 
different context-sensitivity patterns. I give an analysis of these 
patterns within a `delineation' semantics for scalar terms and discuss 
the implications that this analysis has for the scales (relations with 
particular ordering properties) associated with absolute and non-scalar 
predicates.

Chapter 3 ('Vagueness in Logic and Linguistics') serves as 
'background' introduction to the empirical phenomenon of vagueness. 

In chapter 4 ('Potential Vagueness and Scalar Asymmetries'), I present 
new data concerning the distribution of the characterizing properties of 
vague language presented in chapter 3. I argue that relative, absolute, 
and non-scalar adjectives display different vagueness-based patterns. I 
extend the delineation system proposed in chapter 2 with the TCS 
system described in chapter 3 to give an analysis of these patterns.

In chapter 5 ('Adjectival Scale Structure'), following much previous 
work, I present data that shows that the adjectival predicates of 
different classes are associated with scales that have different 
properties. Furthermore, I show that the association of particular 
classes of adjectives with their particular kinds of scales is a direct 
consequence of the analysis developed for accounting for vagueness 
and context-sensitivity patterns in parts 1 and 2 of the dissertation. In 
other words, I show that, if we have an appropriate theory of both 
context-sensitivity and vagueness in the adjectival domain, we get a 
theory of scale structure patterns 'for free'. 

In chapter 6 ('Delineation TCS'), I lay out the proposed logical system 
in more formal manner.

Chapter 7 ('Comparison with Other Approaches') presents a 
comparison between the account developed in this dissertation within 
the delineation approach and the currently dominant approach for 
analyzing the semantics and pragmatics of gradable expressions: 
degree semantics. 

----------------------------------------------------------
LINGUIST List: Vol-23-3714	
----------------------------------------------------------