Formal Semantics, Lexical Semantics, and Compositionality: The Puzzle of Privative Adjectives

Authors

  • Barbara H. Partee

Keywords:

Formal semantics, compositionality, coercion, context-dependence, adjectives, privative, subsective, Polish, Russian, NP-splits

Abstract

The focus of the paper is the interaction of meaning and context with different kinds of adjectives. Adjective meanings are shown to be more constrained than was appreciated in earlier work. Facts about “NP-splitting” in Polish and Russian cast serious doubt on the standard hierarchy of adjectives, and the data become much more orderly if privative adjectives are reanalyzed as subsective adjectives. This revised account requires the possibility of coerced expansion of the denotation of the noun to which an adjective is applied. Compositionality can be seen as one of the driving forces in such context-sensitive meaning shifts.

References

Bašić, M. 2004. Nominal Subextractions and the Structure of NPs in Serbian and English. M.A. Thesis. Tromsø: University of Tromsø.

Clark, R.L. 1970. Concerning the Logic of Predicate Modifiers. Nous 4: 311-335.

Fanselow, G. & D. Ćavar. 2002. Distributed deletion. In A. Alexiadou (ed.) Theoretical Approaches to Universals. Amsterdam: John Benjamins, 65-107.

Gouskova, M. 2000. The interaction of topic, focus and constituency in Russian. Ms., Amherst.

Junghanns, U. 2001. On rightward backgrounding. In G. Zybatow et al. (eds.) FDSL-3: Current Issues in Formal Slavic Linguistics. Frankfurt-Main: Peter Lang, 329-343.

Kamp, H. 1975. Two theories about adjectives. In E.L. Keenan (ed.) Formal Semantics of Natural Language. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 123-155.

Kamp, H. & B. Partee. 1995. Prototype theory and compositionality. Cognition 57: 129-191.

Kučerova, I. 2007. An anti-intervention effect in Czech splits: An argument for late merge. In R. Compton et al. (ed.) Annual Workshop on Formal Approaches to Slavic Linguistics. The Toronto Meeting 2006. Ann Arbor, MI: Michigan Slavic Publications, 161-179.

Lakoff, G. 1987. Women, Fire, and Dangerous Things. Chicago and London: The University of Chicago Press.

Melhorn, G. 2001. Information structure of discontinuous constituents in Russian. In G. Zybatow et al. (eds.) Current Issues in Formal Slavic Linguistics (FDSL-3). Frankfurt/Main: Lang, 344-352.

Montague, R. 1970a. English as a Formal Language. In B. Visentini et al. (eds.) Linguaggi nella Società e nella Tecnica. Milan: Edizioni di Comunità, 189-224.

Montague, R. 1970b. Universal grammar. Theoria 36: 373-398.

Montague, R. 1973. The proper treatment of quantification in ordinary English. In K.J.J. Hintikka et al. (eds.) Approaches to Natural Language. Dordrecht: Reidel, 221-242.

Nowak, A. 2000. On split PPs in Polish. Ms. Amherst.

Parsons, T. 1970. Some problems concerning the logic of grammatical modifiers. Synthese 21: 320-34.

Partee, B. 1995. Lexical semantics and compositionality. In L. Gleitman and M. Liberman (eds.) An Invitation to Cognitive Science (Second Edition). Volume 1: Language. Cambridge: MIT Press, 311-360.

Partee, B.H. 1979. Semantics - mathematics or psychology? In R. Bäuerle et al. (eds.) Semantics from Different Points of View. Berlin: Springer-Verlag, 1-14.

Partee, B.H. 1996. The development of formal semantics in linguistic theory. In S. Lappin (ed.) The Handbook of Contemporary Semantic Theory. Oxford: Blackwell, 11-38.

Partee, B.H. 2007. Compositionality and coercion in semantics: The dynamics of adjective meaning. In G. Bouma et al. (eds.) Cognitive Foundations of Interpretation. Amsterdam: Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences, 145-161.

Partee, B.H. 2009. The dynamics of adjective meaning. In A.E. Kibrik et al. (eds.) Computational Linguistics and Intellectual Technologies: Papers from the Annual International Conference “Dialogue 2009” (Bekasovo, May 27-31, 2009). Moscow: Russian State Humanities University, 593-597.

Partee, B.H. In press. Privative adjectives: subsective plus coercion. In R. Bäuerle et al. (eds.) Presuppositions and Discourse. Current Research in the Semantics/Pragmatics Interface. Amsterdam: Elsevier.

Pereltsvaig, A. 2008. Split phrases in colloquial Russian. Studia Linguistica 62: 5-38.

Sekerina, I.A. 1997. The Syntax and Processing of Scrambling Constructions in Russian. Ph.D. dissertation. New York: CUNY.

Siegel, M. 1976. Capturing the Russian adjective. In B.H. Partee (ed.) Montague Grammar. New York: Academic Press, 293-309.

Siewierska, A. 1984. Phrasal discontinuity in Polish. Australian Journal of Linguistics 4: 57-71.

Švedova, N.J. 1980. Russkaja grammatika. Moscow: Nauka/Akademija nauk SSSR, Institut russkogo jazyka.

Downloads

Published

25-06-2021

How to Cite

Partee, B. H. (2021). Formal Semantics, Lexical Semantics, and Compositionality: The Puzzle of Privative Adjectives . Philologia, 7(1), 1–24. Retrieved from https://philologia.org.rs/index.php/ph/article/view/216

Issue

Section

Emeritus