Research

My research interests lie in the realms of semantics, pragmatics, the syntax-semantics interface, and the semantics-pragmatics interface.

Currently, I have two main reserach topics, which are closely related to my projects Discourse Referents as Perspectival Centers and Bound-Variable-Like Interpretations of Demonstrative Pronouns, Complex Demonstratives and Definite Descriptions.

In the first one, I combine insights from discourse pragmatics and narratology with the methods and techniques of formal semantics and pragmatics. I study different kinds of proatgonists' perspective taking and the conditions under which discourse referents become available as perspective takers.

In the second one, I study and compare the co-reference and binding options of demonstrative pronouns, complex demonstratives and definite descriptions. Regarding both research topics, I employ experimental methods such as acceptability ratings, reading time measurements and eye-tracking.

In the past, my research focus was on the interaction of information structure and truth conditional semantics.

Specifically, I studied the following topics:

• the influence that focus- and topic-marking has on the interpretation of adverbial as well as determiner quantifiers
• the interaction of various temporal and conditional adjunct clauses with modal operators and quantifiers over situations/events
• the conditions under which different kinds of indefinites allow or enforce specific readings
• syntactic, semantic and pragmatic differences between personal and demonstrative pronouns
• the interpretation of abstract mass nouns
• metalinguistic interpretations of vague predicates in conditionals
• the way in which interpretational differences between different kinds of topics correspond to differences in the interpretation of conditional sentences
• differences between contrastive topic- and focus-marking with respect to the alternatives that are introduced
• differences between Free Relatives and definite descriptions, on the one hand, and bare plurals, on the other.