Dissertation "The compositionality of adjective noun constructions"
(submitted 09/2023, defended 05/2024, published 12/2024)
Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Ede Zimmermann
Supervisor: Dr. Cécile Meier
Abstract:
This dissertation explores the compositionality of adjective noun constructions. It investigates the question to what extent local modification – to be distinguished from non-local modification – can be captured with an intersective analysis.
Chapter 2 is concerned with the theoretical background and introduces the two general approaches that have been suggested for the analyses of adjectives: the predicate and the modifier analysis. Moreover, a further variety of adjectival modification is addressed: non-local modification. Despite being syntactically located in an adjective noun construction, in this reading the adjective takes material outside its syntactic domain in its semantic scope. Non-local readings of adnominal adjectives can therefore not emerge through the standard analyses for local adjectives and instead call for more radical measures. With this distinction in mind, focus is put on local adjectives.
In chapter 3, the semantics of local adjectives like blonde, tall and skillful is in the focus. An adjective like blonde can straightforwardly be analyzed as a predicate. Other local adjectives first need to be “made” expressing a property. For many adjectives, such as small and tall, adding a mute parameter – a comparison class – will do. For other adjectives, such as skillful, famous and talented, apart from a comparison class an additional parameter is needed: a comparison property. It is argued that the context-sensitivity of the parameters enables a predicate analysis of these adjectives.
In chapter 4, it is investigated how the context dependence of the comparison property can be implemented in the theory. This is discussed in the form of two possible theories: theory A, which assumes noun and context dependence, and theory B, which assumes only context dependence. Since it turns out that theory A actually overgenerates, the decision is eventually made in favour of theory B. As a result, also an adjective like skillful can receive a predicate analysis. Cases where the modified noun serves as the basis to determine the parameter(s) are captured by the “Preference principle for the pragmatic specification of free variables” (Maienborn 2020). In chapter 5, it is investigated how the comparison property is derived from the modified noun to obtain the default reading. In the first part of the chapter, the ability of a noun to serve as the basis for the determination of the comparison property is captured by the assumption that these nouns have an event argument in their denotation (Rapp 2015). Importantly, both deverbal and non-deverbal nouns can have an event argument. According to the approach suggested in this dissertation, the event argument is not accessed compositionally by the adjective. Rather, the pragmatic reasoning behind the determination of the comparison property is assumed to be sensitive to the presence of an event argument. In the second part of the chapter, event denoting nouns like teaching and performance are addressed. Since it turns out that context sensitivity of the adjective can also be observed in the presence of an event denoting noun, the claim that an intersective analysis suffices for local modification can be maintained.
In chapter 6, further local adjectives are addressed. While for seemingly non-subsective adjectives like fake even an intersective analysis seems to be possible, temporal and modal adjectives such as former and alleged are more problematic. These adjectives behave different than “ordinary” local adjectives in crucial aspects. Thus the question emerges how temporal and modal adjectives affect the claim that all local modification can be captured by means of an intersective analysis. Eventually, an adverbial analysis is assumed for temporal and modal adjectives (Zimmermann 2022). This allows to reduce the complexity of the lexicon and reflects the meaning of these adjectives in an intuitively more appropriate way. As a consequence of this approach, it turns out that the modifier analysis is not needed to capture the meaning of adjective noun constructions.
Previous theses:
Master's thesis "On women buying beetroot – Attaching non-restrictive relative clauses in PCDRT " (2014)
Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Ede Zimmermann
Supervisor: Dr. Cécile Meier
Abstract:
Relative constructions are a popular field of linguistic studies and recently have attracted attention again, as there still are a number of puzzles left to be solved. And sometimes, new empirical findings give rise to questions that challenge theory in a special way. For instance, it had always been a common assumption that nonrestrictive relative clauses attached to a quantifying head in subject position cannot refer to the set of individuals established by forming the intersection of restrictor and scope of quantification, because the predicate, representing the scope of quantification, will be processed after the relative clause (Nouwen 2007, for instance). Surprisingly, the belief that the so-called intersection set reading is therefore not available in such constructions has turned out to be wrong. A recent study on German non-restrictive relative clauses (Poschmann 2013) has shown that the intersection set reading indeed is available in such cases, at least if any other reading is excluded by a given context. Current semantic theory cannot offer a formal framework capable of accounting for this finding, but there is one that presents itself as a promising starting point to develop a solution for the problem at hand. In this thesis, the formal system of Plural Compositional Discourse Representation Theory (PCDRT), presented by Adrian Brasoveanu (2007, 2008, 2010), will be slightly modified and extended to provide an analysis of constructions with non-restrictive relative clauses that takes (discourse) semantic as well as syntactic aspects into account and eventually will also be able to capture the newly attested intersection set reading of non-restrictive relative clauses attached to a quantifying head in subject position.
Bachelor's thesis "Linguistische Aspekte der (Schwer-)Verständlichkeit von Vertragstexten" (2011)
Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Günther Grewendorf
Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Ede Zimmermann
Abstract:
At a first glance, the topic of "comprehensibility" appears to be a rather simple one: Some texts succeed in presenting a content in a comprehensible way, others do not. Then, why is it that there is still no adequate theory of comprehensibility? As matters stand, this seems to be a case of praxis preceding its own theory. The present thesis aims at filtering out some characteristics of comprehensible texts from the work of the Swiss law editorial department. In the end, these characteristics turn out to be an effective means to enhance particularly the structure of an insurance contract.