Towards a General Theory of Multi-Valuation

迈向多元估值的一般理论

• 批准号: 397518191
• 负责人: Professorin Dr. Katharina Hartmann, Ph.D., since 12/2020
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: Institut für Linguistik
• 依托单位国家: 德国
• 项目类别: Research Grants
• 财政年份: 2017
• 资助国家: 德国
• 起止时间: 2016-12-31 至 2021-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://gepris.dfg.de/gepris/projekt/397518191?language=en
• 关键词: Towards; General; Theory; Multi; Valuation

Theoretical linguistics strives to reveal deep understanding of the mental grammar from the seemingly random cross-linguistic variation. This project will investigate how agreement is resolved when the target of agreement receives multiple values. It has been shown in the literature that the resolution of such a situation is subject to variation across languages. As yet there is no explanation for why languages vary in the way that they do in this realm. Our aim in this project is to account for the variation in how instances of multi-valuation is resolved by systematically looking across both the targets of agreement, and constructions where multi-valuation occurs. If an element receives multiple values for the same feature, two main options are known to be available: it can either resolve the situation to a semantically suitable value, for instance Sg + Sg = Pl, or it can prefer the value of the closet agreement controller. Both situations have been attested across languages, often with language internal variation depending on the type of agreement target (verb vs. noun vs. attributive elements). Yet, this variation is not random. Some languages (eg. Russian) show resolved plural agreement across all agreement targets, whilst others show no resolution for any target (eg. Slovenian). Furthermore some languages can have differing patterns for different targets. In English, for instance, two singular features on a verb are resolved to plural, but resolved agreement is impossible for attributive elements like demonstratives. What is unattested however, is a language where attributive elements show resolved agreement in this situation, but not on verbs. Secondly, we will investigate the various repair strategies that languages take when an element receives conflicting values. Such contexts are known to be marked, and require repairs to allow the sentence to be licit. Specifically, we will focus on the resolution of agreement to the closet controller, aiming to provide novel evidence for the two-step model of agreement that has been advanced recently from studies of agreement with conjunctions. Finally, we extend our investigation to the asymmetry between the agreement patterns in conjunction and disjunction. Conjoined subjects are able to control resolved agreement, whereas disjoined subjects triggers agreement with the closest of the two disjuncts. Both conjunction and disjunction however show the effects characteristic of multi-valuation, hinting at a common syntactic structure. Given their common syntax, the different agreement strategies of conjunction and disjunction are unaccounted for. Our investigation aims to show that influences of interpretation are at play here, and that given certain semantic contexts, such as negation, resolved agreement can indeed arise in disjunctions, which would hint at the cause of the asymmetry between conjunction and disjunction is semantic, rather than syntactic in nature.

理论语言学力图从看似随机的跨语言变异中揭示对心理语法的深刻理解。这个项目将研究当协议的目标接收到多个值时，如何解决协议。文献表明，这种情况的解决方法因语言而异。到目前为止，还没有解释为什么语言在这一领域会以不同的方式变化。我们在这个项目中的目标是解释如何通过系统地查看协议的目标和多估值发生的构造来解决多估值实例的变化。如果一个元素接收到同一个特征的多个值，则有两个主要选项可用：它可以将情况解析为语义上合适的值，例如Sg + Sg = Pl，或者它可以首选最接近的协议控制器的值。这两种情况在不同的语言中都得到了证实，通常语言内部的变化取决于协议目标的类型（动词与名词与定语成分）。然而，这种变化不是随机的。一些语言（如俄罗斯）显示解决了所有协议目标的复数协议，而其他人则没有显示任何目标的解决方案（例如。斯洛文尼亚文）。此外，一些语言可以针对不同的目标使用不同的模式。例如，在英语中，一个动词的两个单数特征被解析为复数，但是像指示词这样的属性成分不可能被解析为一致。然而，没有得到证实的是，在这种情况下，语言中的定语成分显示出一致的解决方案，但不是动词。其次，我们将研究当一个元素接收到冲突的值时，语言所采取的各种修复策略。这样的语境是有标记的，需要修改才能使句子合法。具体来说，我们将专注于解决协议的壁橱控制器，旨在提供新的证据的两步模型的协议，最近已经从研究的协议与连词。最后，我们将我们的调查扩展到连接和分离的协议模式之间的不对称性。连接的主体能够控制解决协议，而分离的主体触发协议与最接近的两个分离。然而，连词和选词都表现出多值效应的特征，暗示着一个共同的句法结构。鉴于它们共同的语法，合取和析取的不同协议策略是无法解释的。我们的研究旨在表明，解释的影响在这里发挥作用，并在一定的语义背景下，如否定，解决协议确实可以出现在分离，这将暗示连接和分离之间的不对称的原因是语义，而不是句法的性质。