An Optimality Theoretic Approach to Formal Semantics and Pragmatics

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This three-year project started to discuss the optionality, one of the biggest issues in OT. Focusing on the complementizer deletion in English, French, Tokyo Japanese, and Kansai Japanese, it was concluded that the neutralization approach was superior to other approaches. Since the main concern was the relation between V raising and complementizer deletion, I followed the V-to-I movement in Japanese proposed by Otani and Whitman 1991. But I also showed that even without the V-to-I movement in the language, still the neutralization approach is better than anything else.In the second year, I paid attention to the ineffability, another big theoretical issue in OT. The phenomenon I discussed was multiple wh-questions in English and Italian, which is a problem in the syntax-semantics interface. From the perspective of bidirectional OT as well as monodirectional OT syntax and semantics, I pointed out the empirical and conceptual problems of the analysis with PARSE(wh) proposed by Legendre et al. 1998, and proposed an alternative analysis.In the final year, I discussed a case of semantics-pragmatics interface; the interpretations of pronouns in donkey sentences. Chierchia 1995 argues that semantics generates both the strong and the weak readings of donkey pronouns and the preference is determined by pragmatics. This approach can be captured in OT. The two reading are generated as candidates, the optimal output is chosen by the constraints ranking. As a pragmatic constraint, I proposed a pragmatic constraint, called Effort Minimization, which says, "Make a necessary and sufficient effort to accomplish the purpose described by the in out sentence".This study, thus, investigated a syntactic problem, a problem of the syntax-semantics interface, and a problem of the semantics-pragmatics in the framework of OT. I was not able to discuss a pragmatics proper phenomenon, however. This will be a future research topic.