Universität zu Köln

Hinterwimmer, Stefan ORCID: 0000-0002-2808-8361 and Patil, Umesh ORCID: 0000-0001-8656-9545 (2022). The interpretative options of anaphoric complex demonstratives. Glossa: a journal of general linguistics, 7 (1). ISSN 2397-1835

Preview

PDF glossa-5700-hinterwimmer.pdf - Published Version Bereitstellung unter der CC-Lizenz: Creative Commons Attribution. Download (1MB) | Preview

Abstract

In this paper, we present experimental evidence from a ‘yes’/‘no’ judgement task and two acceptability rating studies (Experiments 1a-c) for the claim made in Hinterwimmer (2019) that sentences with two anaphorically interpreted complex demonstratives are less acceptable than sentences with two anaphorically interpreted definite descriptions and sentences where one of the two previously introduced referents is picked up by a complex demonstrative, while the other one is picked up by a definite description. The results of Experiment 1a and 1b are in principle compatible with the account argued for in Hinterwimmer (2019), according to which the (potentially abstract) demonstrations presupposed by demonstratives may not have overlapping trajectories. However, sentences with two anaphorically interpreted complex demonstratives are not judged as unacceptable as would be expected if they involved a presupposition violation. Therefore, we propose an alternative, economy-based pragmatic account that builds on Ahn (2019) and Nowak (2019). The question of whether the observed pattern is more compatible with the account proposed by Hinterwimmer (2019) or the alternative pragmatic account is directly addressed in a further acceptability rating study (Experiment 1c). The design of that study is similar to that of Experiment 1b, but it includes as fillers both sentences clearly violating a presupposition and sentences violating a pragmatic constraint. Since the ratings for sentences containing two anaphorically interpreted complex demonstratives are closer to the ratings for sentences violating a pragmatic constraint than for sentences violating a presupposition, we conclude that the alternative pragmatic account is preferable to the account by Hinterwimmer (2019).

Item Type:	Journal Article
Creators:	Creators Email ORCID ORCID Put Code Hinterwimmer, Stefan UNSPECIFIED orcid.org/0000-0002-2808-8361 UNSPECIFIED Patil, Umesh UNSPECIFIED orcid.org/0000-0001-8656-9545 UNSPECIFIED
URN:	urn:nbn:de:hbz:38-611018
DOI:	10.16995/glossa.5700
Journal or Publication Title:	Glossa: a journal of general linguistics
Volume:	7
Number:	1
Date:	30 March 2022
ISSN:	2397-1835
Language:	English
Faculty:	Faculty of Arts and Humanities
Divisions:	Faculty of Arts and Humanities > Fächergruppe 3: Deutsche Sprache und Literatur > Institut für Deutsche Sprache und Literatur I
Subjects:	Language, Linguistics Psychology
Refereed:	Yes
URI:	http://kups.ub.uni-koeln.de/id/eprint/61101