LP-1998-15: Speaker's Reference, Descriptions and Information Structure

LP-1998-15: Dekker, Paul (1998) Speaker's Reference, Descriptions and Information Structure. [Report]

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Abstract

The notion of information developed in systems of dynamic semantics is
applied in an analysis of the referential interpretation of definite
descriptions, and the specific interpretation of indefinite ones. A Russellian
treatment of descriptions is upgraded with the dynamic semantic notion of a
discourse referent, and this enables a combination of contextually given
information with information which is properly semantic. The analysis is
sharpened by the addition of a partition of utterances into a ground and a
focus part. The two extensions suffice to account for the most important
features of situations which involve the referential use of expressions in a
both semantically and pragmatically satisfactory way. A by-product is a
rudimentary analysis of negative existential statements involving names.

Item Type:	Report
Report Nr:	LP-1998-15
Series Name:	Logic, Philosophy and Linguistics (LP)
Year:	1998
Date Deposited:	12 Oct 2016 14:40
Last Modified:	12 Oct 2016 14:40
URI:	https://eprints.illc.uva.nl/id/eprint/1275

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