MoL-2004-01: Schulz, Katrin (2004) A Case Study on the Paradox of Free Choice Permission. [Report]
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Abstract
In sum, the thesis pursuits two different but strongly connected
aims. First, it tries to account for a notorious problematic
observation concerning the interpretation of certain sentences of
English: the paradox of free choice permission. More particularly,
the intention is to account for this observation in terms of Grice's
theory of conversational implicatures. Secondly, before this theory
can be used first it has to be made precise. Here, the intention is to
provide a (part-wise) formalization using results from non-monotonic
logic.
We start with a more extended discussion of the phenomenon of free
choice permission. The aim is to get a good understanding of the
phenomenon that has to be described. Also two classical accounts to
the problem are discussed that do not only constitute central pillars
in the literature on this topic but also build the fundament of the
approach developed here: the extensive discussion of free choice
permission by Hans Kamp and the proposal of Ede Zimmermann.
Afterwards, a part-wise formalization of Grice's theory of
conversational implicatures is proposed. Building on the work of
Halpern & Moses a pragmatic notion of entailment is introduced that is
intended to describe the conversational implicatures due to the first
submaxim of Quantity and parts of the maxim of Quality out of Grice's
inventory of conversational maxims. The inferences obtained this way
essentially come down to Gazdar's clausal implicatures. We show that
such a notion of entailment together with an assumption of competence
of the speaker - and here we build strongly on Zimmermann - allows the
interpreter to derive the free choice permission. Then we discuss the
proposal of the previous section. As it turns out, the approach has to
fight with one central shortcoming: it over-generates. Some ideas
where to look for a solution of this problem will be introduced but a
detailed investigation has to wait for another location. We finish
with a section on conclusions and outlines of further research.
| Item Type: | Report |
|---|---|
| Report Nr: | MoL-2004-01 |
| Series Name: | Master of Logic Thesis (MoL) Series |
| Year: | 2004 |
| Date Deposited: | 12 Oct 2016 14:38 |
| Last Modified: | 12 Oct 2016 14:38 |
| URI: | https://eprints.illc.uva.nl/id/eprint/746 |
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