handout

Ivona Kučerová
UCL, ivona@alum.mit.edu
3 The proposal
Sinn und Bedeutung 12
Oslo September 22, 2007
Basic intuition:
structures are divided into domains and any domain can be partitioned at any position
within the domain [this we learned from basic word orders] (≈ Mathesius’
tradition)
−→ there is a point in the structure from which everything up is given
A formalization: G(iven)-operator
−→ an operator that marks elements in its scope as given; the operator recursively
propagates upwards and it terminates on an atomic semantic type – in our case on
type t (or < s, t >) [a simplifying assumption]
(10) G-operator:
G(B) =
{ λA α : Given(A).G(B A) B is of type < α, β > for some α, β
other than s, t
B for B of type < s, t >
(11) < s, t >
given
given
G
new
new . . .
What the G-operator does for us:
• once the operator starts propagating upwards it doesn’t stop unless it reaches
the edge of a domain → structures are divided into domains in which given
precedes new
• the operator can be inserted at any place → a partition can fall at any place
A note on interpretation of givenness: For concretness, I follow Sauerland (2005)
in assuming that givenness gives rise to an existential presupposition (cf. Schwarzschild
1999). My interest lies in how givenness applies compositionally, the actual lexical
entry is not crucial.
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