Lexical Pragmatics - Journal of Semantics

150 Lexical Pragmatics(3$) (a) The apple is sweet(b) Its pulp is sweet(c) Its peel is sweetIt should be added that the present account evaluates utterances as (36) aspragmatically anomalous (assuming the former axioms and weights)(36) ?This apple is red, but its peel is not (perhaps, its pulp is)This qualifies implicatures like (32b) and (35b) as non-cancellable (undernormal circumstances—neglecting the possibility of genetic engineering).Finally consider the contrast between (37a) and (37b):(37) ( a ) ?The tractor is pumped up(b) The tyres of the tractor are pumped up(c) ?The coachwork of the tractor is pumped up(d) TRACTOR(d) A PART(d, x) A PRESSURE(x, u) A u = pumped up(e) TRACTOR(d) A PART(d,x) A TYRES(x) A P-STATE(x,u) Au = pumped up(f) TRACTOR(d) A PART(d, x) A MOTOR(x) A P-STATE(x, u) Au = pumped upThe present account predicts (37a) as pragmatically anomalous. Thisprediction results from the fact that those parts of tractors that may bepumped on (the tyres) are only marginally diagnostic for identifyingtractors and therefore the corresponding interpretation (37b) can be blockedby specifications that refer to more salient parts, for example as shown in(37c). However, the latter specifications suffer from sort conflicts andtherefore violate the condition (15).To make the argument explicit, let us start with (37d) as underspecifiedrepresentation of (37a), and let us compare the cost for calculating the twoenrichments (37c) and (371") (related to (37b) and (37c)). The diagram (38)presents the corresponding abductive inference graph that is relevant forabducing the pumped up fyra-interpretation (37c).(38) TRACTOR(d) $1 APART(d,x) M A P-STATE(x,u) $0 A u = up $1Downloaded from http://jos.oxfordjournals.org/ by guest on September 12, 2014TRACTOR(d)