Presuppositions, probabilities and belief

LSA Annual Meeting Extended Abstracts ◽

10.3765/exabs.v0i0.2387 ◽

2014 ◽

Author(s):

David Edward Schueler ◽

Brian Reese

Keyword(s):

State Parameter ◽

Information State ◽

Complex Sentences ◽

Probabilistic Information ◽

Attitude Reports ◽

1 John ◽

Satisfaction Theory

The proviso problem concerns presuppositions of complex sentences that seem stronger than predicted by satisfaction-type thoeries of projection such as Heim's (1983). We propose a probabilistic account, similar to Lassiters's (2012) for coordinated and conditional sentences, for the case of embedded attitude reports. For example, in (1), the satisfaction theory predicts that only (1a) is presupposed, but (1b) is usually inferred as well. (1) John believes that it stopped raining a. John believes that it was raining. b. It was raining. Our account includes a standard semantics for belief, but employs a probabilistic information state parameter whose value is dynamically updated.

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The restrictor view, without covert modals

Linguistics and Philosophy ◽

10.1007/s10988-021-09332-z ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Ivano Ciardelli

Keyword(s):

State Parameter ◽

Epistemic Modals ◽

Standard View ◽

Plausible Assumption ◽

Information State ◽

General Account

AbstractThe view that if-clauses function semantically as restrictors is widely regarded as the only candidate for a fully general account of conditionals. The standard implementation of this view assumes that, where no operator to be restricted is in sight, if-clauses restrict covert epistemic modals. Stipulating such modals, however, lacks independent motivation and leads to wrong empirical predictions. In this paper I provide a theory of conditionals on which if-clauses are uniformly interpreted as restrictors, but no covert modals are postulated. Epistemic if-clauses, like those in bare conditionals, restrict an information state parameter which is used to interpret an expressive layer of the language. I show that this theory yields an attractive account of bare and overtly modalized conditionals and solves various empirical problems for the standard view, while dispensing with its less plausible assumption.

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Complementiser and Relativiser in the English Subordinate Clauses

Lingual Journal of Language and Culture ◽

10.24843/ljlc.2017.v03.i01.p01 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 3 (1) ◽

pp. 2

Author(s):

Ni Luh Ketut Mas Indrawati

Keyword(s):

Subordinate Clause ◽

Complex Sentence ◽

Simple Sentence ◽

Constituent Structure ◽

Complex Sentences ◽

Subordinate Clauses ◽

Tree Diagram ◽

1 John ◽

Simple Sentences ◽

Compound Sentence

Words combine to form larger units; phrases, clauses, and sentences. The study of the structure of phrases, clauses, and sentences is referred to as syntax. Quirk, et, all (1985:47) distinguishes sentences into two types they are; simple sentences and multiple sentences which cover compound sentences and complex sentences. A simple sentence consists of one independent clause, a multiple clause contains more than one clauses, a compound sentence consists of two or more independent clauses, while a complex sentence consists of insubordinate and subordinate clauses.Subordinate clause, in embedding the element of the insubordinate clause use either complementiser or relativiser. For example: (1) john said that he did not come to the party. That in (1) is considered to be complimentiser since it introduces the subordinate clause. (2) John met the teacher that teaches you English. That in (2) is classified as relativiser because it is used to introduce the modifying clause.This paper attempts to discuss complementiser and relativiser in the English subordinate clauses and describe the constituent structure in a tree diagram using the approach proposed by Kroeger (2005). The data were taken from a novel entitled Saved by The Bride by Fiona Lowe (2013).Keywords: complex sentences, subordinate clauses, complementiser or relativiser

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When Hearing Does Not Mean Understanding: On the Neural Processing of Syntactically Complex Sentences by Listeners With Hearing Loss

Journal of Speech Language and Hearing Research ◽

10.1044/2020_jslhr-20-00262 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 1-13

Author(s):

Margreet Vogelzang ◽

Christiane M. Thiel ◽

Stephanie Rosemann ◽

Jochem W. Rieger ◽

Esther Ruigendijk

Keyword(s):

Hearing Loss ◽

Sentence Processing ◽

Secondary Task ◽

Sentence Comprehension ◽

Inferior Frontal Gyrus ◽

Normal Hearing ◽

Cognitive Demands ◽

Sentence Complexity ◽

Complex Sentences ◽

And Task

Purpose Adults with mild-to-moderate age-related hearing loss typically exhibit issues with speech understanding, but their processing of syntactically complex sentences is not well understood. We test the hypothesis that listeners with hearing loss' difficulties with comprehension and processing of syntactically complex sentences are due to the processing of degraded input interfering with the successful processing of complex sentences. Method We performed a neuroimaging study with a sentence comprehension task, varying sentence complexity (through subject–object order and verb–arguments order) and cognitive demands (presence or absence of a secondary task) within subjects. Groups of older subjects with hearing loss ( n = 20) and age-matched normal-hearing controls ( n = 20) were tested. Results The comprehension data show effects of syntactic complexity and hearing ability, with normal-hearing controls outperforming listeners with hearing loss, seemingly more so on syntactically complex sentences. The secondary task did not influence off-line comprehension. The imaging data show effects of group, sentence complexity, and task, with listeners with hearing loss showing decreased activation in typical speech processing areas, such as the inferior frontal gyrus and superior temporal gyrus. No interactions between group, sentence complexity, and task were found in the neuroimaging data. Conclusions The results suggest that listeners with hearing loss process speech differently from their normal-hearing peers, possibly due to the increased demands of processing degraded auditory input. Increased cognitive demands by means of a secondary visual shape processing task influence neural sentence processing, but no evidence was found that it does so in a different way for listeners with hearing loss and normal-hearing listeners.

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