david pesetsky@60 - lingconf€¦ · david pesetsky@60 deconstructing the d in d-linking panel on...

DavidPesetsky@60

DeconstructingtheDinD-linkingPanelonQuestions

Veneeta DayalRutgersUniversity

MITFebruary11,2017

Pesetsky (1987)andthegenesisofD-linking

“Itissimplynecessarytodistinguishtwotypesofwh –in-situintermsrelatedtodiscourse.Onetypemoves,theotherdoesnot.” Pesetsky (1987:99)

• Thisgavediscourseformalstatusinsyntactictheory,underthenowfamiliartermD-linking.

• Relevanceofdiscourse:intheclassificationofwh phrasesintheameliorationofsuperiorityviolationsinLF/covertwh scopetakingoutofislands

2


• Tri-partiteDivisionamongWh Phrases

1a.InherentlyD-linkedwh: whichNb.NonD-linked

(butD-linkablewithcontextualsupport):who,what

andtoalessdegreewhen,whereandtoanevenlesserdegree how,howmany

c.AggressivelynonD-linked: wh thehell

3


• Superiority:

2a.Whoreadwhat?b.*What didwho read?c.Whichbookdidwhichstudentread?d.Iknowthesethreepaperswerewrittenbythese

threestudentsbutI’mdamnedifIknowwhatwhowrote.

4


• BakerAmbiguity(afterBaker1970):

3a.*/?[Whichthing/whatdid[Johnknow[whereMaryboughtt]]]?

b.Q:WhoknowswhereMaryboughtwhat/ whichthing?A-1:John knowswhereMaryboughtwhat/whichthing.A-2:John knowswhereMaryboughtthebook and

Sue knowswheresheboughtthepen.

.

5

WhatisD-linking?

Themorpho-syntacticbasis:whichN vs.who/what

Thesemantic-pragmaticbasis:quantificationaldomain

6

WhatisD-linking?

TwoideaslinkingthetwotogetherandaligningD-linkedwh phraseswithdefinites:

(a) KnowledgeabouttheidentityofthesetN:asetthatisimplicitinwho/what,explicitinwhichN.

Pesetsky 1987

(b) Connectiontopartitivity:which oftheN,*who/what oftheN.

Comorovski 1989,96

7

D-linking:IdentityandPartitivity

4a.Context:Amanwalksintoanapartmentbuildinginfrontoftwowomenwhoareconversingonthesidewalk.Onewomansaystotheother:

b.Whojustwentintothebuilding?c.Whichmanjustwentintothebuilding?

Kroch1989

8


(4c)withwhichman,unlike(4b)withwho,cannotbeaskedunlessthereisacontextuallysalientsetofmeninthecommonground.

Whichmanjustwentintothebuilding=Whichofthemenjustwentintothebuilding

9


• ButiswhichN reallythesameaswhichoftheN?• Iswho/what reallynonD-linked?

Aminimallydifferentsituationfrom(4):5a.Context:Johnreturnsfromashoppingtripandsays

“IboughtabooktogivetoDavidonhisbirthday”.Sueasks:

b.Whichbookdidyoubuy?c.#Whichofthebooksdidyoubuy?d.#What didyoubuy?

ftnoted inDayal &Schwarzschild2010inadifferentcontext

10


5a Context:“IboughtabooktogivetoDavid”.b.Whichbookdidyoubuy?c.#Whichofthebooksdidyoubuy?d.#What didyoubuy?

• Thereisnocontextuallysalientsetofbooks,sonosetwhosememberscouldbeinthecommonground.

• Theinfelicityofthepartitiveisexpected.ThefelicityoftheD-linked whichN andtheinfelicityofthenonD-linked what arenot.

11


• WhyiswhichN acceptablewithanon-salientsetofbooksbutnotanonsalientsetofmen?• Isthedifferencebasedonanimacy?

6a.Context:SpeakerA,readingthenewspapersays,aNigerianhaswontheNobelPrizeforliterature.Bresponds:

b.WhichNigerianwontheNobelprize?c.#WhichoftheNigerianswontheNobelprize?d.#Who wontheNobelprize?

12


ItseemswhichN isacceptablebecauseanybook/authornamedintheanswerispotentiallyfamiliar;thesamewouldnotbetrueofanarbitrarilychosenregularperson.

13

NOND-LINKEDCONTEXTS WhichN Who/What WhichoftheNs

Amanentersthebuilding--nocontextuallysalientsetofmen

NO YES NO

Someonegoesshopping–nocontextuallysalientsetofbooks

YES NO NO


Switchingtocontextuallysalientsetsisalsointeresting,forwhatissaysaboutnonD-linkedwhat.

7a.Context:Abake-offwhereallcontestantsaresupposedtomakethesametypeofpie.Ajudgeasksacontestant:

b.Whichpiedidyoubake? Thatone.c.Whichofthepiesdidyoubake? Thatone.d.#What didyoubake?

basedonBarros201314


7a.Context:Therearethreepiesofthesametype.b.Whichpiedidyoubake? Thatone.c.Whichofthepiesdidyoubake? Thatone.d.#What didyoubake?

Herewehaveacontextuallysalientsetofpies.WhichNandWhichoftheNarefelicitous,asexpected.What,whichissupposedtobeflexible,isinfelicitous.

15


16

CONTEXTS WhichN Who/What WhichoftheNs

Amanentersthebuilding--nocontextuallysalientsetofmen

NO YES NO

Someonegoesshopping–nocontextuallysalientsetofbooks

YES NO NO

Threepiesofthesame kind–Contextuallysalientsetofpies

YES NO YES


Aminimallydifferentcontextmakeswhatacceptable.

8a.Context:Apotluckwithseveraldifferentdishesonthetable.AasksB:

b.Whichdishdidyoubring? Thestew.c.Whichofthedishesdidyoubring? Thestew.d. What didyoubring? Thestew.

basedonBarros2013

17


8a.Context:Differentdishesonthetable.b.Whichdishdidyoubring?c.Whichofthedishesdidyoubring?d. What didyoubring?

What,whichwasinflexiblewithasetofidenticalpies,showsitsfamousflexibilitywhenconfrontedwithdistinctdishes.

18


19

CONTEXTS WhichN Who/What WhichoftheNs

Amanentersthebuilding--NosalientsetofmenPersonnamedintheanswer maynotbefamiliarandmaynotbeaccommodable

NO YES NO

Apersonbuysabook –NosalientsetofbooksBooknamedintheanswermaybefamiliarorcanbeaccommodated

YES NO NO

Threepiesofthesame kind–SalientsetofpiesCannot bedifferentiated byproperty/name

YES NO YES

Threedifferent kindsofdishes–SalientsetofdishesCanbedifferentiatedbyproperty/name

YES YES YES

WHClassification

Sowhatcanwesayabouthowthethreeclassesofwhphraseswe’velookedatrelatetodiscourse?

Theeasiestcasefirst:AquestionwithwhichoftheNsisfelicitousiff

thereisasalientsetN inthecontext(ie ifthepresuppositionsoftheinnerdefiniteare

satisfied).

20


21

CONTEXTS WhichoftheNs


NO


NO


YES


YES

WHClassification

AquestionwithwhichN isfelicitousiff thedomainofquantificationhasmembersthatarepotentiallyfamiliar;thatis,whichN iscompatiblewithbutnotdependentonacontextuallysalientsetN.

(cf.exampleswithnonsalientsetofmenvs.nonsalientsetofbooks/authors)

22


23

CONTEXTS WhichN


NO


YES


YES


YES

WHClassification

ThehardestonetonaildownturnsouttobethenonD-linkedwho/what.

Theliteratureonlevelsofindividuationprovidessomekeyinsights:Aloni (2005),Heller(2005),Dayal andSchwarzschild(2010),HellerandWolter (2011),Barros(2013).

24


25

CONTEXTS Who/What


YES


NO


NO


YES

WHClassification

BorrowingandadaptingfromBarros(2013)onsluicing:

food

stew soup pie

blueberry peach

bpie-1bpie-2bpie-3

26

WHClassification

Theremustbeanameworthy/clasificatory propertydistinguishingmembersofthesetquantifiedover.

food

what-OK stew soup pie

blueberry peach

what-bad bpie-1bpie-2bpie-3

27

WHClassification

Iboughtabook.#What didyoubuy?Thenovelsarecertainlydistinct.Whatisgoingonhere?

object

what-OK dress pen book

novel textbook

what-? 1984EmmaNamesake28

WHClassification

Ibought[abook]F .#What didyoubuy?Maybetheantecedenthighlightsalevelofindividuation,sothefollowupquestionisalreadyanswered.

object

dress pen book

novel textbook

1984EmmaNamesake29

WHClassification

Thebehaviorofwhat varies.Itisfelicitous• whenitisinanout-of-the-bluequestionandthereisnosalientsetN

• whenitisinafollow-upquestionandthereisnosalientsetN;theantecedentsetsthelevelofindividuationandafollow-upisdifficult(thoughnotimpossible)

• whenthereisasalientsetofobjectsthatcanbedistinguishedonthebasisofaclassificatoryproperty.

30

WHClassification

Thebehaviorofwhat varies• out-of-the-bluequestion&nosalientsetN• afollow-upquestion&nosalientsetN;theantecedentsetsthelevelofindividuationandafollow-upisdifficult(thoughnotimpossible)• asalientsetofdistinguishableobjects.

Furtherquestions:IswhichN sensitivetoout- of-the-bluevs.follow-upQ?Doeswho behavethesameaswhat ?

31

WHClassification

IswhichN sensitivetoout- of-the-bluevs.follow-upQ?

Itdoesn’tappeartobeso.

Context:nosalientsetofDanishstudents9a.#WhichDanish studentwentintothebuilding?b.ADanish studentwentintothebuilding.

#WhichDanish studentwentintothebuilding?

32

WHClassification

Doeswho behavethesameaswhat ?

InthesluicingliteraturewhoisnotedtobemoreliberalinrelatingbacktoanindefiniteDPwithacontentful noun:

10a.JoantalkedtoaphonologistbutIdon’tknowwho(exactly)shetalkedto.

b.JohnboughtabookbutIdon’tknowwhat*(exactly)hebought.

Chungetal1995,Romero1998,Dayal andSchwarzschild2010,Barros2013(amongothers)

33

WHClassification

Withcontextuallysalientsets,evenifthenamesarenotknown,itispossibletousewho.

11a.Context:Aline-upofactorswhohaveauditionedforapart.Onecastingdirectorasksanother:

b.Whichactorareyougoingtovotefor? Thatone.c.Whichoftheseactorsareyougoingtovotefor?

Thatone.d.Who areyougoingtovotefor? Thatone.

34

WHClassification

11a.Context:Aline-upofactorswhohaveauditionedforapart.Onecastingdirectorasksanother:

d.Who areyougoingtovotefor? Thatone.

Doeswho differfromwhat innotrequiringthemembersofthesettobedistinguishable?

Orisitinthenatureofitsargumentterm,humans,thatwealwaysthinkofthemasdistinguishable?

35

WHClassification

12a.Context:Asetline-upofthreehumanswhoareclonesofeachother,sothreeidenticalindividualsnamedFrancisco.Acanonlytakeoneoftheclonesonatrip.Basks:b.Whichclonewillyoutakeonyourtrip?c.Whichofthecloneswillyoutakeonyourtrip?d.#Who willyoutakeonyourtrip?

ParadigmduetoNicolausSchrum (p.c.),constructedinclassyesterdayand“confirmed”byaclassof21undergrads.

36

WHClassification

WhichoftheNhasthesamepresuppositionsastheN.

WhichN requiresthatthemembersofthesetbepotentiallyfamiliar.

Who/whatrequiresthatthemembersofthesetbedistinguishableonthebasisofsomeclassificatoryproperty;itsbehaviorinfollow-upcontextsisduetoindependentfactors.Itdoesn’treallyeverbecomeD-linked.

37

D-linkingandGrammar

Who/whatarenotdifferentiatedfromwhichN (purely)onthebasisofthefamiliarityofthesetN.

AndyetspecifyingthemembersofthesetNhelpsSuperiorityviolationswithwho/what while

Anditisalsotruethatalthoughwedon’tperceiveasclearadifferencebetweenwho/what andwhichN inthecaseofpair-listanswersacrossislands,thoseanswersdependonasetwhosemembersaresalientinthecontext.

D-linkingremainsanimportanttoolinunderstandingthesephenomena(andmanyothers)thoughthequestionsthatarebeingaskednowaredifferent.

38

D-linkingandGrammar

13a.What goeswhere?b.*Where doeswhat go?c.IknowthatweneedtoinstalltransistorA,transistorB,andtransistorC,andIknowthatthesethreeholesarefortransistors,butI’llbedamnedifIcanfigureoutfromthedirectionswherewhatgoes.

Pesetsky1987:109

39

D-linkingandGrammar

• Whatseemstobecriticalisthedependencyrelationbetweentwodistinctsetsofindividuals.

• SpecificationofthesetNisneededtohighlightthesesetsinthecaseofwho/what,somethingthatcomesforfreewithwhichN.

• Thediscourseconditionsunderwhichasuperiorityviolatingstructuresareappropriateseemtobeworthprobingfurther.

40

D-linkingandGrammar

ThecrucialroleofdiscoursespecificationintheameliorationofsuperiorityviolationswithnonD-linkedwh remainsrelevantthirtyyearssincetheclaimwasfirstmadeinPesetsky (1987).

ThenewquestionshavetodowithpossibleconstraintsonD-linkedwh andsuperiorityviolations,suchassinglevs.multiplepairanswers-- adistinctionthatwasnotreallycenterstagein1987.

41

Pesestsky@60

D-linkingwasproposedbyPesetksy@30toshedlightondifferenceswithintheclassofwh phrasesonsuperiorityeffectsonwaysofcovertscopetakingoutofislands

Theseareallissuesthatcontinuetoenergizethefieldeventoday-- withalittlehelpfromPesetsky@40,Pesetsky@50!

42

david pesetsky@60 - lingconf€¦ · david pesetsky@60 deconstructing the d in d-linking panel on...

Documents