Am Mittwoch, dem 06. Dezember, findet ein öffentlicher Vortrag im Rahmen der Forschergruppe statt.

Vortragender: Prof. Dr. Kjell Johan Saebo, Universität Oslo

Thema: Relational nouns: Syntactic and semantic saturation

Abstract:
Relational nouns are assumed to denote binary relations, like transitive verbs, but in a variety of environments they act as though they were to denote unary relations, sets, like normal sortal nouns. (And in one environment, the genitive construction, sortal nouns behave as if they were relational.) Sometimes, the internal argument is implicit, definite or indefinite; then there is a semantic saturation but no syntactic saturation. Sometimes, the internal argument is saturated syntactically, but only after a delay, involving what Chung and Ladusaw (2004) term Restriction, syntactic but not semantic saturation. Finally, there are environments where the mode of saturation is intermediate: the internal argument is solely semantically saturated, yet the "saturator" is syntactically determined. I sketch solutions to the various composition problems posed, and discuss some ensuing issues, including what motivates the constructions where relational nouns require special compositional treatment. I argue that in part, a simple syntax has an eigenwert, in part, there are information structural reasons for maintaining a mismatch between syntax and semantics.

Zeit: Mittwoch, 06.12.2006, 14-16 Uhr

Ort: Gebäude 26.11, Hörsaal 6B