Abstracts of Papers I Produced

The Pragmatic Dimension of Indefinites

This paper sets out to give a natural pragmatic explanation of several aspects of the interpretation of singular indefinite noun phrases. We develop a uniform account of characteristic features of their use which have been dealt with only partly in other semantic paradigms (in particular the dynamic, the E-type and the choice function one). We give an intuitive motivation for the familiar discourse dynamic features of the use of these expressions, and, taking due account of the structuring of information in more involved contexts, account for their behaviour in negated, conditional, quantified, and intensional constructions.
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A Proper Architecture for Presupposition and Quantification

In this paper we present a three-dimensional architecture for the interpretation of a fragment of natural language which combines insights from presupposition theory, dynamic interpretation and the theory of generalized quantifiers. The semantics is shown to be a proper extension of a classical one, and to enable a flexible treatment of presupposition resolution along the lines of, in particular, Geurts, Kamp, and van der Sandt.
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Topical Restriction and Answerhood

Proceedings of Sinn und Bedeutung, Konstanz, 2003
Information structure is the term designating a very lively and active branch of work, which deals with various topics such as anaphora, topical restriction, questions, congruence and exhaustification. This work tends to diverge in many directions which hardly can be seen to be compatible with one another. In this paper we attempt to improve the situation by trying to develop the minimal formal tools required to study the logical properties of the various issues involved and integrate them step by step. We successively deal with anaphoric connections between pronouns and other terms in terms of individual satisfaction by possible witnesses; with questions and topics in terms of sets of possible witnesses; with topical restriction and answerhood in terms of topical satisfaction; we conclude with a compositional deconstruction of Henk Zeevat's exhaustification operation.
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Something Else

Proceedings of the Seventh Symposium on Logic and Language, Pecs, August 2002
The target of this paper is a compositional analysis of locutions like "somebody else" and "nobody else," as they may occur in an example like Upon our account "else" is a modal predicate which holds of any individual which is not (yet) known to satisfy a contextually specified attribute. We here build upon a slight generalization of Westerstahl's notion of contextually restricted quantification (Westerstahl 1984), and by the same token a vast simplification of the type of topically restricted quantification from (Gawron 1996). Besides, our interpretation of "else" is inspired by the exhaustivity operator from (Zeevat 1994), which says, at some point in a discourse, that apart from the answers given to a question, there are no other true answers. Combining "nobody" with "else," this is precisely the effect we get, in a fully compositional fashion, whereas "somebody else" comes to mean that somebody else than those specified satisfies the contextually given attribute. If time permits, we will also discuss some quite interesting interactions between the use of "else," and the specific ways in which verbal agents may conceptualize the domain of quantification, as in (Aloni 2001).
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A Pragmatic View upon Indefinites

Klaus von Heusinger, Ruth Kempson and Wilfried Meyer-Viol (eds.), Proceedings of the ESSLLII 13 Workshop on Choice Functions and Natural Language Semantics, Working Papers of the Department of Linguistics in Konstanz, Konstanz
This paper sets out to give a natural pragmatic explanation of several aspects of the interpretation of singular indefinite noun phrases. Focusing on pragmatic aspects of the use of indefinites I develop a uniform account of characteristic features of the interpretation of indefinites which previously have been dealt with (only partly) by different semantic paradigms (in particular, the dynamic and the choice function paradigm). I first present intuitive motivation for the familiar discourse dynamic features of the use of these expressions, and next extend this to their behaviour in conditional, quantified, and intensional contexts.
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Pronouns in a Pragmatic Semantics

Journal of Pragmatics, in press
In this paper we discuss some recent results and insights in the formal theory of interpretation. With the rise of systems of dynamic interpretation it has been suggested that they embrace a completely new notion of meaning. However, we claim that the successes of these systems can be attributed to the sophisticated and systematic way in which they pair an old-fashioned notion of meaning with a pragmatic notion of interpretation. Conceiving of it this way, the results can be relatively easily generalized.
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Meanwhile, Within the Frege Boundary

Robert van Rooy and Martin Stokhof (eds.), 2001, Proceedings of the Thirteenth Amsterdam Colloquium, ILLC/Department of Philosophy, pp. 73--78; a slightly revised version is submitted for publication in Linguistics and Philosophy
With this squib I want to contribute to understanding and improving upon (Keenan 1992)'s intriguing equivalence result about reducible type <2> quantifiers. I give an alternative proof of his result which generalizes to type quantifiers, and I show how the reduction of a reducible type quantifier to (the composition of) n type <1> quantifiers can be effectuated.
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On If and Only

Rachel Hastings and Brendan Jackson and Zsofia Zvolenszky (eds.), Proceedings of SALT XI, Cornell University
If and only are elegant and inspiring particles with substantial logical and linguistic roles. With this paper we hope to contribute to the understanding of the two, and to that of their interaction. Some of our (dynamic semantic) intuitions about the interpretation of these particles are tested on a small corpus of only if-donkey sentences found on the internet.
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Grounding Dynamic Semantics

To appear in: Anne Bezuidenhout and Marga Reimer (eds.) Descriptions and Beyond, Oxford UP
In this paper we present and motivate a formal elaboration of the treatment of anaphoric relationships suggested in (\cite{stalnaker:otroc}) which is close in spirit and scope to that of (\cite{heim:tsodainp,groenendijk&stokhof:dpl}). We agree with Stalnaker that an adequate account of the relevant facts does not require a dynamic semantic notion of meaning. Yet, we think, the data do provide motivation for such systems of dynamic interpretation.
A systematic treatment of anaphoric relationships along the lines suggested by Stalnaker requires us to take into account the referential intentions which can be associated with the use of referring terms, as well as the dynamics of assertion. The dynamics of interpretation then can be seen to reside in a dynamic notion of conjunction, which is a form of intersection, basically, infected by the generally available pragmatic information that in most conjunctions actually used, one conjunct literally precedes the other.
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"She"'s Character

In: Myriam Bras and Laure Vieu (eds.), to appear, Semantics and Pragmatics of Discourse and Dialogue Crispi, Elsevier
When it comes to the interpretation of pronouns or variables, theories of interpretation generally adduce contexts in which these elements feel at home. When pronouns are, thus, accommodated conveniently, they pretty passively do what the contexts tell them to do, which is hardly anything. These elements nevertheless succeed in oiling the wheels of efficient linguistic information exchange.
Upon closer inspection, it is hard to say what the meaning of pronouns precisely is. They turn out to have subtle indexical presuppositions but these easily go unnoticed because pronouns so eagerly require them to be satisfied whenever {\em they\/} are there.
In this paper we uncover the character of pronouns and identify their lexico-logical needs. We attempt a characterization of their indexical presuppositions in what we call an `intentional space', a concept formulated within a many-sorted modal logic.
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Dynamics and Pragmatics of "Peirce' Puzzle"

Forthcoming in the Journal of Semantics
An intriguing puzzle due to Charles Sanders Peirce (\cite{peirce:ptaafp}) has recently regained the interest of semanticists. It has been argued that the puzzle should be analyzed by means of a dynamic or E-type analysis of non-bound pronouns. In this paper we first argue that \puzzel, basically, doesn't have anything to do with non-bound pronouns and that, consequently, a dynamic or E-type analysis of pronouns misses the point. We next show that Peirce's own, intuitively correct, observations can be seen to follow from independently motivated principles governing the use of indefinite noun phrases. The puzzle constitutes further motivation for a perspective on the semantics/pragmatic interface recently under development in a dynamic setting.
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Meaning and Use of Indefinite Expressions

2002, Journal of Logic, Language and Information, 9
Sentences containing pronouns and indefinite noun phrases can be said to express open propositions, propositions which display gaps to be filled. This paper addresses the question what is the linguistic content of these expressions, what information they can be said to provide to a hearer, and in what sense the information of a speaker can be said to support their utterance. We present and motivate first order notions of content, update and support. The three notions are each defined in a compositional fashion and brought together within a single and coherent framework. Key words: formal semantics and pragmatics, dynamic interpretation, discourse representation, speaker's reference, multi-speaker dialogue, cross speaker anaphora.
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Support for Update Semantics

in Massimo Poesio and David Traum, 2000, Proceedings of Götalog 2000
In this paper classical systems of update semantics are studied from the wider perspective of information exchange. We present independent compositional statements of the content of, update with, and support for first order expressible sentences. It is shown that a proper update with the contents of supported utterances is safe, in the sense that it does not corrupt the information distributed over the interlocutors. The pragmatic outlook on update and support also allows us to escape from some of the objections that has been raised against first order analyses of natural languages connectives, notably that of conditionals as material implication. The adopted outlook furthermore provides inspiration for a plausible analysis of functional dependencies and of certain cases of what has been called quantificational and modal subordination.
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Coreference and Representationalism

In: Klaus von Heusinger und Urs Egli, 2000, Reference and Anaphoric Relations, Kluwer
The compositional interpretation of structures in discourse has raised the question whether some level of representation is indispensable in the analysis of the semantics of natural language. In this paper we formulate and motivate three notions of representationalism (a strong, a medium or midweak, and a weak one) and discuss to what extent existing formal semantic frameworks qualify as (strongly, midweakly or weakly) representational.

The Semantics of Dynamic Conjunction

Jerry Seligman and Patrick Blackburn, 2000, Logic, Language and Computation III, CSLI, Stanford, pp. 105--125
In this paper we argue that a formal discourse- or dialogue-oriented theory of interpretation does not presuppose a dynamic notion of meaning. For the compositional interpretation of anaphorical or other rhetorical relations in discourse, a richer notion of conjunction may be needed, but not a dynamic notion of meaning. The dynamics of interpretation can be understood to reside in the (classical) combination of the contents of various sentences which are located at different positions in discourse. We also argue that by shifting the focus towards the interaction between meaning and context, the dynamics of merging information can be fruitfully studied from a perspective more general than a strictly linear one.

Scopes in Discourse

The Journal of Language and Computation 1, 1999, pp. 7--32
In this paper I show how the techniques of dynamic interpretation developed by Janssen, Groenendijk and Stokhof, and Hendriks in the late eighties enable a rigourous semantic treatment of what are called telescoping and periscoping phenomena. The phenomenon of telescoping involves the semantic evaluation of pieces of discourse in the scope of operators which do not bind them syntactically. The phenomenon of periscoping is related to the potential of antecedent proper names to `see' pronouns from no matter how deeply embedded a position. The proposed technique of periscoping is also argued to be useful for a treatment of specific definites.

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Speaker's Reference, Descriptions, and Information Structure

1998, Journal of Semantics 15, 4
The notion of information developed in systems of dynamic semantics is applied in an analysis of the referential interpretation of definite descriptions, and the specific interpretation of indefinite ones. A Russellian treatment of descriptions is upgraded with the dynamic semantic notion of a discourse referent, and this enables a combination of contextually given information with information which is properly semantic. The analysis is sharpened by the addition of a partition of utterances into a ground and a focus part. The two extensions suffice to account for the most important features of situations which involve the referential use of expressions in a both semantically and pragmatically satisfactory way. A by-product is a rudimentary analysis of negative existential statements involving names.

On Context and Identity

In: Hans Kamp and Barbara Partee (eds.), 1997, Proceedings of the Workshop on Context Dependence, IMS, Stuttgart and UFAL, Prague
In this paper we compare two approaches to adverbial quantification, the so-called `bound variable approach' and the `situation-based approach'. More in particular, we build upon the suggestion, which has been made at various places in the literature, that the latter reduces to the former as soon as the underlying structure of situations has been characterized at the required level of detail.
We first discuss what kind of constraints on situation structures are actually needed in order for the situation-based approach to produce the results of the bound variable approach. We next argue that these are at odds with the intuitions underlying the situation based approach so that the two, as such, are bound to make empirical predictions. We eventually favor a extended dynamic approach, which allows for quantification over, among other things, eventualities.
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Cases, Adverbs, Situations and Events

In: Hans Kamp and Barbara Partee (eds.), 1997, Proceedings of the Workshop on Context Dependence, IMS, Stuttgart and UFAL, Prague
In this paper we compare two approaches to adverbial quantification, the so-called `bound variable approach' and the `situation-based approach'. More in particular, we build upon the suggestion, which has been made at various places in the literature, that the latter reduces to the former as soon as the underlying structure of situations has been characterized at the required level of detail.
We first discuss what kind of constraints on situation structures are actually needed in order for the situation-based approach to produce the results of the bound variable approach. We next argue that these are at odds with the intuitions underlying the situation based approach so that the two, as such, are bound to make empirical predictions. We eventually favor an extended dynamic approach, which allows for quantification over, among other things, eventualities.
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The Values of Variables in Dynamic Semantics

1996, Linguistics and Philosophy 19
Groenendijk and Stokhof have presented a dynamic, non-representational, interpretation of the language of predicate logic, which deals with the interpretation of anahoric relationships in terms of information about the values of variables. This paper shows that by the adoption of a more Heimian notion of information, and of Heimian felicity conditions (variables conventions), a semantical landscape is delineated which accommodates logically more attractive forms of information, update and deduction.

Representation and Information in Dynamic Semantics

In: Jerry Seligman, Dag Westerståhl (eds.), 1995, Proceedings of the 1994 Conference on Information-Oriented Approaches to Language, Logic and Computation, CSLI, Stanford, pp. 15
This paper elaborates upon the results of the preceding paper which shows that the DRT results can be obtained without withouth conflating natural language pronouns with a logic's variables. In this paper I discuss the impact of this distinction between pronouns and variables for the notions of representation and information involved in a dynamic semantics.

Predicate Logic with Anaphora

In: Lynn Santelmann and Mandy Harvey (eds.), 1994, Proceedings of the Fourth Semantics and Linguistic Theory Conference, DMLL Publications, Cornell University, pp. 17
In this paper I make a case for a separate treatment of (singular) anaphoric pronouns within a predicate logic with anaphora (PLA). Hans Kamp's discourse representation theoretic results can be formulated in a compositional way, without fiddling with orthodox notions of scope and binding. In contrast with its predecessor dynamic predicate logic, the system of PLA is a proper extension of ordinary predicate logic and it has a genuine update semantics. In contrast with other compositional reformulations of DRT, the semantics of PLA remains well within the bounds of ordinary, extensional type theory.
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Existential Disclosure

1993, Linguistics and Philosophy 16, pp. 561---587
In this paper it is shown that a dynamic approach to the semantics of natural language is also useful for the study of various sub-sentential phenomena. In particular, a dynamic semantic treatment is sketched of relational nouns, extensional adverbs and tense in texts. It is argued that existing analyses can be given a uniform and rigourous formulation in a compositional dynamic framework.

Transsentential Meditations

1993, PhD. Thesis, ILLC-Department of Philosophy, University of Amsterdam, pp. 240
My dissertation is concerned with a number of issues in the dynamic semantics of natural language. The three main contributions of the thesis have appeared in published form:

Co-authored Papers

Optimality Theory and Game Theory: Some Parallels

Paul Dekker and Robert van Rooy, forthcoming, Journal of Semantics
Optimality Theory catches on in linguistics, first in phonology, then in syntax, and recently also at the semantics / pragmatics interface. In this paper we point at some parallels between some principles employed in optimality theoretic interpretation, and some notions from the well studied field of Game Theory. Optimality theoretic interpretation can be defined as what we call an "interpretation game", and optimality itself can be viewed as a solution concept for a game. More in particular, optimality can be characterized in terms of the game-theoretical notion of a `Nash Equilibrium'.
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Intentional identity and Information Exchange

Paul Dekker and Robert van Rooy In: Robin Cooper and Thomas Gamkrelidze (eds.), 1998, Proceedings of the Second Tbilisi Symposium on Language, Logic and Computation, Tbilisi State university, Tbilisi, 12 pages
In this paper we compare and relate Robert van Rooy's recent analysis of intentional identity descriptions by means of `Hob-Nob sentences', with Paul Dekker's equally recent analysis of cross-speaker anaphora, `Hob-Nob situations' as we will also call them here. Hob-Nob situations are most naturally described using Hob-Nob sentences, and Hob-Nob sentences generally describe Hob-Nob situations. A combined account serves to shed light on the semantics / pragmatics interface, and on the relation between believing and meaning.
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A Paper on Teaching on the Internet

Paul Dekker and David Beaver, 1997, "Report on ECDS, An Interactive Course on the Internet", 16 pages
From 3-rd May until 12-th July 1996, an academic course was given for an international (intercontinental) group via the internet. The internet served as the medium both for the distribution of teaching materials, as well as for the teaching, instruction and communication. In this document the teachers record their experiences, to make them available to a wider audience. The course subject was Dynamic Semantics, an interdisciplinary branch of formal linguistics.
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LSituation Semantics

Paul Dekker and Herman Hendriks, 1994, in: R.E. Asher and J. M. Y. Simpson (eds.) The Encyclopedia of Language and Linguistics, Pergamon Press and Aberdeen University Press, pp. 22
An updated version has appeared in: Peter V. Lamarque (1997), Concise Encyclopedia of Language and Linguistics, Elsevier Science, Oxford, pp. 376--84

Links without Locations

Paul Dekker and Herman Hendriks, 1996, in: Paul Dekker and Martin Stokhof (eds.), Proceedings of the Tenth Amsterdam Colloquium, ILLC-Department of Philosophy, University of Amsterdam, pp. 339-358.
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Dynamic approaches to natural language

Peter Blok and Paul Dekker, 1994, IWBS Report TR 75.94.04, IBM Deutschland

Files in Focus

Paul Dekker and Herman Hendriks, 1993, in: Elisabet Engdahl (ed.), 1994, Integrating Information Structures into Constraint-based and Categorial Approaches, DYANA-2 Deliverable R1.3.B, ILLC-Department of Philosophy, University of Amsterdam, pp. 9.
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