Bound-Variable-Like Interpretations of Demonstrative Pronouns, Complex Demonstratives and Definite Descriptions

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Stefan Hinterwimmer
• Subject Area: General and Comparative Linguistics, Experimental Linguistics, Typology, Non-European Languages
• Term: from 2013 to 2021
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 248411105

The main results of the proceding project were as follows: First, we have shown that demonstrative pronouns (DemPros) can in principle be bound, but avoid grammatical subjects as binders. Second, we have shown that DemPros do not necessarily avoid subjects or topics as antecedents. Rather they avoid DPs whose referents are perspectival centers. Third, we have shown that in certain configurations DemPros may even be bound by grammatical subjects, namely when there is a prominent perspectival center available that is distinct from the respective subject. These results raise a number of questions the answers to which will deepen our understanding of how binding and co-variation works and what role the notion of perspective plays in this regard. The first question concerns the relation between subject avoidance and the avoidance of perspectival centers: Can the former be reduced to the latter, or does it have to be retained as an independent principle that obtains at least in certain configurations? Second, our conclusions concerning the binding options of DemPros were exclusively based on sentences containing universally quantified DPs with overt NPs as restrictors. Preliminary evidence suggests, however, that bound-variable-like interpretations are much harder to get for DemPros in sentences where the putative binder is a DP headed by a negative quantificational determiner or a quantificational DP without an overt restrictor. This raises the following question: Can DemPros really be bound by (non-subject) quantificational DPs in the same way as personal pronouns, or do bound-variable-like interpretations in their case come about via a more indirect mechanism such as telescoping that only applies under certain, highly restricted conditions? Third, it has been shown by several researchers that, definite descriptions and complex demonstratives at least in same cases allow for bound-variable-like interpretations as well. What has not been investigated in any detail are the conditions under which are available. Given our results concerning the binding options of DemPros, it is thus an obvious question whether complex demonstratives and definite descriptions are constrained in the same way as DemPros in their binding options. In particular, does subject avoidance and/or the avoidance of perspectival centers play any role, or can their distribution be derived from a pragmatic reconstruction of Principle C of binding theory along the lines suggested by Schlenker (2005)? In the current project, we will conduct experimental investigations using methods such as self-paced reading and acceptability studies in order to answer these questions. Based on the results of the experimental investigations, we will develop a theoretical model of how syntactic, semantic and pragmatic principles and constraints interact in producing bound-variable-like interpretations of DemPros, complex demonstratives and definite descriptions.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants