De de se

In this dissertation, I argue against a unitary treatment of individual de se ascription. Based on consideration of Yoruba logophors and English dream-report pronouns, I show that one mechanism is best analyzed as binding by an operator, which is sensitive to binding locality requirements. In contrast, I argue that cases of indexical shift (whereby token-reflexive elements such as I and tomorrow may be dependent on the context of an attitude predicate), which do not show local binding effects, are instances of overwriting of elements of the sequence of evaluation. As pronouns that are not obligatorily read de se show neither of the conditions for shifted indexicals nor West-African logophors, I argue that de se readings of these items must arise as special cases of de re ascription. Cross-linguistic instances of anti-logophoricity (i.e., the obligatory non-de se ascription of pronouns in certain contexts) are correspondingly treated as environments imposing a non-de se demand on de re ascription. Finally, I demonstrate that binding and overwriting mechanisms may both be found within the territory of de se long-distance anaphora, based largely on a systematic split in interpretation amongst Mandarin speakers on licensing and interpretative constraints on long-distance ziji.

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Linguistics and Philosophy.

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2006

Author dc:creator

• Anand, Pranav

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Irene Heim.

• Linguistics and Philosophy.

Statement dc:rights

• M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/37418

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/37418