Measurement that transcends time : a Lebesgue integral approach to existential sentences

In the study of natural language semantics, sentences that assert the existence of entities predicated of by noun phrases have traditionally been analyzed with simple usage of the existential quantifier. In this thesis, I challenge this standard approach through discussion of sentences whose semantics cannot be correctly captured in this manner, and develop an alternative, novel approach that employs Lebesgue integration. The first chapter is centered around Musan's (1995) generalization that states that the temporal (situational) interpretation of a non-presuppositional (i.e. existential) noun phrase is obligatorily dependent on that of the main predicate. It defends the view that the situational dependence is obtained by virtue of being in the scope of some operator and argues that in order to obtain the correct interpretation of plural non-presuppositional noun phrases, the numeral part of non-presuppositional noun phrases must be separated and interpreted above the said operator. The second, and last chapter incorporates the result of the former chapter into Krifka's (1990) analysis of the readings of existential sentences which Krifka terms event-related readings. After we observe that Musan's generalization is extended to the situational interpretation of units of measurement, it becomes evident that a proper semantic analysis of sentences that describe continuous production or consumption of mass entities requires the capability of treating infinitesimally small time intervals.

Department dc:contributor.department

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

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2009

Author dc:creator

• Shimada, Junri

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Danny Fox and 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/1721.1/55184

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/55184