A Presuppositional Analysis of Specific Indefinites: Common Grounds as Structured Information States

by Jae-Il Yeom

Overview

First published in 1998. In this book the author presents the view that although many linguists have been interested in specific indefinites, their theories are not quite satisfactory in that they have only tried to explore some aspects of specific indefinites. This paper assumes a standard notion of specificity, i.e., the notion of someone having-in-mind an individual or a relation. Under this assumption, there is an attempt to review previous studies on specific indefinites, and propose a new theory of specificity which I believe can capture all aspects which the previous studies have explored. This leads us to a new information theory which is partially representational and partially denotational., and which is useful for dealing with conversational aspects, like the distinction between the speaker and the audience.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781138979307
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	02/29/2016
Series:	Outstanding Dissertations in Linguistics
Pages:	258
Product dimensions:	5.06(w) x 7.81(h) x (d)

Table of Contents

Chapter 1 Introduction; Chapter 2 Review of Previous Studies; Chapter 3 An Ambiguity View of Specificity; Chapter 4 The Semantics of Cognitive Contact in Information Theory; Chapter 5 Presupposition Projection and Scope of Specific Indefinites;