Anaphors and the Missing Link

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dc.contributor.advisorWilliams, Alexanderen_US
dc.contributor.advisorHacquard, Valentineen_US
dc.contributor.authorGagnon, Michael Rolanden_US
dc.contributor.departmentLinguisticsen_US
dc.contributor.publisherDigital Repository at the University of Marylanden_US
dc.contributor.publisherUniversity of Maryland (College Park, Md.)en_US
dc.date.accessioned2014-02-08T06:30:29Z
dc.date.available2014-02-08T06:30:29Z
dc.date.issued2013en_US
dc.description.abstractThree types of nominal anaphors are investigated: (i) pronouns, (ii) partitive ellipsis and (iii) the contrastive anaphor `one'. I argue that in each case, the representational basis for anaphora is the same, a semantic variable ranging over singular or plural entities, rather than syntactic as previous approaches have suggested. In the case of pronouns, I argue against syntactic D-type approaches (Elbourne 2005) and semantic D-type approaches (Cooper 1979). Instead, I present arguments in favor of the set variable representation assumed under Nouwen (2003)'s approach. Following this, I consider a number of cases usually taken to involve the elision of a noun phrase, and argue that instead they involve the deletion of a partitive phrase containing an anaphoric plural pronoun. Third, I turn to the contrastive anaphor `one' and its null counterpart in French. Here again, I argue that the basis for anaphora is a semantic set variable, where this anaphor differs from pronouns in being of category N rather than D, and in having a pragmatic requirement for contrast. This analysis differs from previous ones which hold that this expression is a syntactic substitute of category N′, or the spell-out of the head of a number phrase followed by ellipsis of a noun phrase. Finally, I discuss the phenomenon of event anaphora. Given the phenomenon's interaction with the anaphors discussed prior in this dissertation, I argue that it is better seen as a case of deferred reference to an event on the basis of anaphoric reference to a discourse segment, following Webber (1991). This contrasts with what I call metaphysical approaches, which hold that the anaphor directly resumes an event introduced to the context by a previous clause (Asher 1993; Moltmann 1997).en_US
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/1903/14875
dc.language.isoenen_US
dc.subject.pqcontrolledLinguisticsen_US
dc.subject.pqcontrolledPhilosophyen_US
dc.subject.pquncontrolledanaphoraen_US
dc.subject.pquncontrolledellipsisen_US
dc.subject.pquncontrolledeventen_US
dc.subject.pquncontrolledpartitive ellipsisen_US
dc.subject.pquncontrolledpronounen_US
dc.titleAnaphors and the Missing Linken_US
dc.typeDissertationen_US

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