Surface Structure and Pragmatic Interpretation

FAIN: FA-11684-77

Peter W. Culicover
Regents of the University of California, Irvine (Irvine, CA 92617-3066)

To research whether it is possible to draw the boundary between "semantics" and "pragmatics" sharply, and, if so, what the most fruitful way to do this is, given empirical considerations and the constraints of autonomous syntax. Study is concerned specifically with a) development of a notation suitable for representation of the speaker’s attitude towards propositions and the use of sentences in context, b) the interaction between logical devices such as negation and syntactic devices such as inversion for pragmatic purposes (e.g. pseudo-negation), and c) effect of intonation on pragmatic aspects of interpretation, especially rising/failing differences in questions, exclamations, etc.