Repetitive and Restitutive Presuppositions and the Semantics of English Verbal Roots
Jianrong Yu
January 2021 

This dissertation explores the argument structure of various verb classes through the lens of sub-lexical modification and the presuppositions introduced by 'again'. Chapter 1 lays out the assumptions of a constructionist, decompositional view of argument structure, how semantic interpretation proceeds in this view, and a structural analysis of 'again'-ambiguities. Chapter 2 explores repetitive presuppositions introduced by 'again' which exclude the agent external argument. Theories that sever the external argument and agent entailments like intentionality from the verb and introduce them through functional heads in the syntax predict that such presuppositions should always be allowed. Verbs like 'kill' bear this out; when modified by 'again', 'kill' allows contexts where the prior event need not contain the same agent nor require the event to be intentionally carried out. However, verbs like 'murder' disallow such contexts; rather, the prior event satisfying the presupposition of 'again' must always be an intentionally carried out event by the same agent. This contrast is unexpected in light of these theories. I develop a compositional analysis couched in DM where roots can contain representations of the external argument and agent entailments like intentionality. I further explore verbs of manner of forced taking like 'snatch', which allow subjectless presuppositions but require intentionally carried out prior events with 'again'. They hence show that agent entailments like intentionality and the agent argument can be dissociated in terms of where they are introduced. I then discuss the consequences of the analysis for theories of verb meaning that seek to constrain the range of entailments verbs can have by assuming a division of labor between structurally-introduced and root-introduced meaning entailments. Chapter 3 explores restitutive presuppositions produced by 'again' with change-of-state verbs like 'open'. The central observation is that when the holder argument that undergoes the change-of-state is quantificational like an indefinite, two kinds of restitutive presuppositions are produced in the transitive causative variant: one where in the prior event the holder argument is the same entity as the asserted event, and one where the two holder arguments are different. Crucially, this ambiguity is not observed with the intransitive inchoative variant; the holder argument must be the same entity across presupposition and assertion. Traditional decompositional theories of this verb class suggesting that there is a common small clause result state constituent in both the transitive and intransitive variants face difficulties in explaining such readings. Instead, I argue for an analysis where the causative and inchoative variants of change-of-state verbs have differing amounts of functional structure within the result state constituent to account for the difference in the range of restitutive presuppositions available. I further investigate the implications of indefinite holder arguments with change-of-state verbs modified by 'again' for analyses of 're'-prefixation, the representation of the counterdirectional requirement of 'again', and for scalar, degree-based analyses of degree achievements. Chapter 4 points out larger theoretical implications of this work, outlines possibilities for similar kinds of investigations in other languages, and concludes.

Format:	[ pdf ]
Reference:	lingbuzz/005684 (please use that when you cite this article)
Published in:	University of Arizona dissertation
keywords:	lexical semantics, argument structure, lexical decomposition, sub-lexical modification, distributed morphology, semantics, morphology, syntax
previous versions:	v1 [January 2021]
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