Language Science Lunch Talk - Aron Hirsch
Language Science Lunch Talk - Aron Hirsch
Alternatives in focus
Abstract: The focus operator only is sensitive to alternatives. In the sentence I only read Macbeth, only conveys that alternatives such as “I read Hamlet” and “I read Twelfth Night” are false. But, how are the alternatives determined in a given case? In this talk, we will consider to what extent the syntactic structure of the sentence plays a role in determining focus alternatives, and suggest that certain puzzles attributed to syntax may, in fact, be resolved based on pragmatic considerations (cf. Hirsch & Schwarz 2023, Schwarz & Wagner 2023, 2024). In doing so, we pursue an analysis where only quantifies over alternative answers to the Question Under Discussion (following Roberts 1996, Beaver & Clark 2008, Katzir 2023, cf. Rooth 1992). This is joint work with Bernhard Schwarz (McGill University).
Lunch served at 12:15 PM.
About: Aron Hirsch is an Assistant Professor of linguistics at the University of Maryland. He completed his Ph.D. at MIT. Aron's work concerns syntax and semantics, with particular interest in the interface between those systems, and in their interactions with other aspects of grammar and cognition, including pragmatics, prosody, and sentence processing.