Accessing Noun-Phrase Antecedents

277 Pages·2014·5.947 MB·English

by  Mira Ariel

ROUTLEDGE LIBRARY EDITIONS:
LINGUISTICS
Volume 12
ACCESSING NOUN-PHRASE
ANTECEDENTS
This page intentionally left blank
ACCESSING NOUN-PHRASE
ANTECEDENTS
MIRA ARIEL
RRoutledge
Taylor &. Francis Group
LONDON AND NEW YORK
First published in 1990
This edition first published in 2014
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon, OX14 4RN
Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada
by Routledge
711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 1990 Mira Ariel
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or
utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now
known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any
information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the
publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered
trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent
to infringe.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
ISBN: 978-0-415-64438-9 (Set)
eISBN: 978-0-203-07902-7 (Set)
ISBN: 978-0-415-72354-1 (Volume 12)
eISBN: 978-1-315-85747-3 (Volume 12)
Publisher’s Note
The publisher has gone to great lengths to ensure the quality of this reprint but
points out that some imperfections in the original copies may be apparent.
Disclaimer
The publisher has made every effort to trace copyright holders and would
welcome correspondence from those they have been unable to trace.
Accessing Noun-Phrase
Antecedents
Mira Ariel
i
G
E
S
T8
m
A
L
Routledge
T

London and New York
First published 1990
by Routledge
11 New Fetter Lane, London EC4P 4EE
Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada
by Routledge
a division of Routledge, Chapman and Hall, Inc.
29 West 35th Street, New York, NY 10001
© 1990 Mira Ariel
Typeset in 10/11 English Times
by Mayhew Typesetting, Bristol
Printed in Great Britain
by T.J. Press, Padstow, Cornwall
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or
reproduced or utilized in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or
other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying
and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system,
without permission in writing from the publishers.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
Ariel, Mira
Accessing noun-phrase antecedents. - (Croom Helm
linguistics series).
1. Linguistics
I. Title
410
ISBN 0-415-00306-7
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Ariel, Mira.
Accessing noun-phrase antecedents / Mira Ariel,
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references.
ISBN 0-415-00306-7
1. Reference (Linguistics) 2. Grammar. Comparative and general-
-Noun phrase. 3. Semantics. I. Title.
P325.5.R44A75 1990
415 - dc20 89-10975
CIP
Contents
List of tables vii
Acknowledgements ix
Introducing Accessibility theory 1
0.1 On the role of context 1
0.2 On the nature of context retrievals 4
0.21 A ‘geographic’ view of context 5
0.3 Accessibility and the structure of memory 11
0.4 Accessibility marking: General predictions 17
0.41 The distributional pattern of referring expressions 17
0.42 Factors affecting Accessibility 22
Part I Discourse references 31
1 Low Accessibility referring expressions 33
1.1 Definite descriptions 34
1.2 Proper names 36
1.3 Degrees of Accessibility within Low Accessibility
Markers 41
2 Intermediate Accessibility referring expressions 47
2.1 Personal pronouns 47
2.2 Demonstrative pronouns 51
2.3 Degrees of Accessibility within Intermediate
Accessibility Markers 53
3 High Accessibility Markers 56
3.1 Deep anaphora* 58
3.2 Third-person pronouns 61
3.3 Degrees of Accessibility within High Accessibility
Markers 64
v
Contents
4 The Accessibility scale 69
4.1 Constructing the Accessibility scale 69
4.2 The universality of the Accessibility scale 76
4.21 Formulating the Universal Accessibility Claim 79
4.3 Concluding remarks 92
Part II Sentence-level anaphora 95
5 Applying Accessibility theory to sentence-level anaphora 97
5.1 General predictions 97
5.2 Replacing the \Avoid Pronoun9principle with
Accessibility theory 100
6 Zero subjects 106
6.1 The Accessibility status of AGR types: Focus on
Hebrew 109
6.2 Zero subjects: Focus on Chinese 123
7 Clause-linkage and anaphoric marking 131
7.7 Clause-linkage aGndE STASwLitTch -Rnecfee rseystems 138
7.2 Clause-linkage aGndE STAdeLfinTit e nNaPph aora 147
7.21 Clause-linkage and Resumptriovneo Puns 148
GESTALT
7.22 Clause-linkage and backwaradpsh aonra 155
Part III On the interaction of Accessibility with 165
pragmatic and social factors
8 The role of inferencing 169
8.1 The use of context in reference resolutions 171
8.2 Inferred entities 184
8.3 On so-called presuppositions 190
9 Special uses of Accessibility Markers 198
9.1 Possible divergences from appropriate Accessibility
marking 199
9.2 Referring to the 'Other9: Focus on women 207
9.3 Appendix 220
Notes 221
References 238
Sources 256
Name index 258
Subject index 262
List of tables
0.1 Breakdown of anaphoric expressions by text positions 18
0.2 Popularity of anaphoric expressions in text positions 19
0.3 Popularity of non-topic anaphoric expressions in text
positions 19
1.1 Context accessed by definite descriptions 35
1.2 Contexts referred to by definite descriptions and full
proper names 42
1.3 Distribution of definite descriptions and full proper
names in various textual positions 42
1.4 Context types retrieved by long and short definite
descriptions 44
1.5 Name types in initial position 45
1.6 Names in textual positions 45
4.1 Initial Accessibility marking 70
6.1 Hebrew AGR types with respect to Informativity 116
6.2 Person markers in past and future tenses 117
6.3 Zero/pronoun distribution in Chinese correlatives 127
9.1 Names and name types used to initially refer to
women and men in the media 212
9.2 Dependency descriptions introducing females and
males 213
9.3 Distribution of predominantly ‘feminine’ references 216
9.4 Distribution of predominantly ‘masculine’ references 216
9.3 Appendix 220
vii