Adreflexive Intensification and the Theory of Focus and Information

Transcription

1 Explicit and Implicit Information in Text. Information Structure across Languages June 8 10, 2006 Adreflexive Intensification and the Theory of Focus and Information Kjell Johan Sæbø University of Oslo Introduction Quite some languages have both true and false reflexives, (SE +) SELF and SE anaphors. Norwegian has the complex reflexive seg selv beside the simple reflexive seg. Hellan (1988) argued that basically, these are in complementary distribution, as suggested by: (1) Sangerne akkompagnerte seg #(selv) på gitar. singers-the accompanied SEG SELF on guitar (2) Christina Aguilera har sagt ja til å kle av seg (#selv). Christina Aguilera has said yes to to dress off SEG SELF (3) Olaf Gulbransson drakk [seg (#selv) full] SC. Olaf Gulbransson drank SEG SELF drunk (4) Hun i har sitt eget band med til å akkompagnere [seg (#selv)] i. she has her own band with to to accompany SEG SELF Hellan developed an ingenious theory to predict this (SELF encodes coargumenthood). However, there are problems with this account, both theoretical and descriptive. The worst is that seg and seg selv are not in complementary distribution: (5) Han begynte å kle av meg. Så kledde han av seg selv også. He started undressing me. Then he undressed himself too. (6) Når han skal sove, synger han [seg selv i søvn] SC. when he shall sleep sings he SEG SELF in sleep Defense of CD consists in appeal to homophony, proxy readings (e.g. Safir 2004: 130). Also, SELF is not ascribed the same meaning as when it modifies another entity type element. Some (Moravcsik 1972, Edmondson & Plank 1978, Siemund & Gast 2006,... ) have suggested that it is basically the same intensifier as elsewhere, e.g. Norwegian (7) and (8): (7) Hun vil gi datteren nok til at hun kan få et enklere liv enn hun selv har hatt. she will give daughter enough to that she can get a simpler life than she SELF has had (8) De gode gjerningene hennes har reelt sett gagnet henne selv. the good deeds hers have really seen benefitted her SELF

2 These problems persist in more recent analyses, such as Reinhart & Reuland 1993, Safir I will refer to these analyses collectively as the traditional treatment. It is basically syntactic. Bergeton (2004): Severing Intensification from Binding By contrast, Bergeton (2004) seeks to derive the meaning of sig selv from the meaning of sig and the meaning of selv. His theory rests on these assumptions: Binding and intensification are independent. Intensified anaphors are parallel to intensified pronouns and DPs. Intensification requires contexts providing alternatives and contrast (the Contrastiveness condition on adnominal intensification ). The distribution of intensified anaphors is sensitive to predicate meaning and pragmatics (utterance situation and common ground). There are three relevant classes of predicates: Anti-reflexives, presupposing non-identity of arguments, reflexives, presupposing identity of arguments, and neutral predicates. This theory is theoretically satisfying in two senses: It is economical, aiming at a uniform analysis of SELF whatever it modifies, and it is explanatory in that the meaning of SELF plays a role. It also makes more precise predictions about the distribution of the forms than other accounts. In particular, SIG and SIG-SELF are not predicted to be in complementary distribution, since many of the inherently reflexive predicates are reassigned to a new class of neutral predicates where, depending on the context, we can use both, and there is no requirement for SIG-SELF to be a coargument, so it can be a SC subject, if the context generates a set of alternatives. Still, the theory leaves some questions unanswered. The most important are: Why is SELF necessary in many cases like (1)? Why is SELF less necessary in (say) German than in (say) Dutch, cf. (9)? (9) Sie begleitet sich (selbst) auf dem Klavier. she accompanies SIG SELF on the piano (1) is problematic because although SELF comes with a constraint (Contrastiveness), the absence of SELF does not come with a constraint. The anti-reflexive verb presupposes that the two arguments refer to different entities, so (1) forms a presupposition failure, but it is unclear how SELF helps justify the presupposition, or remedies the presupposition failure. As to (9), the problem is that because Bergeton s theory is compositional, the option open to Safir (2004) is closed: One cannot argue that SIG+SELF is a unit in Dutch but not in German, when the cornerstone of the theory is that binding and intensification are independent. Bergeton does not work with a formal theory of focus (like Rooth 1992) and intensification (like Eckardt 2001), and I will show that if one does, the open issues can be settled once the theory of focus is supplemented by the theory of informational integration (Jacobs 1999) and by optimality theoretic pragmatics (Blutner 1998, 2000, 2002, 2004, 2006). 2

3 + Intensification Semantics (Eckardt) and Informational Integration (Jacobs) Eckardt (2001) has devised an ingenious theory of selbst intensification in German, as in (10). (10) Ich möchte spätestens mit 17 ein Kind haben, weil ich es einfach am besten finde, I wantto latest at 17 a child have because I it simply at best find früh Kinder zu bekommen, um mein Kind, wenn es selbst Teenager ist, zu verstehen. early children to get for my child when it self teenager is to understand It is: The intensifier denotes the identity function on type e entities. From this assumption, the following follows: The expression denoting the type e argument, the so-called associate, is a name, variable, pronoun, or definite description. The associate is out of focus (or in together with the intensifier), and the intensifier is in focus (alone or together with the associate) or else intensification would be redundant. The net effect of intensification is thus to add focus, giving rise to focus presuppositions in the focus theory of Rooth (1992), Alternative Semantics. 1 Neither Eckardt nor Bergeton applies the theory to the case where the associate is a reflexive. (11) (En barberer barberer alle som ikke barberer seg selv og ingen andre.) a barber shaves everyone that not shaves SEG SELF and noone else Barberer denne barbereren [seg selv] F? shaves this barber SEG SELF Here I have chosen to let the intensifier and the reflexive form a focus constituent together. Then the focus presupposition is simpler than when the intensifier is in focus all by itself. 2 That of (11) is: There are propositions ϕ such that there is an alternative y to the barber x such that ϕ = shaves(y)(x). This is verified in the context of (11), the barber s customers instantiating y. Now how does the reflexive relate to focus if it is not intensified? 1 To be sure, there is more to say about, in particular, adverbial intensification in Eckardt s theory (see also Sæbø 2005). However, since intensification of reflexives is adnominal intensification, we can concentrate on this. 2 The focus semantic value of [seg selv] F is the set of alternatives to the seg referent z, while the focus semantic value of [seg selv F ] is the set of x such that there is an alternative f to the identity function such that x = f(z). Alternatives to the identity function are operations that do not map things onto themselves but onto other things. Eckardt derives so-called centrality effects from alternatives to the identity function. It is debatable whether there is a real difference between the two options in this regard, or centrality effects should be otherwise explained. Anyway, centrality effects do not seem to play a central role in connection with intensified anaphors. 3

4 Is it out of focus (as if it were old information), corresponding to (12a)? Or: Is it in focus with something else say, the predicate, corresponding to (12b)? (12) a. Han [barberer] F seg. he shaves SEG b. Han [barberer seg] F. Eckardt only considers the a. focus structure, but that is because the associates she considers are all anaphoric in the discourse semantic sense (names, personal pronouns, or definites). Anaphors are different. And the b. structure, with wide focus and informational integration, offers a way to account for the necessity of SELF with anti-reflexive predicates, as in (1). Jacobs (1999) developed a theory about the grammar, semantics, and pragmatics of structures like (12b) or (13a / b). (13) a. He has [found a RING] F. b. He has [FOUND something] F. The less informative, unaccented constituent, in (12b) seg, in (13a) found, in (13b) something, is informationally integrated, or non-autonomous; the predicate and argument function as one informational unit and are processed semantically in one step. This idea of informational unity has proven very difficult to make precise. + OT Pragmatics (Blutner 1998, 2000, 2002, 2004, 2006) By supplementing Rooth s theory of focus interpretation with a pragmatic, BOT component, we can account for what is signalled by a wide focus on a predicate and its argument. The focus presupposition of such a structure is too weak to describe informational integration; that of the structure with two narrow foci, one on the predicate and the other on the argument, subsumes it. However, once we consider the optimal interpretation of the wide focus version, in competition with the two-foci version, we see that this version does not only not communicate the stronger focus presupposition; it positively communicates the opposite, that there are alternatives to the VP as a unit, but not to the predicate and to the argument separately. It can be shown that this boils down to saying that one is sufficiently predictable from the other, plus that there are no local alternatives to it in the discourse (Sæbø 2006). (14) a. Narcissos [beundrer] F [seg selv] F. Narcissus admires SEG SELF b. # Narcissos [beundrer seg] F. Thus (12b) will implicate that the seg argument is sufficiently predictable from the predicate, and that the discourse does not provide local alternatives to it. For (14b) to be felicitous, the same must be the case; but of course, the seg referent cannot be sufficiently predictable on the basis of a verb with this meaning. (14b) is doomed to contradict its own optimal interpretation. 4

5 Generally, complementing the focus presupposition of a P F [seg selv] F, we will (in languages like Norwegian) have a (presupposition plus a) conversational implicature for a [P seg] F like: The Focus Presupposition of a P F [seg selv] F There are propositions ϕ such that there is an R P and a y a such that ϕ = R(y)(a) The Focus Presupposition and Implicature of a [P seg] F There are propositions ϕ such that there is a Q P(a) such that ϕ = Q(a), but not such that there is an R P and a y a such that ϕ = R(y)(a) This explains the necessity of SELF with anti-reflexive predicates. SEG SELF across Languages: A Suggestion But how about a language like German, where selbst is rarely necessary with such predicates? (15) a. Narziß [bewundert] F sich [selbst] F. Narcissus admires SEG SELF b. Narziß [bewundert] F sich. As long as a focus structure analogous to that in Mainland Scandinavian or Dutch is assumed, with informational nonautonomy for the unintensified sich, it is a mystery why intensification is superfluous with anti-reflexive predicates. However, it is possible to assume that in such languages (Icelandic is another), anaphors relate to focus in the same way as pronouns, that is, when not accented they are out of focus, cf. (15a) and (15b) as compared to (14a) and (14b). That way, the reflexive is not predicted to be predictable from the predicate; it is predicted to be a continuing topic (and in a sense, it always is). Selbst can be possible (but unnecessary) because focus presuppositions are easy to accommodate. To account for the contrast in this way, it is necessary to assume that a German reflexive can be out of focus while a Danish reflexive, when the internal argument of a predicate whose external argument binds it, is always in focus, normally parasitically on the intensifier or on the predicate, with which it integrates. To be sure, there is scarce independent evidence for this assumption but: The same can be said of the assumption that sich selbst fails to form a unit (Safir 2004: 205). Thus it looks as if the novel theory of complex reflexives, launched by Uffe Bergeton (2004), loosening information theory intensification from syntax binding, can be intensified. 5

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