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Noun phrases: logical and linguistic properties*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 June 2016

Thomas G. Pavel
Thomas G. Pavel*
Affiliation:
University of Ottawa
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Extract

Recent linguistic research has explored the possibility of using standard logical analyses to explain some phenomena of natural languages. The logical notion of scope in modal contexts has yielded to the linguistic dichotomy of [±specific] indefinite NPs. Donnellan’s (1966) distinction between referential and attributive uses of definite description has been used to extend this dichotomy to include definite NPs. The behaviour of moods in Romance subordinate clauses has been tentatively explained by the same notions.

The purpose of this paper is to criticize some of these attempts to apply logical analyses to natural languages. Without denying the heuristic and even the explanatory value of standard logical analysis in linguistics, I will try to show that the correspondence between logical semantic notions and the categories of natural languages is much more approximate than is sometimes believed.

Type
Research Article
Information
Canadian Journal of Linguistics/Revue canadienne de linguistique , Volume 21 , Issue 2 , Fall 1976 , pp. 133 - 152
Copyright
Copyright © Canadian Linguistic Association 1976

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Footnotes

*

This research was supported by the Canada Council through grant No S 73-0620. I am indebted to my colleagues, M. L. Rivero and K. Arnold for their remarks on an earlier version. I must express my gratitude to all my informants and especially to Robert Marteau, who graciously accepted to study and comment on an endless list of doubtful cases.

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