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Four pieces for modality, context and usage
(Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2013)
The main part of this dissertation consists of four loosely connected chapters on the semantics of modals. The chapters inform each other and employ similar methods, but generally each one is self-contained and can be read ...
Introducing arguments
(Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2002)
Verbal arguments can be divided into two different types: those that are true arguments of the verb and those that are "additional" in the sense that there is evidence that they do not belong to the basic argument structure ...
Communicative efficiency in the lexicon
(Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2012)
In this dissertation, I argue that a variety of probabilistic patterns in natural language phonology derive from communicative efficiency. I present evidence from phonetically transcribed dictionaries of 60 languages from ...
'Only' and association with negative antonyms
(Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2013)
A problem is detected in how only, traditionally viewed, associates with Negative Quantifiers (NQs) like few, [at most n], and [less than n]. The predicted meanings, which negate the stronger alternatives of the relevant ...