Incremental semantic restriction and subjectivity-based adjective ordering
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.18148/sub/2020.v24i2.896Abstract
Adjective ordering preferences (e.g., big blue box vs. blue big box) are robustly attested in many unrelated languages (Dixon, 1982). Scontras et al. (2017) showed that adjective subjectivity is a robust predictor of ordering preferences in English: less subjective adjectives occur closer to the modified noun. In a follow-up to this finding, several authors have claimed that pressures from successful reference resolution and the hierarchical structure of modification explain subjectivity-based ordering preferences (Simonic?, 2018; Franke et al., 2019; Scon- tras et al., 2019). In cases of restrictive modification, adjectives that compose with the nominal later will classify a smaller set of potential referents (e.g., the set of boxes vs. the set of blue boxes). To avoid alignment errors where a listener might mis-characterize the intended referent, speakers introduce the more error-prone (i.e., more subjective) adjectives later in the hierarchical construction of nominal structure; the structure linearizes such that subjectivity decreases the closer you get to the modified noun. The current study explores the predictions of this reference-resolution story by examining adjective ordering cross-linguistically: when adjectives incrementally restrict a nominal denotation, there should be pressure toward subjectivity- based orderings, but, in the absence of incremental restriction, such pressures should not obtain.Downloads
Published
2020-09-18
How to Cite
Scontras, G., Bar-Sever, G., Kachakeche, Z., Rosales Jr., C. M., & Samonte, S. (2020). Incremental semantic restriction and subjectivity-based adjective ordering. Proceedings of Sinn Und Bedeutung, 24(2), 253–270. https://doi.org/10.18148/sub/2020.v24i2.896
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