{"id":271,"date":"2010-02-24T10:00:35","date_gmt":"2010-02-24T08:00:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/elanguage.net\/blogs\/booknotices\/?p=271"},"modified":"2010-02-03T13:02:09","modified_gmt":"2010-02-03T11:02:09","slug":"drawing-the-boundaries-of-meaning","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/journals.linguisticsociety.org\/booknotices\/?p=271","title":{"rendered":"Drawing the boundaries of meaning"},"content":{"rendered":"
Drawing the boundaries of meaning: <\/strong>Neo-Gricean studies in pragmatics and semantics in honor of Laurence R. Horn. Ed. by Betty J. Birner<\/strong> and Gregory Ward<\/strong>. (Studies in language companion series 80.) Amsterdam: John Benjamins, 2006. Pp. 350. ISBN 9027230900<\/a>. $188 (Hb).<\/div>\n

Reviewed by Manuel Padilla Cruz<\/strong><\/a>, University of Seville<\/em><\/p>\n

This volume gathers eighteen interesting papers by twenty-two leading researchers to honor scholar Laurence R. Horn. It starts with an introduction in which the editors summarize the prolific and influential work by this linguist, mainly devoted to delineating the boundary between semantics and pragmatics.<\/p>\n

In the first contribution, \u2018Where have some of the presuppositions gone?\u2019, Barbara Abbott<\/strong> clarifies the distinction between presuppositions and implicatures, and why some presupposition triggers get their presuppositions neutralized. In \u2018The top 10 misconceptions about implicature\u2019, Kent Bach<\/strong> reflects on frequent misconceptions about implicatures. In \u2018Inferential relations and noncanonical word order\u2019, Betty J. Birner<\/strong> argues that inferable information in noncanonical constructions can be better explained if \u2018discourse-old\u2019 information is seen as inferentially connected to previous context.<\/p>\n

In the fourth paper, \u2018Sherlock Holmes was in no danger\u2019, Greg Carlson<\/strong> and Gianluca Storto<\/strong> discuss the semantics and pragmatics of context-sensitive lexical items with a variable that is assigned a value in a specific context by pragmatic processes. In \u2018Free choice in Romanian\u2019, Donka F. Farkas<\/strong> analyses the uses of the Romanian determiner any<\/em> from an indefinitist standpoint. In \u2018Polarity, questions, and the scalar properties of even<\/em>\u2019, Anastasia Giannakidou<\/strong> explores the behavior of three Greek expressions that seem to be the equivalents of \u2018even\u2019.<\/p>\n

In the seventh paper, \u2018Discourse particles and the symbiosis of natural language processing and basic research\u2019, Georgia M. Green<\/strong> discusses some attitudinal discourse markers whose apparently meaningless occurrence unveils the speaker\u2019s feelings. Next, Michael Israel<\/strong> accounts for how speakers use attenuation and understatement to reduce the content of what they say in \u2018Saying less and meaning less\u2019. In \u2018I can\u2019t seem to figure this out\u2019, Pauline Jacobson<\/strong> reflects on the scope of the constituents of the can\u2019t seem to<\/em> construction.<\/p>\n

In the tenth contribution, \u2018Referring expressions and conversational implicatures\u2019, Andrew Kehler<\/strong> and Gregory Ward<\/strong> argue that there must be \u2018nonfamiliarity implicatures\u2019 that implicate that the referents of some expressions are nonfamiliar to the hearer. Then, Steven R. Kleinedler<\/strong> and Randall Eggert<\/strong> deal with the semantics and pragmatics of personal pronouns and their lexicographical challenges in \u2018Indexi-lexicography\u2019, contending that recourse to pragmatics is necessary for their definitions. In \u2018Why defining is seldom \u201cjust semantics\u201d: Marriage and marriage<\/em>\u2019, Sally McConnell-Ginet<\/strong> centers on the function of some instrumental definitions for developing concepts, understanding, and social life.<\/p>\n

In the thirteenth paper, \u2018Negation and modularity\u2019, Frederick J. Newmeyer<\/strong> supports a modular account of English negation. In \u2018A note on Mandarin possessives, demonstratives, and definiteness\u2019, Barbara H. Partee<\/strong> analyses some problems posed by Mandarin possessives, numerals, and demonstratives in combinations related to definiteness and partitivity. In \u2018On a homework problem of Larry Horn\u2019s\u2019, Francis J. Pelletier<\/strong> and Andrew Hartline<\/strong> discuss a solution to the problem of the meaning of \u2018or\u2019 proposed by Larry Horn.<\/p>\n

In the sixteenth contribution, \u2018Impersonal pronouns in French and Yiddish\u2019, Ellen F. Prince<\/strong> examines the impersonal subject pronoun \u2018one\u2019 in these languages in terms of its truth-conditional meaning and discourse anaphora possibilities. In \u2018Motors and switches: An exercise in syntax and pragmatics\u2019, Jerrold M. Sadock<\/strong> defends the validity of the Gricean approach developed by Larry Horn to account for some natural language connectives. Finally, in \u2018Fine-tuning Jespersen\u2019s Cycle\u2019, Scott A. Schwenter<\/strong> provides additional evidence to prove that Jespersen\u2019s cycle regarding negation markers needs some adjustments.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Drawing the boundaries of meaning: Neo-Gricean studies in pragmatics and semantics in honor of Laurence R. Horn. Ed. by Betty J. Birner and Gregory Ward. (Studies in language companion series 80.) Amsterdam: John Benjamins, 2006. Pp. 350. ISBN 9027230900. $188 (Hb). Reviewed by Manuel Padilla Cruz, University of Seville This volume gathers eighteen interesting papers […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/journals.linguisticsociety.org\/booknotices\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/271"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/journals.linguisticsociety.org\/booknotices\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/journals.linguisticsociety.org\/booknotices\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/journals.linguisticsociety.org\/booknotices\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/journals.linguisticsociety.org\/booknotices\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=271"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/journals.linguisticsociety.org\/booknotices\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/271\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":272,"href":"https:\/\/journals.linguisticsociety.org\/booknotices\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/271\/revisions\/272"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/journals.linguisticsociety.org\/booknotices\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=271"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/journals.linguisticsociety.org\/booknotices\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=271"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/journals.linguisticsociety.org\/booknotices\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=271"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}