Possessive interpretation at the semantics-pragmatics interface
This paper discusses semantic and pragmatic aspects of possessive interpretation (PI), the process whereby semantically underspecified possessive noun phrases (NPs) such as John Smith’s house and the house of John Smith receive concrete referential interpretations (e.g. ‘the house owned by John Smith’) in context. By observing what is common to the interpretation of both constructions, I lay out the ingredients for a uniform pragmatic account of PI whilst rehashing the contextualist notion of saturation. As defined by Recanati (2004, 2010) and many others, saturation is a linguistically mandated and obligatory pragmatic process, operating to enrich the incomplete logical forms of referring expressions, including possessive NPs. I argue that present proposals which assume that saturating the possessive relation is crucial to determining the possessive referent fail to do justice to the many ways in which possessive NPs may be understood in concrete communicative situations. Supporting similar claims by Korta and Perry (2017), this suggests that saturation is more adequately defined as a communicatively optional pragmatic process. The discussion simultaneously contributes to the growing literature on pragmatic aspects of constructions as form-meaning pairings, by outlining some of the theoretical issues that arise from the division of labour between semantic and pragmatic meaning in PI.
Article outline
- 1.Introduction
- 2.Semantic and pragmatic aspects of possessive interpretation
- 3.Meaning equivalence (or not?) in possessive NPs
- 3.1More semantic and pragmatic aspects of possessive interpretation
- 3.2Interim conclusion
- 4.Possessive interpretation at the semantics-pragmatics interface
- 5.Reference determination via possessive NPs
- 5.1Possessive saturation
- 5.2Novel evidence
- 6.Sketching a uniform account of possessive interpretation
- 7.Concluding remarks: Semantic and pragmatic aspects of constructions
- Notes
-
Corpora
-
References
References
Corpora
The British National Corpus
,
version 3 (BNC XML Edition)
2007 Distributed by Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford, on behalf of the BNC Consortium. URL:
[URL]
Ariel, M.
(
2008)
Pragmatics and grammar. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Ariel, M.
(
2010)
Defining pragmatics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Barker, C.
(
1995)
Possessive descriptions. Stanford, CA: CSLI Publications.
Bauer, L.
(
2017)
Compounds and compounding. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Biber, D., Johansson, S., Leech, G., Conrad, S., Finegan, E., & Quirk, R.
(
1999)
Longman grammar of spoken and written English (Vol. 21). Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press.
Bolinger, D.
(
1977)
Meaning and Form. 3rd impression 1983. London/New York: Longman.
Breban, T.
(
2018)
Proper names used as modifiers: a comprehensive functional analysis.
English Language & Linguistics, 22(3), 1–21.
Breban, T., Kolkmann, J., & Payne, J.
(
2015)
Is the Ghana problem Ghana’s problem? Differing interpretations of two English NP constructions. Presented at IPRA14, 26–31 July 2015, Antwerp.
Breban, T., Kolkmann, J., & Payne, J.
in press).
The impact of semantic relations on grammatical alternation: An experimental study of proper name modifiers and determiner genitives.
English Language & Linguistics, 23(3).
Bresnan, J., Cueni, A., Nikitina, T., & Baayen, R. H.
(
2007)
Predicting the dative alternation. In
G. Bouma,
I. Kramer, &
J. Zwarts (Eds.),
Cognitive foundations of interpretation (pp. 69–94). Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.
Cappelle, B.
(
2006)
Particle placement and the case for “allostructions”.
Constructions, Special Volume 11, 1–28.
Cappelle, B.
(
2017)
What’s pragmatics doing outside constructions? In
I. Depraetere &
R. Salkie (Eds.),
Semantics and pragmatics: Drawing a line (pp. 115–151). Cham: Springer.
Cappelle, B., Dugas, E., & Tobin, V.
(
2015)
An afterthought on let alone
.
Journal of Pragmatics, 801, 70–85.
Carston, R.
(
2009)
The explicit/implicit distinction in pragmatics and the limits of explicit communication.
International Review of Pragmatics, 1(1), 35–62.
Depraetere, I., & Salkie, R.
(
2017)
Free pragmatic enrichment, expansion, saturation, completion: A view from linguistics. In
I. Depraetere &
R. Salkie (Eds.),
Semantics and pragmatics: Drawing a line (pp. 11–37). Cham: Springer.
Finkbeiner, R.
(
2014)
Identical constituent compounds in German.
Word Structure, 7(2), 182–213.
Girju, R., Moldovan, D., Tatu, M., & Antohe, D.
(
2005)
On the semantics of noun compounds. In
Computer Speech and Language – Special Issue on Multiword Expressions, 19(4), 479–496.
Goldberg, A. E.
(
1995)
Constructions: A construction grammar approach to argument structure. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.
Grafmiller, J.
(
2014)
Variation in English genitives across modality and genres.
English Language & Linguistics, 18(3), 471–496.
Gries, S. & Stefanowitsch, A.
Gutzmann, D.
(
2010)
Unbestimmtheit und die Semantik/Pragmatik-Schnittstelle. In
I. Pohl (Ed.),
Semantische Unbestimmtheit im Lexikon (pp. 19–44). Frankfurt a.M.: Peter Lang.
Heine, B.
(
1997)
Possession: Cognitive sources, forces, and grammaticalization. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Hinrichs, L., & Szmrecsanyi, B.
(
2007)
Recent changes in the function and frequency of Standard English genitive constructions: a multivariate analysis of tagged corpora.
English Language and Linguistics, 11(3), 437–474.
Huddleston, R., & Pullum, G. K.
(
2002)
The Cambridge grammar of the English language. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Kay, P., & Zimmer, K.
(
1976)
On the semantics of compounds and genitives in English. In
Sixth California Linguistics Association Proceedings (pp. 29–35). San Diego: Campile Press.
Kempson, R. M.
(
1977)
Semantic theory. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Korta, K., & Perry, J.
(
2006)
Three demonstrations and a funeral.
Mind & Language, 21(2), 166–186.
Korta, K., & Perry, J.
(
2011)
Critical pragmatics. An inquiry into reference and communication. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Korta, K., & Perry, J.
(
2017)
Full but not saturated. The myth of mandatory primary pragmatic processes. In
S. Conrad &
K. Petrus (Eds.),
Meaning, context, and methodology (pp. 31–50). Berlin, Boston: Mouton de Gruyter.
Labov, W.
(
1972)
Sociolinguistic patterns. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.
Langacker, R. W.
(
1991)
Foundations of Cognitive Grammar. Volume II: Descriptive application. Stanford: Stanford University Press.
Langacker, R. W.
(
1993)
Reference-point constructions.
Cognitive Linguistics, 4(1), 1–38.
Langacker, R. W.
(
1995)
Possession and possessive constructions. In
J. R. Taylor &
R. E. MacLaury (Eds.),
Language and the cognitive construal of the world (pp. 51–79). Berlin, New York: Mouton de Gruyter.
Langacker, R. W.
(
2009)
Metonymic grammar. In
K.-U. Panther,
L. Thornburg, &
A. Barcelona (Eds.),
Metonymy and metaphor in grammar (pp. 45–71). Amsterdam, Philadelphia: John Benjamins.
Levi, J.
(
1978)
The Syntax and semantics of complex nominals. New York: Academic Press.
Meibauer, J.
(
2014)
Word-formation and contextualism.
International Review of Pragmatics, 6(1), 103–126.
Meibauer, J.
(
2015)
On “R” in phrasal compounds – a contextualist approach.
STUF Language Typology and Universals, 68(3), 241–261.
Nichols, J.
(
1988)
On alienable and inalienable possession. In
W. Shipley (Ed.), In
honor of Mary Haas (pp. 475–521). Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.
Payne, J., & Huddleston, R.
(
2002)
Nouns and noun phrases. In
R. Huddleston &
G. K. Pullum (Eds.),
The Cambridge grammar of the English language (pp. 323–524). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Perek, F.
(
2012)
Alternation-based generalizations are stored in the mental grammar: Evidence from a sorting task experiment.
Cognitive Linguistics, 23(3), 601–635.
Perry, J.
(
2001)
Reference and reflexivity. Stanford, CA: CSLI Publications.
Peters, S., & Westerståhl, D.
(
2013)
The semantics of possessives.
Language, 89(4), 713–759.
Quirk, R., Greenbaum, S., Leech, G., & Svartvik, J.
(
1985)
A comprehensive grammar of the English language. London: Longman.
Recanati, F.
(
2004)
Literal meaning. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Recanati, F.
(
2010)
Truth-conditional pragmatics. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Rosenbach, A.
(
2002)
Genitive variation in English: conceptual factors in synchronic and diachronic studies [
Topics in English Linguistics, Vol. 42]. Berlin, New York: Mouton de Gruyter.
Rosenbach, A.
(
2007)
Emerging variation: determiner genitives and noun modifiers in English.
English Language and Linguistics, 11(1), 143–189.
Rosenbach, A.
(
2009)
Identifying noun modifiers in English. Ms, University of Paderborn.
Rosenbach, A.
(
2014)
English genitive variation–the state of the art.
English Language & Linguistics, 18(2), 215–262.
Rosenbach, A.
in press).
On the (non-)equivalence of constructions with determiner genitives and noun modifiers in English.
English Language & Linguistics, 23(3).
Seiler, H.
(
1983)
Possession as an operational dimension of language. Tübingen: Gunter Narr Verlag.
Smith, M. B.
(
2006)
Reference point constructions, the underspecification of meaning, and the conceptual structure of Palauan -er.
Oceanic Linguistics, 45(1), 1–20.
Sperber, D., & Wilson, D.
(
1986/1995)
Relevance: Communicaton and cognition. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Stefanowitsch, A.
(
2003)
Constructional semantics as a limit to grammatical alternation: The two genitives of English.
Topics in English Linguistics, 431, 413–444.
Taylor, J. R.
(
1996)
Possessives in English: An exploration in cognitive grammar. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
Vanderwende, L.
(
1994)
Algorithm for automatic interpretation of noun sequences. In
Proceedings of the 15th International Conference on Computational Linguistics (pp. 782–788). Kyoto, Japan: Association for Computational Linguistics.
Vikner, C., & Jensen, P. A.
(
2002)
A Semantic analysis of the English genitive. Interaction of lexical and formal semantics.
Studia Linguistica, 56(2), 191–226.
Warren, B.
(
1978)
Semantic patterns of noun-noun compounds.
Gothenburg Studies in English, 411, 1–266. Gothenburg: Gothenburg University Press.
Weiner, E. J. & Labov, W.
(
1983)
Constraints on the agentless passive.
Journal of Linguistics 191, 29–58.
Willemse, P.
(
2005)
Nominal reference-point constructions: Possessive and esphoric NPs in English. Doctoral dissertation, University of Leuven, Leuven, Belgium.
Williams, E. S.
(
1982)
The NP cycle.
Linguistic Inquiry, 131, 277–295.
Zehentner, E.
(
2018)
Ditransitives in Middle English: on semantic specialisation and the rise of the dative alternation.
English Language & Linguistics, 22(1), 1–27.
Cited by
Cited by 3 other publications
Belligh, Thomas & Klaas Willems
2022.
Epistemological challenges in the study of alternating constructions.
Lingua 280
► pp. 103425 ff.
De Vaere, Hilde, Julia Kolkmann & Thomas Belligh
2020.
Allostructions revisited.
Journal of Pragmatics 170
► pp. 96 ff.
Kolkmann, Julia & Ingrid Lossius Falkum
2020.
The pragmatics of possession: A corpus study of English prenominal possessives.
Journal of Pragmatics 157
► pp. 1 ff.
This list is based on CrossRef data as of 27 march 2024. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers.
Any errors therein should be reported to them.