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The grammar of the essential indexical

Martin, T.; Hinzen, W.

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Authors

T. Martin

W. Hinzen



Abstract

Like proper names, demonstratives, and definite descriptions, pronouns have referential uses. These can be 'essentially indexical' in the sense that they cannot be replaced by non-pronominal forms of reference. Here we show that the grammar of pronouns in such occurrences is systematically different from that of other referential expressions, in a way that illuminates the differences in reference in question. We specifically illustrate, in the domain of Romance clitics and pronouns, a hierarchy of referentiality, as related to the topology of the grammatical phase. Our explanation is based on extending the 'Topological Mapping Hypotheses' of Longobardi (2005) and Sheehan & Hinzen (2011). The extended topology covers the full range of interpretations, from purely predicative to quantificational (scope-bearing), to referential and deictic. Along this scale, grammatical complexity increases, and none of these forms of reference is lexical. This provides evidence for the foundational conclusion that the source of essential indexicality is grammatical rather than lexical, semantic or pragmatic.

Citation

Martin, T., & Hinzen, W. (2014). The grammar of the essential indexical. Lingua, 148, 95-117. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lingua.2014.05.016

Journal Article Type Article
Publication Date Sep 1, 2014
Deposit Date May 14, 2014
Publicly Available Date Mar 29, 2024
Journal Lingua.
Print ISSN 0024-3841
Publisher Elsevier
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 148
Pages 95-117
DOI https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lingua.2014.05.016
Keywords Pronoun, Reference, Indexical, Phase, Topology, Romance, Philosophy, Semantics, Syntax.

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