Constraints on numerical expressions / Chris Cummins.
Material type: TextSeries: Oxford studies in semantics and pragmatics ; 5 | Oxford linguisticsPublication details: Oxford : Oxford University Press, 2015Edition: First editionDescription: xii, 212 pages : illustrationsISBN: 9780199687916 (pbk.); 0199687919 (pbk.)Subject(s): Grammar, Comparative and generalDDC classification: 415Item type | Current library | Collection | Call number | Status | Date due | Barcode | Item holds |
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Reference Books | Main Library Reference | Reference | 415 CUM (Browse shelf(Opens below)) | Available | 016105 |
Constructing a constraint-based model -- Deriving predictions from the constraint-based account -- Towards a pragmatic account of superlative quantifier usage -- Scalar implicatures from numerically quantified expressions -- Corpus evidence for constraints on numerical expressions -- Overview and outlook.
Chris Cummins presents a novel pragmatic account of the meaning and use of numerically-quantified expressions. In it, the author lays out a set of criteria that are argued individually to influence the speaker's choice of expression. The process of choosing what to say is then treated as a problem of multiple constraint satisfaction. This approach enables multiple different considerations, drawn from principles of semantics, pragmatics, philosophy, psycholinguistics and the psychology of number, simultaneously to be integrated within a single coherent account.
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