How `enjoying a meal' is similar to `beginning a book': investigating compositionality and the processing of complement coercion verbs

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Publication Type thesis
School or College College of Humanities
Department Linguistics
Author Larsen, Jessica
Title How `enjoying a meal' is similar to `beginning a book': investigating compositionality and the processing of complement coercion verbs
Date 2017
Description While the majority of linguistic theories concerned with semantic interpretation assume some form of compositionalityâ€"the notion that the meaning of a complex expression comes from the meanings of its constituent parts and their structural arrangementâ€" several linguistic phenomena exist which seem to challenge (strict) compositionality on both theoretical and empirical grounds. One such phenomena, termed complement coercion, has gained considerable attention in psycholinguistic research in recent years, as these constructions appear not only to involve a semantic type-mismatch, but also interpretive properties which are not overtly expressed. Given recent arguments that the so-called “coercion verbs” may not constitute a homogeneous set with respect to the processing of coercion constructions, the present thesis conducts an experimental investigation into the empirical validity of this claim, reporting evidence that appears to challenge it. The findings that both aspectual and psychological verbs display evidence of complement coercion are discussed in terms of their implications for competing hypotheses.
Type Text
Publisher University of Utah
Subject aspectual verbs; coercion; complement coercion; compositionality; psychological verbs; type-shifting
Dissertation Name Master of Arts
Language eng
Rights Management ©Jessica Larsen
Format Medium application/pdf
ARK ark:/87278/s60p54px
Setname ir_etd
ID 1349733
Reference URL https://collections.lib.utah.edu/ark:/87278/s60p54px
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