Equative

Abstract: This paper discusses the role of traces and resumptive pronouns as triggers of functional/pair-list readings of Hebrew restrictive relative clauses. It is claimed that the type of sentence which embeds the relative clause affects the binding options inside it. A relative clause formed of a chain that ends in a trace triggers functional/pair-list readings regardless of the type of sentence which embeds the relative clause. On the other hand, a relative clause formed of a chain that ends in a pronoun needs to be embedded in an equative sentence in order to trigger such readings. This effect is argued to follow from the constraints which govern resumptive pronouns, one of which being that they require salient discourse antecedents. It is also shown that previous analyses which attempt to derive the pronoun/trace alternation from syntactic principles alone fail to account for the equative/non-equative contrast.

Abstract: Previous accounts of DEFERRED REFERENCE (e.g. Nunberg 1995) have argued that all (nonostensive) deferred reference is the result of MEANING TRANSFER, a shift in the sense of a nominal or predicate expression. An analysis of deferred equatives (I'm the pad thai) suggests an alternative account based on the notion of PRAGMATIC MAPPING: a contextually licensed mapping operation between (sets of) discourse entities, neither of which undergoes a transfer of meaning. Moreover, the use of a deferred equative requires the presence of a contextually licensed OPEN PROPOSITION whose instantiation encodes the particular mapping between entities, both of which remain accessible to varying degrees within the discourse model. Finally, it is shown how a complete account of deferred reference must provide for transfers of reference as well as sense.