Syntactic cartography and the syntacticisation of scope-discourse semantics
pp. 517-533
in: Anne Reboul (ed), Mind, values, and metaphysics II, Berlin, Springer, 2014Abstract
Cartographic studies aim at drawing maps as precise and complete as possible of syntactic configurations. Such maps interact with principles of syntactic computations, and provide crucial information for the interfaces with sound and meaning. In this chapter, I will concentrate on the role that cartographic representations have in the expression of interpretive properties and, in particular, in the organization of informational structures for the proper articulation of discourse and dialogues, and in the assignment of scope to operators. I will then illustrate the criterial approach to scope-discourse semantics, an approach which implies fully transparent syntactically generated interfaces with interpretive systems, and thus is sometimes said to 'syntacticize" the expression of such interpretive properties. I will then compare this approach to possible alternatives which involve more opaque interfaces and assume more complex computations in postsyntactic interpretive systems.