Browsing by Author "Heusinger, Klaus von (Prof. Dr.)"

Now showing 1 - 2 of 2

Open Access
The discourse structuring potential of indefinite noun phrases : special markers in English, German and Romanian
(2014) Chiriacescu, Sofiana-Iulia; Heusinger, Klaus von (Prof. Dr.)
In this dissertation I investigate different types of indefinite noun phrases to deepen our understanding of the nature of the form–function mapping during the process of referring. More concretely, I explore the extent to which formal linguistic elements (i.e. different markers of indefiniteness) affect discourse participants’ predictions about the subsequent discourse. The centerpieces of this dissertation are indefinite noun phrases marked by indefinite this in English, indefinite so’n in German and pe in Romanian. I argue that these indefinite noun phrases share several common characteristics at the semantic and discourse-pragmatic level, which distinguish them from noun phrases headed by the simple indefinite article a(n). First, at the semantic level, the three types of indefinites show a strong and robust affinity for particular referential properties (i.e. fixed reference, wide scope, epistemic specificity). Second, I argue that any account of indefinite noun phrases that investigates only their sentence-level properties fails to capture their discourse- pragmatic contribution. I show that compared to their simple indefinite correlates, referents associated with these specially marked indefinites in English, German and Romanian are more prone to: (i) be frequently mentioned in the ensuing discourse and to (ii) shift the discourse topic. I propose that indefinite noun phrases function as discourse structuring devices. Their main function is to establish coherence at a more global level, by pre-activating particular referents. These results can be best accommodated in an expectancy-based or forward-looking model of language processing, which assumes that language is predictive as speakers use different signals to indicate to their hearers what to expect next.
Open Access
The semantics and pragmatics of the indefinite demonstrative dieser in German
(2015) Deichsel, Annika; Heusinger, Klaus von (Prof. Dr.)
This book is about an indefinite demonstrative expression in German. More specifically, it presents the first in-depth account of the semantics and the pragmatics of the indefinite adnominal use of the demonstrative determiner dieser ‘this’ (i) in German: (i) Du wirst nicht glauben, was mir passiert ist. Gestern in der Kneipe hat mich dieser Typ angesprochen. Er war sehr nett und wir stellten fest, dass er aus meinem Heimatdorf kommt. ‘You won’t believe what happened to me. Yesterday in the pub, this guy started talking to me. He was really nice and we realized that he’s from the same village as I am.’ I will show in this book that the indefinite use of dieser, as in (i), is an established use of the demonstrative dieser in German and that indefinite dieser NPs are true demonstrative expressions and indefinites at the same time. Providing the formal semantics for indefinite dieser, I will argue on the one hand that NPs headed by indefinite dieser are directly referential expressions. That they behave very much like demonstrative NPs with dieser in its basic use and thus fit in well into the semantic field of demonstrative dieser. Nevertheless, indefinite dieser also does behave, from a discourse-based take on (in)definiteness (Kamp 1981), like an indefinite article: it introduces hearer-new referents into the discourse. This may, at first glance, look like a paradox. Traditionally, demonstratives have always been categorized as definite expressions (Ionin 2006). The present work, in contrast, argues that demonstratives should be treated independently from (in)definiteness, as they can either exhibit definite or indefinite uses. Indefinite dieser NPs will be categorized as demonstrative expressions on an indefinite use. They systematically behave similar if compared to demonstrative NPs with deictic dieser — with respect to sentence semantic and discourse pragmatic properties and they exhibit similarities with indefinite noun phrases. Thus, I investigate a phenomenon, which shows an interaction of demonstrativity and indefiniteness. Those concepts will be investigated separately in this book. Furthermore, the present analysis provides experimental evidence for the observation that indefinite dieser NPs in German exhibit discourse prominence in the upcoming discourse after their introduction and establishes a link between its semantic and discourse pragmatic characteristics. Indefinite dieser NPs are used in order to introduce hearer-new discourse referents into the discourse, which will be prominent in the subsequent discourse in that they are frequently re-mentioned after they have been introduced, as in (i).