7: Nobook-body (Anything) Else
In: Questions in Dynamic SemanticsPurchase instant access (PDF download and unlimited online access):
Abstract
This chapter describes a compositional analysis of a locution like "else". It may be clear that an adequate interpretation of "else" cannot stand on its own. The term is used in an anaphoric way, it is used in a constituent answer, and it relates to a previously raised issue. In this way "else" participates in quite a number of issues all having to do with information structure. The chapter starts from a classical, Tarskian, satisfaction semantics for a language of first order predicate logic. The system of Predicate Logic with Anaphora (PLA) formally develops the idea that indefinite noun phrases can be used with referential intentions and that anaphoric pronouns can be coreferential with these indefinites. The chapter finally formulates a single, polyadic, interpretation of "else" which has been shown to behave as required in constructions like "Somebody else", "Nobody else", and "Nobody somebody else".