[erg] semantics of "so" as in "do so"

Emily M. Bender ebender at uw.edu
Tue Oct 15 17:29:31 CEST 2013


[Keeping this on-list]

Hi Paul,

The analysis in the ERG is that do+so is a pro-verb, the whole thing stands
in for the event.  The point of my examples was that that event might have
any number of participants, and so looking for an ARG2 specifically seems
misguided.

Emily



On Sat, Oct 12, 2013 at 2:56 AM, Paul Haley <paul at haleyai.com> wrote:

>  But in the MRS there is nothing that relates the doing to the leaving or
> betting!?  That's the problem.  The semantics is wrong.
>
> Worse, "it" is frequently interchangeable with "so" in such constructions,
> as shown below (as in the case of my first example further below).  The
> pronoun refers to the event, of course.  That reference is missing in the
> semantics for "so".
>
> Seems to me that "so" in this construction is an 'e' pronoun (where "it"
> is a 'x' pronoun below, which could also be a bug, imo.)
>
>
>
>
> On 10/10/2013 7:28 PM, Emily M. Bender wrote:
>
> But "so" in "do so" doesn't actually stand in for the ARG2:
>
>  Kim left, and Sandy did so too.
> Kim bet Pat $500 that the Giants would win, and Sandy did so too.
>
>  Emily
>
>
>
> On Wed, Oct 9, 2013 at 5:42 AM, Paul Haley <paul at haleyai.com> wrote:
>
>>  Apologies for a couple of typos below, and one clarification.
>>
>> It's not really important whether "so" is treated as a pronoun or do-so
>> as a proto-verb but by "direct object" I meant an ARG2 in the predication
>> for do_v_so corresponding to whatever "so" references or introduces or
>> substitutes for.
>>
>>
>>
>> On 10/9/2013 8:34 AM, Paul Haley wrote:
>>
>> Hi Emily!
>>
>> Yes, but I'm suggest that "pro-" is "pronomial" not "proto"!-)
>> Generally, don't we want elipsis to be reflected in the semantics?  That
>> is, in the "u" and "i" type variables in the MRS (or unresolved pronouns)?
>>
>> Shouldn't the MRS for for that doing have an argument to be resolved
>> against the situational argument for the moving?  That argument would be
>> "so" treated as a pronoun, which seems the proper semantics since the "so"
>> actually/semantically references some event/situation, no?  That is, if
>> pronomial "so" was the direct object of "do" here, I think all would be
>> well.
>>
>> Paul
>>
>>
>>
>> On 10/8/2013 9:14 PM, Emily M. Bender wrote:
>>
>> Hello Paul,
>>
>>  It looks like "do so" is being treated as a "pro-verb", and that seems
>> appropriate to me.  Proverbs (like ellipsis) take their interpretation from
>> context.  So this says basically that
>> x6 is doing something, but what that something is needs to be resolved.
>>
>>  Emily
>>
>>
>> On Tue, Oct 8, 2013 at 9:33 AM, Paul Haley <paul at haleyai.com> wrote:
>>
>>>  Hi All,
>>>
>>> In the following, it seems that "so" is more of a pronoun than a
>>> preposition (at least it seems "so" to me!).
>>>
>>> I would appreciate your thoughts on getting reasonable logic from the
>>> ERG for this sentence, which is quite interesting when you also consider
>>> quantification...
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> Thank you and best regards,
>>> Paul
>>>
>>>
>>
>>
>>  --
>> Emily M. Bender
>> Associate Professor
>> Department of Linguistics
>> Check out CLMS on facebook! http://www.facebook.com/uwclma
>>
>>
>>
>>
>
>
>  --
> Emily M. Bender
> Associate Professor
> Department of Linguistics
> Check out CLMS on facebook! http://www.facebook.com/uwclma
>
>
>


-- 
Emily M. Bender
Associate Professor
Department of Linguistics
Check out CLMS on facebook! http://www.facebook.com/uwclma
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