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Dorit Abusch Professor (PhD, University of Massachusetts, 1985) Department of Linguistics, 214 Morrill Hall, da45@cornell.edu, 255-0724

Research

My research is concerned with the semantics of natural language and the syntax-semantics interface. I have worked on the semantics of tense in various clause types, including issues of sequence of tense, the representation of futurity, the semantics of infinitives, and the semantics of verbal participles. I have also worked on the semantics and scope properties of indefinite noun phrases and on event semantics, aspect and causation. I am currently working on the interface between semantics and pragmatics in the analysis of presuppositions and on tense/modality interactions.

Graduate fields represented: Linguistics

Selected Publications

• Circumstantial and Temporal Dependence in Counterfactual Modals, ms. May 2008.
• Temporal and Circumstantial Dependence in Counterfactual Modals. In Proceedings of Amsterdam Colloquium 2007.
• Focus Presuppositions. In Acta Linguistica Hungarica, Volume 55, Numbers 3-4, December 2008. DOI 10.1556/ALing.55.2008.3-4.7.
• Triggering from Alternative Sets and Projection of Pragmatic Presuppositions, (manuscript), March 2005.
• Causatives and Mixed Aspectual Type in Reference and Quantification: The Partee Effect, Greg Carlson and Jeffrey Pelletier (eds.), Stanford: CSLI Publications, 2005 .
• On the Temporal Composition of Infinitives, in The Syntax of Time J.Gueron and J. Lecarme (eds.), MIT Press, 2004.
• Empty Domain Effects for Presuppositional and Non-presuppositional Determiners, in Context Dependence in the Analysis of Linguistic Meaning. H. Kamp and B. Partee, (eds.), Elsevier Publishers, 2004. With Mats Rooth.
• Lexical Alternatives as a Source of Pragmatic Presuppositions. In B. Jackson (ed.) Proceedings of SALT 12, 2002. Cornell University, CLC Publications.
• Generalizing Tense Semantics for Future Contexts, in Events and Grammar, S. Rothstein (ed.), Kluwer Academic Publishers, 1998.
• Sequence of Tense and Temporal De Re, in Linguistics and Philosophy, 20.1, pp. 1-50, 1997.
• Epistemic NP Modifiers. In Proceedings of SALT VII, 1997, A. Law son and A. Cho (eds.), CLC Publications, Ithaca NY.
• The Scope of Indefinites, in Natural Language Semantics 2.2, 1993-1994, pp. 83-135.
• Temporal Adverbs and the English Perfect, in Proceedings of the 20th North East Linguistic Society, 1990. GLSA, Amherst, MA. With Mats Rooth.
• Reflexives, Reference Shifters and Attitudes, in Proceedings of the 8th West Coast Conference on Formal Linguistics,1989. The Stanford Linguistics Association.

Handouts for Current Presentations

• Invited commentary given with Mats Rooth on Richmond H. Thomason, Matthew Stone, and David DeVault, ``Enlightened Update: A Computational Architecture for Presupposition and Other Pragmatic Phenomena.'' OSU Accommodation Workshop, October 13, 2006.
• Some Puzzles on Modality and Tense. Colloquium presentation, University of Tübingen, June 2006 (Abstract).

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