SFB 833, Projekt C4

Phenomena of Ambiguity in Diachrony and in Typological Comparison: Existence and Location

01/07/2009 to 30/06/2017

The main aim of our project is to investigate mechanisms of interpretation from a dynamic perspective, focusing on language change and variation. We consider ambiguity at the semantics-pragmatics interface to be a fundamental engine of language variation and change. We will study both micro- and macro-variation, focusing on the domain of existential and locational constructions. The investigation of these constructions in a world-wide representative sample of 30 languages will provide us with reliable data on the limits and possibilities of macro-variation in this domain. Psycholinguistic tests and corpus studies within the Romance language family will inform us about both synchronic and diachronic micro-variation, giving us precise information about the decisive factors that have an impact on fine-grained structures. Based on the results of research in these empirical fields, we will develop a dynamic formal semantics for existential and locational constructions that is both typologically and psycholinguistically informed.