Dorothy Ahn

a semanticist at Rutgers

Research

Definiteness and anaphoric expressions

It is generally assumed that pronouns, definites, and demonstratives are separate semantic elements. However, cross-linguistic studies suggest that the morphosyntactically based distinction between these expressions do not always align with underlying meaning. In this line of work, I argue that the underlying semantics of these expressions are identical except for the restrictions that they carry, proposing a unified analysis that extends the general schema of a definite.

Demonstratives and pointing

Demonstratives received much attention in semantics and philosophy for their deictic and non-deictic uses. In gesture linguistics, demonstratives also show a unique behavior of bringing meaning of gesture to at-issue. I propose a new analysis of demonstratives based their ability to refer to non-familiar entities.

ASL loci use

Sign languages such as American Sign Language (ASL) can use the indexical pointing handshape (IX; indexical) to refer to entities present in the context by pointing directly at them. Signers can also point to abstract locations in the signing space (locus, loci) to refer to entities who are not present in the content but familiar in the discourse. This use of loci in sign languages has been analyzed as overt instantiations of a referent tracking mechanism that is covert in spoken languages (see Lillo-Martin & Klima 1990). I propose an alternative account of loci as locational restrictions that function as modifiers added to anaphoric expressions.

Plurality and number

Unlike languages like English that obligatorily marks number, many languages are ‘optional number languages’, meaning that they allow bare noun forms to be compatible with both singular and plural interpretations. I investigate one of the languages that have been identified as having an optional plural marker, Korean, and show that there is a more systematic restriction on when plural marker can be omitted in Korean. In Ahn, Saha, & Sauerland 2020, we present a novel observation that Korean and Bangla plural markers behave as positive polarity items, while in Ahn & Snedeker, we argue that definitely construed nouns must be number marked in Korean.

​Relative measure constructions

Conservativity of determiners is one of the universal constraints assumed for natural language semantics. In this line of work, we look at proportional quantifiers such as sixty percent in Harvard hired sixty percent women that seem non-conservative on the surface, identify cross-linguistic generalizations on how the non-conservative construals are morphosyntactically marked, and propose an analysis that preserves conservativity at the LF level.

Exempt anaphors and logophoricity

While reflexive anaphors are assumed to be bound locally, there are cases of anaphors that appear outside their binding domain (exempt anaphors). In this line of work, I discuss a case of an exempt anaphor in Korean, caki-casin, and show that the licensing of caki-casin is associated with logophoricity (Charnavel 2012, 2019).

Additive either and too

I propose that additive either in sentences such as Jin did not dance either is underlyingly a disjunction between the antecedent sentence (p in p either) and a propositional anaphor that refers to a contextually salient proposition in the discourse that is restricted by focus. This analysis derives the polarity sensitivity of either, while the conjunction analysis of too correctly predicts the NPI intervention effects of too.

Constructions in Korean