Intervention Effects and Topic Interpretation: A Study of Scopal Constraints on Questions

di Dawei Jin (Autore)

Taylor & Francis Ltd, 2026

This book provides a new take on the longstanding puzzle of intervention effects in questions whereby specific scopal expressions block the interpretation of wh-elements when they occupy a particular position in the semantic representation. Its central argument is that intervention effects are not a homogeneous phenomenon with a uniform underlying structure mapped to a single interpretive mechanism. Rather, they have distinct sources—a distinction that, to date, has not been systematically made in the study of intervention. The work distinguishes two types of intervention: one stemming from focus-based interpretation failure and another rooted in topicality constraints. Consequently, it proposes a new typology that clarifies the field and paves the way for future cross-linguistic research. Semanticists, syntacticians, pragmatics researchers, and experts in logic and the philosophy of language will find this book illuminating.

• Autore: Dawei Jin
• Editore: Taylor & Francis Ltd
• Anno: 2026
• Rilegatura: Hardback
• Pagine: 179 p.
• Dimensioni: 234 x 156 mm
• EAN: 9781041219972

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