Research
I work on lexical semantics (word meaning), compositional semantics (sentence meaning), and pragmatics (inferences drawn in context) from a rich empirical perspective, using corpus data and experiments.
Distributivity
Distributivity
Which predicates are understood distributively (true of each member of a plural subject), nondistributively (true of a plural subject but not each member), or in both ways - and why?
Which predicates are understood distributively (true of each member of a plural subject), nondistributively (true of a plural subject but not each member), or in both ways - and why?
- Distributivity, lexical semantics, and world knowledge (2018 Stanford dissertation)
- Using lexical semantics to predict the distributivity potential of verb phrases in a large dataset (paper under review for publication in the proceedings of Linguistic Evidence 2018)
- Deriving the distributivity potential of adjectives via measurement theory (Proceedings of the Linguistic Society of America 2018)
- Exploring the relation between argument structure and distributivity (Proceedings of Berkeley Linguistics Society 43)
Mandarin 'yiwei' 以为 -- a negatively biased belief verb
Mandarin 'yiwei' 以为 -- a negatively biased belief verb
This verb strongly suggests that the belief it embeds is false. Where does this sense of negative bias come from, semantically or pragmatically?
This verb strongly suggests that the belief it embeds is false. Where does this sense of negative bias come from, semantically or pragmatically?
Compounds (with Beth Levin and Dan Jurafsky)
Compounds (with Beth Levin and Dan Jurafsky)
Exactly how does world knowledge help us identify the relationship between the two words (head and modifier) in a compound like "water carafe" or "water spinach"? How does the nature of the referent (in particular, whether it is an artifact like "carafe" or a natural kind like "spinach") influence the head-modifier relationship?
Exactly how does world knowledge help us identify the relationship between the two words (head and modifier) in a compound like "water carafe" or "water spinach"? How does the nature of the referent (in particular, whether it is an artifact like "carafe" or a natural kind like "spinach") influence the head-modifier relationship?
Determiner + Adjective
Determiner + Adjective
How do we derive the two distinct uses of Det+Adjective, as in "the cute are given more attention by teachers" (cute people) vs. "the cute is the dominant aesthetic in Japan" (cuteness)?
How do we derive the two distinct uses of Det+Adjective, as in "the cute are given more attention by teachers" (cute people) vs. "the cute is the dominant aesthetic in Japan" (cuteness)?
- Adjectives relate individuals to states: Evidence from the two readings of English Determiner + Adjective (accepted for publication at Glossa; currently being formatted)
- Deriving the two readings of English Determiner+Adjective (Proceedings of Sinn und Bedeutung 18; superseded by Glossa paper)
Here are some photos of the "mass" reading of Determiner + Adjective in action! (A visual complement to the corpus data in my paper.)
Here are some photos of the "mass" reading of Determiner + Adjective in action! (A visual complement to the corpus data in my paper.)
- I also mention these when I lecture about language & advertising!
Older projects
Older projects
- Strong necessity modals: Four socio-pragmatic corpus studies (paper from the Proceedings of NWAV 43)
- What does it mean for an implicit object to be recoverable? (paper from Penn Linguistics Colloquium 37)
- Deriving indirectness and questioning entailment for epistemic "must" (talk given at LSA 2013)
Corpora that I've created
Corpora that I've created
- (with Nanjiang Jiang) - Distributivity Ratings Dataset (2338 VPs rated for their distributivity potential)
- Corpus of The Office, compiled from officequotes.net
- Corpus of user writings on 50 communities of Stack Exchange, each tagged with user reputation
- Corpus of scripts of all the Disney Princess films 1937--2013