Marek Zawadowski: Scope-taking with continuations: scope ambiguities, monads and strengths

Abstract: In this talk, we discuss three semantically distinct scope assignment strategies for simple multi-quantifier sentences: traditional movement strategy (May, 1977), polyadic approach (May, 1985), and continuation-based approach (Barker, 2002). Both the polyadic approach and the continuation-based strategy make heavy use of the computational machinery connected to the continuation monad — strength and derived operations. The continuation-based strategy advocates itself as a compelling alternative to the traditional movement strategy and polyadic approach for providing a uniform non-movement (in situ) analysis of quantifiers. However, it cannot be straightforwardly extended to account for sentences involving 3 quantifier phrases — it only provides four out of six readings accounted for by the two other strategies. We shall showhow one can augment the continuation-based strategy (as in Barker, 2002) to obtain the two missing readings.

1. Grudzinska, J., Zawadowski M. (2016). Continuation semantics for multi-quantifier sentences: operation-based approaches,  preprint at arXiv: 1605.03981v2.
2. Grudzinska, J., Zawadowski M. (2016). Scope ambiguities, monads and strengths, preprint at arXiv:1608.00255v2.