A Touchy Subject: Optimality and Coreference

Authors

Jill de Villiers, Smith CollegeFollow
Jacqueline Cahillane, University of Massachusetts Amherst
Emily Altreuter, Smith College

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2021

Abstract

Four studies are reported that compare production and comprehension of structures involving Principle A and B with 68 English speaking children. The stimuli included simple and complex sentences combined with simple and quantified NPs, each with reflexives and pronouns. A novel technique using a laptop proved successful for eliciting stimulus descriptions as well as truth value judgment. The results test a recent Optimality account of binding by Hendriks and Spenader (2004), but it is argued that more constraints are needed. Although the data can be fit well by the constraints, questions remain about whether it is theoretically satisfactory.

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Rights

Licensed to Smith College and distributed CC-BY under the Smith College Faculty Open Access Policy.

Comments

Author’s submitted manuscript.

Recommended Citation

de Villiers, Jill; Cahillane, Jacqueline; and Altreuter, Emily, "A Touchy Subject: Optimality and Coreference" (2021). Philosophy: Faculty Publications, Smith College, Northampton, MA.
https://scholarworks.smith.edu/phi_facpubs/49