Coordination of unmatched clause types and dynamic look-ahead

Abstract

Declarative, interrogative, imperative, and exclamative sentences can all be coordinated with each other, even though they are often analyzed as belonging to different logical types. All four clause types can also appear as the consequent of a conditional. These facts are expected in a dynamic semantic theory in which each clause type is associated with an update operation to features of the discourse context, including a common ground, a questions-under-discussion list, a set of to-do lists, and a set of “affective trigger” registries. An adequate treatment of disjunction and conditionals in such a framework requires a representation of each context in terms of its own possible subsequent developments. Coordination and conditionals involving unmatched clause types are much more restricted in subordinate clauses than in main clauses, suggesting that dynamic effects of the kind posited here are limited to main clause contexts.

EARLY ACCESS