Written Assignment 2
LIN204H5 – Fall 2024
Due: 3 December 2024
Instructions: Answer the following questions on your own. You may discuss the as-signment with classmates or members of the teaching team, but the work submitted must be your own. (Note: The course AI policy is in effect)
Your completed assignments are to be submitted on Crowdmark.
1. Constituency 1 (6 points)
Consider sentence (1).
(1) The world-class athlete jumped clear over the hurdle.
Suppose you want to know if the underlined section is a constituent. Perform. two constituency tests on it and draw a conclusion from the results
(a) What is the first test you will perform. (Name it)
(b) Perform. the first test.
(c) What is the second test you will perform. (Name it)
(d) Perform. it.
(e) Based on the tests you performed, what conclusion(s) can you draw, if any? Be sure to make explicit reference to the tests and their results.
2. Constituency 2 (6 points)
Consider sentence (2).
(2) The world-class athlete jumped clear over the hurdle.
Suppose you want to know if the underlined section is a constituent. Perform. two constituency tests on it and draw a conclusion from the results
(a) What is the first test you will perform. (Name it)
(b) Perform. the first test.
(c) What is the second test you will perform. (Name it)
(d) Perform. it.
(e) Based on the tests you performed, what conclusion(s) can you draw, if any? Be sure to make explicit reference to the tests and their results.
3. Entailment 1 (7 points)
Consider the sentences in (3)
(3) a. Hermann realized that Siddharth had been on vacation for a month.
b. Siddharth had been on vacation for a month.
(a) Construct a test sentence that would demonstrate whether (3a) entails (3b).
(b) Does (3a) entail (3b)? Explain your reasoning.
(c) Construct a test sentence that would demonstrate whether (3a) presupposes (3b).
(d) Does (3a) presuppose (3b)? Explain your reasoning.
(e) If (3a) presupposes (3b), what is the presupposition trigger?
(Put “N/A” if there is no presupposition)
4. Entailment 2 (4 points)
Suppose while working in a 6-person team, you decide to bake a batch of 12 cookies for the team. Shortly after bringing in the cookies, some of your team members complain that all of the cookies were eaten before they had a chance to have one. You look around and notice your teammate Frank has crumbs around his mouth. Noticing your suspicious look, Frank says:
(4) I ate two cookies.
Assuming that Frank is not lying, is it safe to conclude that Frank did not eat all of the cookies?
(a) Rephrase this question in terms of an entailment relation between sentences.
(b) Use a test to determine whether the potential relation is one of entailment.
(c) Answer one of the following based on your previous answer
i. If you find that the relation is entailment, is it a presupposition? Demonstrate your answer using a test.
ii. If you find that the relation is not entailment, what sort of relation is it? What is the source of the relation?