Deniz Özyıldız Colloquium

The shape, meaning, and sound of factivity

In this talk grounded in Turkish data, I present empirical evidence that the factive inference must be derived and not encoded in the meaning of verbs and complementizers, and propose a unified syntax and semantics that derives it. Finally, I show that a contrast in intonation between factive and non-factive attitude reports—supported by production and perception data—can be derived from the syntax coupled with a traditional linking hypothesis with phonology.