Shared Prior Background within Common Ground: Semantic vs. World Knowledge
Project A2 investigates the role of implicit linguistic and world knowledge within common ground, focusing on the differing at-issue potential of selectional restrictions (markers of linguistic knowledge) and common factual or stereotypical knowledge (markers of world knowledge). A2 hypothesizes that examining these distinctions through the lens of CG is crucial to resolving the long-standing challenge of clearly delineating them. Our experiments will address semantic conflicts and conceptual conflicts. By analyzing how these conflicts interact with various CG management devices, we aim to deepen our understanding of CG’s cognitive architecture.
Maienborn, Claudia, Frauke Buscher-Schiewe, Carolin Dudschig & Barbara Kaup (2026). Denials as a window into semantic and world knowledge violations. In S. Walter, L. Fritzsche, K. Erbach, C. Meier & M. Sailer (eds.) Proceedings of Sinn und Bedeutung 30. Frankfurt: Goethe University Frankfurt, 728-743. Download
Li, Geyi, Frauke Buscher-Schiewe, Claudia Maienborn, Barbara Kaup. (2026). Are category mistakes gradient in nature? Evidence from an acceptability judgement study of selectional restriction violations. Talk at OASIS 6. FLUL, Lisbon, 13.-16.10.2026.
Maienborn, Claudia. (2026). Polysemy across Ontological Categories: The Eventive - Stative Ambiguity of Communication Verbs. Talk at ESSLLI, Workshop: Polysemy across Categories. Prague, 10.-14.08.2026;
Maienborn, Claudia. (2026). At-Issueness Asymmetry and the Boundary between Linguistic and World Knowledge: Evidence from German Discourse Particles. Talk at WCCFL 44, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, 06.-08.05.2026;
Maienborn, Claudia, Frauke Buscher-Schiewe, Barbara Kaup, Carolin Dudschig. (2026). When Negation Fails: Diagnosing Semantic vs. World Knowledge Violations. Talk at TeaP 2026, Symposium: Negation Processing: Interpretation, Mechanisms and Effects. Tübingen, 15.-18.03.2026;
Posters:
Maienborn, Claudia. (2026). Ontological Commitments vs. Beliefs about the World: Where Linguistic Knowledge Ends. Poster at OASIS 6. FLUL, Lisbon, 13.-16.10.2026.
Maienborn, Claudia, Barbara Kaup, Frauke Buscher-Schiewe, Carolin Dudschig. (2025). “Wait a minute! That's not the same!” Semantic vs. World Knowledge Violations. Poster at Sinn und Bedeutung 30, Special Session: Philosophical and Linguistic Approaches to Negation. Goethe-Universität Frankfurt, 23.-27.09.2025.
