---
title: "Understanding focus: Pitch, placement and coherence (2020)"
description: "The paper argues that English prosodic focus (where the nuclear accent falls) cannot be analysed apart… 55 references, cited by 1 paper here."
authors: ["Julian J Schlöder", "Alex Lascarides"]
year: 2020
venue: "Semantics and Pragmatics"
source: "https://semprag.org/index.php/sp/article/view/sp.13.1"
doi: "10.3765/sp.13.1"
licence: "CC BY 3.0"
licence_url: "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/"
summary_licence: "Elamur Cosmic License"
canonical: "https://research.elamur.ai/free/en/papers/schloder-2020-understanding-focus-pitch-placement-coherence/"
---
[Elamur Research](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://research.elamur.ai/free/en/papers/schloder-2020-understanding-focus-pitch-placement-coherence/)

[home](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [papers](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/papers/) / [2020](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/papers/2020/page/7/) / Understanding focus: Pitch, placement and coherence

# Understanding focus: Pitch, placement and coherence

**Authors:** [Julian J Schlöder](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/authors/julian-j-schloder/) and [Alex Lascarides](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/authors/alex-lascarides/) · **Year:** 2020 · **Venue:** [Semantics and Pragmatics](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/venues/semantics-and-pragmatics/) ([Semantics and Pragmatics 2020](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/venues/semantics-and-pragmatics/2020/)) · **Publisher:** [Linguistic Society of America](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/publishers/linguistic-society-of-america/) · **Licence:** [CC BY 3.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/)

**Links:** [Publisher's page](https://doi.org/10.3765/sp.13.1) · [PDF](https://semprag.org/index.php/sp/article/download/sp.13.1/pdf) · [DOI 10.3765/sp.13.1](https://doi.org/10.3765/sp.13.1) · [OpenAlex](https://openalex.org/W3000711859)

**Citations:** 21 citations (OpenAlex, 2026-10-14) · 1 in our library, of the 141,840 papers whose bibliographies we read

## Summary
The paper argues that English prosodic focus (where the nuclear accent falls) cannot be analysed apart from the overall pitch contour. Some replies with identical accent placement are acceptable with one tune and odd with another. For example, "Nobody likes Michael" with stress on *Michael* works as a fall–rise reply to "Who likes Michael?" but fails with a plain fall. Using constructed examples recorded as audio and inspected in Praat, the authors show that established accounts reject replies that are actually acceptable. These accounts rely on question-answer congruence, contrasting alternatives or givenness, and some of them silently assume different contours for different examples.

Their proposal, formalised in SDRT, treats focus as a presupposition trigger whose content and resolution depend on the contour. An utterance is ruled out when the coherent resolution of its presupposition already entails what it asserts, because the asserted content is then not interesting. Otherwise the resolution can produce implicatures. The model covers more felicity judgements and implicatures than earlier formal accounts and derives them formally.

## Key points
- Only two contours are modelled. One is the falling contour (rise on the focal word, then a fall). The other is the fall–rise (fall, then a steep rise on the focal word, with a final rise). All data are constructed, and audio for each example is hosted at an OSF repository.
- With a falling contour, the presupposition must be linked to the foreground by Continuation or Elaboration. With a fall–rise, the link must be Contrast, and the presupposition's modality is left open (true, false or possible).
- The "interest test" makes a reply infelicitous if resolving its focus presupposition entails its proffered content. This is Bolinger's idea that obvious material cannot be focal, restated as "focal material cannot be presupposed."
- Resolving the open modality toward maximal contrast yields "as-opposed-to" implicatures and corrections. An example is reading "I live in New York City" (fall–rise) as "not in Cleveland, but NYC." In SDRT, complete answers outrank partial ones during resolution.
- The paper leaves several things aside: focus-sensitive operators like *only*, prenuclear accents, languages other than English, and the "I thought you knew" effect of the fall–rise.

## Interesting ideas
- Felicity is checked by asking whether the coherently resolved background already entails what the speaker asserts; if it does, the move adds nothing and is flagged as anomalous.
- Some semantic slots stay deliberately underspecified, such as whether a presupposed proposition is true, false or merely possible. They are fixed only by choosing the most coherent discourse attachment, with no extra lexical ambiguity added.
- Resolving an open element toward maximal contrast with the asserted content produces "X, as opposed to Y" implicatures and corrections of a question's presupposition.
- When choosing among interpretations, a full answer to the question under discussion is ranked above partial ones.
- The methodological warning is that judgements collected without annotating a relevant dimension (here, contour) can quietly mix incompatible assumptions and make a theory look wrong or right by accident.

## For Mova

How these ideas could serve Mova, our small open language model — its files, stages and tests:

- **I1** (frames): A speech-act layer could run the same entailment check against the presupposed part of a frame. This would mark redundant or uninformative utterances and trigger a search for an indirect reading instead.
- **I2** (world): Entity states could carry an unresolved modality tag that coherence reasoning settles later. This keeps every resolution step traceable rather than committing early.
- **I3** (frames): The implicature module could generate contrast alternatives this way. For example, it could read a reply as a correction when it denies what the question took for granted.
- **I4** (answer): QA readers on fables and tests could use this as an explicit, explainable tie-breaker when several candidate attachments of a sentence to a question are possible.
- **I5** (learn): Evaluation sets should record every factor that can flip a judgement, such as context or register, and include negative controls that vary only that factor.

*Our summary of the paper, in our own words — not its text. The work belongs to its authors; read it at the links above.*

## Institutions

- [University of Edinburgh](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/universities/university-of-edinburgh/) — University, Edinburgh, United Kingdom · 255 works · 68,771 citations
- [University of Amsterdam](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/universities/university-of-amsterdam/) — University, Amsterdam, Netherlands · 89 works · 81,337 citations

📚 Shelves (2): [🎭 Arts and Humanities](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/shelves/arts-and-humanities/) · 9,296 works · [🗣️ Language and Linguistics](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/shelves/arts-and-humanities/language-and-linguistics/) · 9,206 works

🧭 Topics (1): [English](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/topics/english/) · 1,373 works

## Cite

Cite as: Julian J Schlöder and Alex Lascarides. 2020. Understanding focus: Pitch, placement and coherence. Semantics and Pragmatics.

The paper itself, not this page. BibTeX from the library's record of the work.

```bibtex
@article{schloder2020understanding,
  title = {{Understanding focus: Pitch, placement and coherence}},
  author = {Julian J Schlöder and Alex Lascarides},
  journal = {Semantics and Pragmatics},
  year = {2020},
  doi = {10.3765/sp.13.1},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.3765/sp.13.1}
}
```

- [← previous TUNIZI: a Tunisian Arabizi sentiment analysis Dataset](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/papers/fourati-2020-tunizi-tunisian-arabizi-sentiment-analysis/)
- [next → A Benchmark of Rule-Based and Neural Coreference Resolution in Dutch Novels and News](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/papers/poot-2020-benchmark-rule-based-neural-coreference/)
- [↑ back to papers of 2020](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/papers/2020/page/7/)

## References

55 references, 2 of them with a card of ours. ↗ leads to the work, «find» searches for one we have no id for yet.

1. Asher, Nicholas. 1999. Discourse and the focus/background distinction. In Peter Bosch & Rob van der Sandt (eds.), Focus: Linguistic, cognitive, and computational perspectives, 247–267. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. [find](https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=Asher%2C+Nicholas%2E+1999%2E+Discourse+and+the+focus%2Fbackground+distinction%2E+In+Peter+Bosch+%26+Rob+van+der+Sandt+%28eds%2E%29%2C+Focus%3A+Linguistic%2C+cognitive%2C+and+computational+perspectives%2C+247%E2%80%93267%2E+Cambridge%3A+Camb)
2. Asher, Nicholas & Alex Lascarides. 1998. The semantics and pragmatics of presupposition. Journal of Semantics 15(3). 239–300. https://doi.org/10.1 093/jos/15.3.239. [↗](https://doi.org/10.1093/jos/15.3.239)
3. Asher, Nicholas & Alex Lascarides. 2003. Logics of conversation. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. [find](https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=Asher%2C+Nicholas+%26+Alex+Lascarides%2E+2003%2E+Logics+of+conversation%2E+Cambridge%3A+Cambridge+University+Press%2E)
4. Asher, Nicholas & Alex Lascarides. 2011. Reasoning dynamically about what one says. Synthese 183(5). 5–31. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11229-011-0016 -4. [↗](https://doi.org/10.1007/s11229-011-0016)
5. Beaver, David I & Brady Z Clark. 2009. Sense and sensitivity: How focus determines meaning. Oxford: Wiley–Blackwell. [find](https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=Beaver%2C+David+I+%26+Brady+Z+Clark%2E+2009%2E+Sense+and+sensitivity%3A+How+focus+determines+meaning%2E+Oxford%3A+Wiley%E2%80%93Blackwell%2E)
6. Boersma, Paul & Vincent van Heuven. 2001. Praat, a system for doing phonetics by computer. Glot International 5(9/10). 341–345. https://doi.org/1 1245/1.200596. [↗](https://doi.org/1)
7. Bolinger, Dwight. 1972. Accent is predictable (if you’re a mind-reader). Language 48(3). 633–644. https://doi.org/10.2307/412039. [↗](https://doi.org/10.2307/412039)
8. Bolinger, Dwight. 1982. Intonation and its parts. Language 58(3). 505–533. https://doi.org/10.2307/413847. [↗](https://doi.org/10.2307/413847)
9. Bolinger, Dwight. 1985. Two views of accent. Journal of Linguistics 21(1). 79– 123. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0022226700010033. [↗](https://doi.org/10.1017/s0022226700010033)
10. Bresnan, Joan W. 1971. Sentence stress and syntactic transformations. Language 47(2). 257–281. https://doi.org/10.2307/412081. [↗](https://doi.org/10.2307/412081)
11. Büring, Daniel. 2003. On D-trees, beans, and B-accents. Linguistics and Philosophy 26(5). 511–545. https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1025887707652. [↗](https://doi.org/10.1023/a:1025887707652)
12. Büring, Daniel. 2004. Focus suppositions. Theoretical Linguistics 30(1). 65–76. https://doi.org/10.1515/thli.2004.007. [↗](https://doi.org/10.1515/thli.2004.007)
13. Büring, Daniel. 2006. Focus projection and default prominence. In Valéria Molnár & Susanne Winkler (eds.), The architecture of focus, 321–346. Berlin: de Gruyter. [↗](https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110922011.321)
14. Büring, Daniel. 2016. (Contrastive) topic. In Caroline Féry & Shinichiro Ishihara (eds.), The Oxford handbook of information structure, 64–85. Oxford: Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199642 670.013.002. [↗](https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199642)
15. Julian J. Schlöder and Alex Lascarides Calhoun, Sasha. 2007. Information structure and the prosodic structure of English: A probabilistic relationship. University of Edinburgh dissertation. [http://hdl.handle.net/1842/8120](http://hdl.handle.net/1842/8120). [↗](http://hdl.handle.net/1842/8120)
16. Carston, Robin. 1996. Metalinguistic negation and echoic use. Journal of Pragmatics 25(3). 309–330. https://doi.org/10.1016/0378-2166(94)00109-X. [↗](https://doi.org/10.1016/0378-2166(94)00109-x)
17. Constant, Noah. 2012. English rise-fall-rise: A study in the semantics and pragmatics of intonation. Linguistics and Philosophy 35(5). 407–442. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10988-012-9121-1. [↗](https://doi.org/10.1007/s10988-012-9121-1)
18. Dryer, Matthew S. 1996. Focus, pragmatic presupposition, and activated propositions. Journal of Pragmatics 26(4). 475–523. https://doi.org/10.1016 /0378-2166(95)00059-3. [↗](https://doi.org/10.1016/0378-2166(95)00059-3)
19. Féry, Caroline & Shinichiro Ishihara (eds.). 2016. The Oxford handbook of information structure. Oxford: Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10 .1093/oxfordhb/9780199642670.001.0001. [↗](https://doi.org/10)
20. Geurts, Bart & Rob van der Sandt. 2004a. Interpreting focus. Theoretical Linguistics 30(1). 1–44. https://doi.org/10.1515/thli.2004.005. [↗](https://doi.org/10.1515/thli.2004.005)
21. Geurts, Bart & Rob van der Sandt. 2004b. Interpreting focus again. Theoretical Linguistics 30(2–3). 149–161. https://doi.org/10.1515/thli.2004.30.2-3.149. [↗](https://doi.org/10.1515/thli.2004.30.2-3.149)
22. Halliday, Michael A K. 1967. Notes on transitivity and theme in English: Part 2. Journal of Linguistics 3(2). 199–244. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0022226 700016613. [↗](https://doi.org/10.1017/s0022226)
23. Hara, Yurie & Robert van Rooij. 2007. Contrastive topics revisited: A simpler set of topic-alternatives. North East Linguistic Society (NELS) 38. [find](https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=Hara%2C+Yurie+%26+Robert+van+Rooij%2E+2007%2E+Contrastive+topics+revisited%3A+A+simpler+set+of+topic%2Dalternatives%2E+North+East+Linguistic+Society+%28NELS%29+38%2E)
24. Hobbs, Jerry. 1985. On the Coherence and Structure of Discourse. Tech. rep. CSLI-85-37. Center for the Study of Language & Information, Stanford University. [find](https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=Hobbs%2C+Jerry%2E+1985%2E+On+the+Coherence+and+Structure+of+Discourse%2E+Tech%2E+rep%2E+CSLI%2D85%2D37%2E+Center+for+the+Study+of+Language+%26+Information%2C+Stanford+University%2E)
25. Hobbs, Jerry. 1990. The Pierrehumbert-Hirschberg theory of intonational meaning made simple: Comments on Pierrehumbert and Hirschberg. In Jerry Morgan Philip R Cohen & Martha E Pollack (eds.), Intentions in communication, 313–323. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. [↗](https://doi.org/10.7551/mitpress/3839.003.0017)
26. Hobbs, Jerry R, Mark E Stickel, Douglas E Appelt & Paul Martin. 1993. Interpretation as abduction. Artificial Intelligence 63(1–2). 69–142. https://doi .org/10.1016/0004-3702(93)90015-4. [↗](https://doi.org/10.1016/0004-3702(93)90015-4)
27. Horn, Laurence. 1989. A natural history of negation. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press. [find](https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=Horn%2C+Laurence%2E+1989%2E+A+natural+history+of+negation%2E+Chicago%2C+IL%3A+University+of+Chicago+Press%2E)
28. Jackendoff, Ray. 1972. Semantic interpretation in generative grammar. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. [find](https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=Jackendoff%2C+Ray%2E+1972%2E+Semantic+interpretation+in+generative+grammar%2E+Cambridge%2C+MA%3A+MIT+Press%2E)
29. Understanding Focus Kehler, Andrew. 2002. Coherence, reference and the theory of grammar. Stanford, CA: CSLI Publications. [find](https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=Understanding+Focus+Kehler%2C+Andrew%2E+2002%2E+Coherence%2C+reference+and+the+theory+of+grammar%2E+Stanford%2C+CA%3A+CSLI+Publications%2E)
30. Kratzer, Angelika. 1989. An investigation of the lumps of thought. Linguistics and Philosophy 12(5). 607–653. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00627775. [↗](https://doi.org/10.1007/bf00627775)
31. Krifka, Manfred. 1991. A compositional semantics for multiple focus constructions. Semantics and Linguistic Theory (SALT) 1. 127–158. https://do i.org/10.3765/salt.v1i0.2492. [↗](https://doi.org/10.3765/salt.v1i0.2492)
32. Ladd, D Robert. 1980. The structure of intonational meaning: Evidence from English. Bloomington & London: Indiana University Press. de Marneffe, Marie-Catherine & Judith Tonhauser. 2019. Inferring meaning from indirect answers to polar questions: the contribution of the rise-fall-rise contour. In Malte Zimmermann, Klaus von Heusinger & Edgar Onea Gaspar (eds.), Questions in discourse. Leiden: Brill Publishing. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004378322_006. [↗](https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004378322_006)
33. Partee, Barbara. 1991. Topic, focus and quantification. Semantics and Linguistic Theory (SALT) 1. 159–188. https://doi.org/10.3765/salt.v1i0.2918. [↗](https://doi.org/10.3765/salt.v1i0.2918)
34. Pierrehumbert, Janet & Julia Hirschberg. 1990. The meaning of intonational contours in the interpretation of discourse. In J. Morgan P. R. Cohen & M. E. Pollack (eds.), Intentions in Communication, 271–311. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. [↗](https://doi.org/10.7551/mitpress/3839.003.0016)
35. Reese, Brian. 2007. Bias in questions. University of Texas at Austin dissertation. [http://hdl.handle.net/2152/3280](http://hdl.handle.net/2152/3280). [↗](http://hdl.handle.net/2152/3280)
36. Roberts, Craige. 2012. [Information structure in discourse: Towards an integrated formal theory of pragmatics](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/papers/roberts-2012-information-structure-discourse-towards-integrated/). Semantics and Pragmatics 5(6). 1–69. https://doi.org/10.3765/sp.5.6. [↗](https://doi.org/10.3765/sp.5.6)
37. Rooth, Mats. 1992. A theory of focus interpretation. Natural Language Semantics 1(1). 75–116. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02342617. [↗](https://doi.org/10.1007/bf02342617)
38. Rooth, Mats. 1999. Association with focus or association with presupposition? In Peter Bosch & Rob van der Sandt (eds.), Focus: Linguistic, cognitive, and computational perspectives, 232–244. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. [find](https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=Rooth%2C+Mats%2E+1999%2E+Association+with+focus+or+association+with+presupposition%3F+In+Peter+Bosch+%26+Rob+van+der+Sandt+%28eds%2E%29%2C+Focus%3A+Linguistic%2C+cognitive%2C+and+computational+perspectives%2C+232%E2%80%93244%2E+Cambridg)
39. Rooth, Mats. 2016. Alternative semantics. In Caroline Féry & Shinichiro Ishihara (eds.), The Oxford handbook of information structure, 19–40. Oxford: Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199642 670.013.19. [↗](https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199642)
40. Sæbø, Kjell Johan. 2016. Information structure and presupposition. In Caroline Féry & Shinichiro Ishihara (eds.), The Oxford handbook of informa-Julian J. Schlöder and Alex Lascarides tion structure, 128–146. Oxford: Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199642670.013.012. [↗](https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199642670.013.012)
41. Šafářová, Marie. 2005. The semantics of rising intonation and interrogatives. Sinn und Bedeutung 9. 355–369. https://ojs.ub.uni-konstanz.de/sub/ind ex.php/sub/article/view/774/665. van der Sandt, Rob. 1992. Presupposition projection as anaphora resolution. Journal of Semantics 9(4). 333–377. https://doi.org/10.1093/jos/9.4.333. [↗](https://doi.org/10.1093/jos/9.4.333)
42. Schlöder, Julian J & Alex Lascarides. 2015. Interpreting English pitch contours in context. In Christine Howes & Staffan Larsson (eds.), Workshop on the Semantics and Pragmatics of Dialogue (SemDial) 19, 131–139. http://sem dial.org/anthology/papers/Z/Z15/Z15-3018/. [↗](https://aclanthology.org/Z15-3018/)
43. Schwarzschild, Roger. 1999. GIVENness, AvoidF and other constraints on the placement of accent. Natural Language Semantics 7(2). 141–177. https://d oi.org/10.1023/A:1008370902407. [↗](https://doi.org/10.1023/a:1008370902407)
44. Selkirk, Elisabeth O. 1984. Phonology and syntax. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. [find](https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=Selkirk%2C+Elisabeth+O%2E+1984%2E+Phonology+and+syntax%2E+Cambridge%2C+MA%3A+MIT+Press%2E)
45. Silverman, Kim, Mary Beckman, John Pitrelli, Mori Ostendorf, Colin Wightman, Patti Price, Janet Pierrehumbert & Julia Hirschberg. 1992. ToBI: A standard for labeling English prosody. In International conference on spoken language processing 2, 867–870. [find](https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=Silverman%2C+Kim%2C+Mary+Beckman%2C+John+Pitrelli%2C+Mori+Ostendorf%2C+Colin+Wightman%2C+Patti+Price%2C+Janet+Pierrehumbert+%26+Julia+Hirschberg%2E+1992%2E+ToBI%3A+A+standard+for+labeling+English+prosody%2E+In+International+)
46. Steedman, Mark. 2014. The surface-compositional semantics of English intonation. Language 90(1). 2–57. https://doi.org/10.1353/lan.2014.0010. [↗](https://doi.org/10.1353/lan.2014.0010)
47. Wagner, Michael. 2006. Givenness and locality. Semantics and Linguistic Theory (SALT) 1. 295–312. https://doi.org/10.3765/salt.v16i0.2938. [↗](https://doi.org/10.3765/salt.v16i0.2938)
48. Wagner, Michael. 2012. [Contrastive topics decomposed](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/papers/wagner-2012-contrastive-topics-decomposed/). Semantics and Pragmatics 5(8). 1–54. https://doi.org/10.3765/sp.5.8. [↗](https://doi.org/10.3765/sp.5.8)
49. Wagner, Michael, Elise McClay & Lauren Mak. 2013. Incomplete answers and the rise-fall-rise contour. In Raquel Fernández & Amy Isard (eds.), Workshop on the Semantics and Pragmatics of Dialogue (SemDial) 17, 140–149. http://semdial.org/anthology/papers/Z/Z13/Z13-3018/. [↗](https://aclanthology.org/Z13-3018/)
50. Walker, Marilyn A. 1996a. Inferring acceptance and rejection in dialogue by default rules of inference. Language and Speech 39(2–3). 265–304. https://doi.org/10.1177/002383099603900306. [↗](https://doi.org/10.1177/002383099603900306)
51. Walker, Marilyn A. 1996b. Limited attention and discourse structure. Computational Linguistics 22(2). 255–264. [↗](https://doi.org/10.5555/230386.230391)
52. Ward, Gregory & Julia Hirschberg. 1988. Intonation and propositional attitude: The pragmatics of L*+ H LH%. Eastern States Conference on Linguistics (ESCOL) 5. 512–522. [find](https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=Ward%2C+Gregory+%26+Julia+Hirschberg%2E+1988%2E+Intonation+and+propositional+attitude%3A+The+pragmatics+of+L%2A%2B+H+LH%25%2E+Eastern+States+Conference+on+Linguistics+%28ESCOL%29+5%2E+512%E2%80%93522%2E)
53. Understanding Focus Watson, Duane G, Michael K Tanenhaus & Christine A Gunlogson. 2008. Interpreting pitch accents in online comprehension: H* vs. L+H*. Cognitive Science 32(7). 1232–1244. https://doi.org/10.1080/03640210802138755. [↗](https://doi.org/10.1080/03640210802138755)
54. Westera, Matthijs. 2017. Exhaustivity and intonation: A unified theory. University of Amsterdam dissertation. [https://hdl.handle.net/11245.1/25ab109](https://hdl.handle.net/11245.1/25ab109) d-1e52-4ba9-bdd8-4719c17c5a3b. [↗](https://hdl.handle.net/11245.1/25ab109)
55. Westera, Matthijs. 2018. Rising declaratives of the quality-suspending kind. Glossa 1(3). 1–32. https://doi.org/10.5334/gjgl.415. Julian J. Schlöder ILLC, University of Amsterdam P.O. Box 94242 1090 GE Amsterdam The Netherlands julian.schloeder@gmail.com Alex Lascarides School of Informatics, University of Edinburgh 10 Crichton Street Edinburgh, EH8 9AB Scotland alex@inf.ed.ac.uk [↗](https://doi.org/10.5334/gjgl.415)

*Updated 24 October 2026*