I presented my ongoing work on quasi-names (an earlier version of my second qualifying paper) at the 10th MACSIM, which took place on April 6, 2024 at the University of Maryland, College park.
Please find below the title and a short abstract of my presentation:
Title: The syntax and semantics of quasi-names
Abstract: Many existing theories of names have mainly focused on personal names like Mary. However, cross-linguistically, some common nouns can also be used like names. For example, when I utter to my sibling 'Mom will pick us up from the airport', the common noun Mom is used as if it’s the name of my (and my sibling’s) mother. I follow Pelczar & Rainsbury (1998) in calling these name-like expressions quasi-names. This study investigates the syntax and semantics of quasi-names. Broadly, I argue that existing theories of names that have worked for personal names don’t carry over straightforwardly to quasi-names. More specifically, I argue that modeling the syntax and semantics of quasi-names after the syntax and semantics of personal names fails to account for two observations: (i) the homonymy requirement in quasi-names (that the quasi-name Mom sounds like the common noun mom), and (ii) the infelicity of quasi-names modified by non-restrictive adjectives. In the end, I offer a tentative analysis that addresses these two problems.