Blocking effects at the lexicon/semantics interface and bi-directional optimization in French

We document two cases of partial blocking at the lexicon/semantics interface concerning the interpretation of inchoative French verbs (craquer 'snap', se briser 'break', (se) casser 'break'). One concerns the obligatorily referential interpretation with non-reflexive-marked verbs like casser in a sentence whose pronominal subject il is potentially ambiguous between a referential and a non-referential interpretation (Il a cassé plusieurs branches ‘he/there broke several branches’). The other concerns aspectual interpretations arising in contexts traditionally used as telicity diagnostics. In such contexts, one form (reflexive-marked or not, depending on the particular aspectual context), by default, has the target interpretation; if the lexicon does not provide that form then the other form takes on the target interpretation, resulting in the absence of an overall one-to-one mapping between form and interpretation. This general pattern supports an analysis relying on competition among expression/interpretation pairs, which is here formalized in a bidirectional OT architecture.