Escher sentenceとは 意味・読み方・使い方

名詞

Escher sentence (plural Escher sentences)

1. A sentence which initially seems acceptable (grammatical and parseable), but upon inspection is nonsensical.
   • 2012, James R. Hurford, The Origins of Grammar: Language in the Light of Evolution II, page 215:

     Escher sentences are extremely rare. One or two examples have circulated in the linguistics blogs, with minor lexical mutations, but no one has come up with an example culled from text or even from spontaneous spoken conversation. […] Unlike Escher sentences, most expressions do not cause such a clash between immediate and more reflective judgements.

   • 2020, Viviane Déprez, M. Teresa Espinal, The Oxford Handbook of Negation:

     […] And so-called "Escher sentences" or "comparative illusions," such as "More people have been to Russia than I have," are often initially, and sometimes persistently, perceived as acceptable, natural sentences, despite being semantically incoherent. It is only after careful consideration that the strangeness of the comparative can be detected. The underlying computations responsible for these phenomena are currently not well understood (though Wellwood et al. 2018 makes important progress in identifying the profile of Escher sentences).

   • 2024, Inavamsi Enaganti, Nivedita Ganesh, Bud Mishra, The Mischief Of Math, page 57:

     Whimsical Warbler: Why should we vote? I propose a dictatorship and nominate myself as dictator, since less birds have as much authority in this archipelago than I have.

     'a confused pause ensues as the entire audience, speakers, and Chair slowly tried to parse that phrase'

     Single-Shot Sicklebill: Did you dare to heckle me with an Escher sentence? Away with you, you scoundrel!