Download (A)telicity and (non)-delimitedness with (bare) count nouns in Greek

(A)telicity and (non)-delimitedness with (bare) count nouns in Greek
Athina Sioupi (AUTH German Department)
Introduction. The present paper addresses the issue of (a)telicity and (non)-delimitedness in
incremental theme verbs that appear with (bare) count nouns in Greek. A common assumption in the
literature on delimitation is that a count noun as direct object of certain classes of verbs delimits the
expression it appears in (see Dowty 1979, Verkuyl 1993, Tenny 1994 among others). The count noun
direct object in (1a) is natural with a delimited reading, while it is awkward with a non-delimited
reading. In contrast, the mass noun or the bare plural in (1b) allows a non-delimited reading but not a
delimited one:
(1)
a. Mary ate an apple
??for a couple of minutes.
in a couple of minutes.
b. Mary ate ice cream/apples
for a couple of minutes.
*in a couple of minutes.
In Greek, a language that marks perfective and imperfective aspect morphologically on all verb forms
(2a,b), (3a,b) this difference does not exist, as has been shown (Chila-Markopoulou & Mozer 1999
among others). The count noun direct object is natural with a non-delimited reading, even when it
appears bare, as example (2a) illustrates, while the bare plural or the mass noun allows a delimited
reading, as shown in (3b):
(2) a. I Maria etroge
(ena) milo
epi merika lepta.
the-Maria ate-3sg-IMP (an) appleACC for a couple of minutes
‘Mary ate (an) apple for a couple of minutes’.
b. I Maria efage
(ena) milo
se merika lepta.
the-Maria ate-3sg-PERF (an) appleACC
in a couple of minutes
‘Mary ate (an) apple in a couple of minutes’.
(3) a. I Maria etroge
mila/pagoto
epi merika lepta.
the-Maria ate-3sg-IMP apples/ice creamACC for a couple of minutes
‘Mary ate apples/ice cream for a couple of minutes’.
b. I Maria efage
mila/pagoto
se merika lepta.
the-Maria ate-3sg-PERF
apples/ice creamACC in a couple of minutes
‘Mary ate (an) apple/apples/ice cream in a couple of minutes’.
Main idea to be explored. Both articled and determinerless count nouns as direct objects of
incremental theme verbs force a non-delimited reading when the verb is marked with imperfective
aspect. So I will argue that there is a link between morphologically marked aspect (like the perfectiveimperfective contrast in Greek) and (non)-delimitedness.
Analysis. Following Smollett (2001) I will propose that an articled count noun as direct object of a
verb of one of Tenny’s “measuring-out” classes does establish a scale but it does not enforce the
existence of an endpoint and does not delimit the event. This explains the grammaticality of (2a) with
the for-phrase. Concerning next the bare count noun, I will show that it does not provide a ‘scale’
along which the progress of the event can be ‘measured out’, i.e. it does not provide an endpoint to the
event and it does not delimit the event. In this case the verb and the complement together acquire the
status of an activity (troo milo ‘eat apple’ is on a par with swim, walk). Extending Sioupi (2001c) I will
propose that not only verbs of creation of the category incremental theme verbs but also verbs of
consumption have the same argument structure as unergative verbs. Being unergatives they are atelic.
Finally, I will show that aspect does not interfere with (a)telicity but only with (non)-delimitedness (in
the sense of Horrocks & Stavrou 2001), i.e. that the structure (2a), even with perfective aspect, as in
(2b) is atelic, but it becomes delimited, since it marks the end of the event. The difference between a
bare count noun and an articled count noun marked as perfective is that the perfective verb with an
articled count noun indicates termination and completion, whereas with a bare count noun indicates
termination but not necessarily completion.
Selected References
Tenny, Carol L. 1994. Aspectual Roles and the Syntax-Semantics Interface. Dordrecht: Kluwer.
Verkuyl, Henk 1993. A Theory of Ascpectuality. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Carlota Smith
Aspectual entities in discours
In this talk I will show that the types of aspectual entities
introduced in discourse passages correlate with intuitions about the mode
of a discourse. In addition to the aspectual entities events and states, I
distinguish generic and general statives, and facts and propositions, or
abstract entities. I introduce the notion of 'Discourse Modes', a level of
local text structure. There are five modes: Narrative, Description,
Report, Informative, Commentary (ignoring conversation). Each mode
introduces a certain class of aspectual entities into the universe of
discourse, and has a particular type of semantic text progression. Tense
interpretation differs according to discsourse mode. Three principles of
tense interpretation account for the contribution of tense to discourse.
Souesme Jean-Claude
Université de NICE
Questions modalisées et intonation
On distingue d’ordinaire deux types de questions, dites ouvertes et fermées. Les questions modalisées,
commençant par un modal, sont donc à classer parmi les questions fermées. Concernant l’intonation à l’oral, les
règles de base veulent qu’on associe une mélodie montante, de type High Head + Low Rise aux questions
fermées, comme dans :
Is John coming tonight?
H H
H
*LM%
et qu'un contour intonatif descendant accompagne une question ouverte :
When did you see him for the last time?
H
H H
%ML L
Or l’examen des courbes intonatives des questions modalisées montre qu’on ne peut se satisfaire d’un
seul contour ascendant. Nous nous proposons d’analyser en termes d'opérations énonciatives les
phénomènes intonatifs en fonction de critères linguistiques dans le cadre de la théorie de A. Culioli.
Nous ferons appel aux deux délimitations d'une notion qu'impose le formatage d'une occurrence, la
délimitation quantitative, qui construit l'ancrage spatio-temporel de l'occurrence, et qui a donc trait à
son existence situationnelle, et la délimitation qualitative, qui touche à sa représentation subjective par
l'énonciateur. Ce dernier peut par suite valuer positivement ou négativement l'occurrence situationnelle
en question.
Toute question fermée pose par définition le problème de la délimitation quantitative d'une occurrence
de notion prédicative. Or la prise en compte éventuelle d'une adéquation entre la délimitation
quantitative de l'occurrence envisagée et la valuation positive qu'elle revêt aux yeux de l'énonciateur
constitue un élément primordial pour les courbes intonatives des énoncés interrogatifs modalisés, au
point de contredire la règle de base des questions fermées. On observe dans ce cas une courbe
intonative descendante caractéristique des énoncés assertifs. Il y a alors conflit avec la forme
syntaxique de la question, et syntaxe et sémantique paraissent diverger ; en fait, dans la mesure où la
question correspond à un souhait, une attente, voire un ordre de l’énonciateur, il s'agit d'une fausse
question. On se rapproche d’un certain point de vue des questions dites rhétoriques pour lesquelles la
valeur nulle est considérée comme seule bonne valeur, et pour lesquelles la courbe intonative est
descendante également. Par suite, les considérations pragmatiques que l'on peut attacher à tel ou tel
énoncé interrogatif ne sont que le prolongement d'une donnée linguistique initiale unique. Dans les
questions modalisées étudiées ici, l’énonciateur aura recours à une intonation descendante s’il souhaite
signaler l'adéquation de l'occurrence comme étant la bonne, en raison d'une appréciation positive
portée sur la validation de la relation. On ne peut pas bien évidemment tout expliquer en termes de
délimitation quantitative et qualitative : des modifications de la courbe intonative peuvent notamment
être liées à la place du noyau accentuel sur tel ou tel mot porteur d’information nouvelle par exemple,
ou mis en cause en raison d’un préconstruit contraire. Nous pensons néanmoins qu’il s’agit là de
concepts opératoires applicables à l’analyse de base des courbes intonatives des questions modalisées
qui permettent de dépasser le clivage entre les questions dites ouvertes et fermées.
Tabatchnik Moché, Université de Tel-Aviv
FONCTION TEMPORELLE DES DÉTERMINANTS DANS LE TEXTE
LITTÉRAIRE.
1. Notre communication pose le problème de la temporalité propre à la sémantique des
adjectifs déterminatifs dans le cadre du texte littéraire. Nous recourons dans cette
investigation à l’appareil d’analyse lié à la théorie de la psychomécanique du langage
(celle de Gustave Guillaume) qui explique la genèse des sens occurrenciels par
l’avancement progressif du temps opétratif, trait caractéristique de la pensée dialectique
[général
pariculier
universel]. Par ailleurs, ces effets de sens sont considérés
comme isotopes sémantiques (au sens de A.J.Greimas et F.Rastier) valorisées dans les
niveaux interprétatifs de l’espace narratif.
2. Nous supposons que les déterminants et leurs déterminés peuvent former des micro- et
macrosystèmes susceptibles de produire (et de reproduire) des sèmes temporels
spécifiques, components des champs sémantiques correspondants. A la différence des
formes verbales marquant le temps de l’action, les déterminants établissent les liens
vectoriels entre les niveaux temporels de la narration.
3. Si traditionnellement on attribue aux adjectifs déteminatifs la fonction de support
déictique pour le déterminé-apport, il arrive que dans certaines conditions textuelles, c’est
l’élément déterminant qui sert d’apport dans la construction du sens temporel. Le
dynamisme fonctionnel de ces formes est non seulement la source de la pluralité de ses
vecteurs temporels, mais amène parfois le dédoublement des référents représentés [cf.
chez J.Racine « Cette noble pudeur colorait son visage… »].
4. Dans le domaine du texte, l’approche psychomécanique révèle le rôle important des
déterminants - connecteurs dans la construction des carrefours des mondes possibles où
l’idéogénèse textuelle recourt au procédé spécifique que nous déterminons comme fusion
des couches temporelles. L’analyse des exemples tirés des textes classiques (P.Corneille,
J.Racine, P.Mérimée) corrobore cette hypothèse.
5. Etant donné que la temporalité des déterminants nominaux n’est qu’un des moyens dans la
structuration de la temporalité textuelle, on peut avancer une hypothèse plus générale
concernant la matrice temporelle du texte littéraire basée sur la pluralité
polydimensionnelle des lignes de force intentionnelles du discours produit.
RÉFÉRENCES BIBLIOGRAPHIQUES.
1. David J.- Kleiber G. (éd.), 1985, Déterminants : syntaxe et sémantique, Metz-Université.
2. Flaux N., D. van De Velde, W. De Mulder, 1997, Entre général et particulier : les
déterminants, Artois Presses Université.
3. Guénette L., 1995, Le démonstratif en français. Essai d’interprétation psychomécanique,
Champion.
4. Guillaume G., 1973, Langage et science du langage, Nizet-Presses de l’Université Laval,
Paris-Québec.
5. Langage, 94, Déterminants, 1989.
6. Kleiber G., 1995, « Lorsque l’anaphore se lie aux temps grammaticaux », in C.Vetters
(éd.), Le temps, de la phrase au texte, Presses Universitaires de Lille.
7. Morel M .-A ., Danon-Boileau L. (éd.), 1992, La déixis, PUF.
8. Tabatchnik M., 1997, « Signe dévalorisé dans la prose exupérienne. Essai d’analyse
sémantique du texte traditionnel », Sémiotiques, Didier, 13, p.65-90.
9. Vet C., Temps, aspects et adverbes de temps en français contemporain, Genève : Droz.
10. Vetters C., 1996, Temps, aspect et narration, Rodopi, Amsterdam/Atlanta.
11. Weinrich H., 1989, Grammaire textuelle du français, Didier/Hatier, Paris.
Turkish conditionals
Ceyhan Temürcü
Center for Grammar, Cognition and Typology, University of Antwerp.
Abstract
This paper aims to investigate the conditional sentence in Turkish in its interaction with tense, aspect
and various mood categories. It will identify types of conditional sentences in terms of a threedivision, such as argued by Sweetser (1990), between a linking at the content level, the epistemic
level, and the illocutionary level. It will attempt to characterize the morphosyntax of the markers that
appear in the protasis and in the apodosis at each level of linking. The focus will be on the interaction
of the conditional marker(s) with tense, aspect, and evidentiality/modality, both from cross-linguistic
and a language particular point of view. The analysis will further be based on a rather unconventional
analysis of the tense and aspect system, including some observations on the expression of evidentials
and modality. Tense in Turkish will be maintained to be encoded by a two-layered system: A primary
system that distinguishes past (-DI) and present (zero-marked), and a secondary system that includes
two relational tense markers: posterior (-mIş), and anterior (-(A)cAk). Following Bhat (1999), these
tense systems will be called ‘deictic’ and ‘non-deictic’ respectively. Non-deictic tense markers will be
shown to be paradigmatic with aspect markers that encode the perfective/imperfective distinction,
which include a Perfective (zero-marked), and two imperfectives, the Habitual (-Ir) and the
Continuous (-Iyor).
The widely held claim that constraints on tense and aspect are mostly relevant for content-level
conditionals will be shown to be supported by Turkish data.
The protasis-markers at the content level, labelled ‘Factual’ and ‘Counterfactual’ (-sA and -sAydI
respectively), will be argued to be mutually exclusive, and furthermore, paradigmatic with elements of
deictic tense. This analysis will be used to support the view that the counterfactual is a conceptual
primitive which cannot be defined in terms of factuality (e.g., Wierzbicka, 1997). The protasismarkers at the epistemic and illocutionary levels will be treated as being syntactically and semantically
different from content level conditional markers, although homomorphic with the Factual (-sA).
The apodosis-markers will be identified as Realis (-Ir/DIr) or Irrealis (-IrDI) at the content level, and
as Predictive (which is homomorphic with Realis) at the epistemic level. These markers will be taken
as evidential categories which block the appearence of deictic tenses. The apodoses of illocutionary
level conditionals will be shown to be free from specific morphosyntactic constraints.
What is commonly referred to as ‘potentialis’ or ‘hypothetical’ conditionals will be argued to represent
a sub-type of epistemic-level conditionals, usually signalled by a Past tense marker in the protasis.
REFERENCES:
Bhat, D. N. S. (1999). The Prominence of Tense, Aspect and Mood. John Benjamins Publishing
Company: Amsterdam/Philadelphia.
Sweetser, E. (1990). From Etymology to Pragmatics: Metaphorical and Cultural Aspects of Semantic
Structure. Cambridge University Press: Cambridge.
Wierzbicka, A. (1997). Conditionals and Counterfactuals: conceptual primitives and linguistic
universals In Athanasiadou, A. and Dirven, R. (eds.), On Conditionals Again. John Benjamins
Publishing Company: Amsterdam/Philadelphia, pp. 15-59.
What makes time tick?
Alice ter Meulen
If we interpret any two consecutive sentences in discourse, which factors
lead us to conclude what temporal relations may obtain between them?
Sometimes semantic properties of the first sentence force the subsequent
sentence to refer to a later event, which is here called a Œticking effect¹.
Other contexts, especially explanatory or causal ones, seem to prohibit such
ticking. Speakers do not always have enough information to determine the
temporal relations obtaining between sentences in discourse. This paper
examines which conditions lead us to conclude that a given clause must be
interpreted as referring to a time later than the one contextually
determined by prior discourse or by other given information. Contrary to
Structured Discourse Representation Theory, it is argued that that temporal
relations provide a proper semantic basis for rhetoric relations and not
vice versa. Experimental studies may be envisaged which could decide among
such different theoretical alternatives, providing interesting testable
predictions for human language processing research.
Morphosemantics of Tenses and Moods in European Languages
Rolf Thieroff
In the languages of Europe, the non-present tense forms are not only used to locate situations in time (Comrie
1985), but they are regularly used to convey modal meanings as well. Thus, a future tense may be used to refer
to a future situation or to express an assumption (with present time reference), a preterite or imperfect tense may
be used to refer to a past situation or to express a counterfactual statement (with present time reference), and a
verb form with the combination of both past and future morphs (e.g. French aim-er-ait) may have future-in-thepast or conditional meaning.
Consequently, tenses are not only “temporal” but also modal, and the so-called “Conditionals” of the
Western European languages are tenses in very much the same sense as are futures and preterites or imperfects.
This follows from their morphological make-up as well as from their meaning.
If all tenses have modal meanings, the question arises what the functions of the non-indicative moods (in
most languages the subjunctive) are. Whereas the subjunctive in combination with a finite present verb form is
vanishing in most European languages (exceptions are the Romance languages with a special development),
preterite and imperfect subjunctives mainly serve to indicate the non-past time reference of a past form. Past
subjunctives with past time reference do not seem to exist in the languages of Europe.
Eventually, the morphological and semantic description of the tense morphemes on the one hand and the
mood morphemes on the other hand and the analysis of the combination of tense and mood morphemes lead to a
picture of the tense and mood categories which turns out to be astoninishingly similar in the major languages of
Europe.
RECOMPOSITION DU SYSTÈME ASPECTO-TEMPOREL
(SUR L'EXEMPLE DU SERBO-CROATE : BOSNIAQUE, CROATE, SERBE)
Paul-Louis Thomas (Université Paris IV-Sorbonne)
Nous nous intéressons ici aux mécanismes du changement linguistique qui affectent certains tiroirs
verbaux, et notamment ceux du prétérit en serbo-croate (formes verbales dites "imparfait", "aoriste " et "plusque-parfait ", ces termes étant ceux en usage dans les grammaires descriptives et ne préjugeant pas des valeurs
que peuvent posséder ces formes dans la langue moderne 1). Leur régression au cours du 20ème siècle à des degrés
divers (plus accentuée pour l’imparfait, moins pour l’aoriste et moins encore pour le plus-que-parfait) a entraîné
une réaffectation partielle de ces tiroirs verbaux à des valeurs stylistiques 2, et provoqué surtout une
recomposition de l'ensemble du système aspecto-temporel. C'est ainsi que, contrairement à ce qui est le cas en
bulgare, autre langue slave du sud, en serbo-croate l'imparfait ne se rencontre qu'à l'aspect imperfectif3, alors que
l'aoriste et le plus-que-parfait4 tendent dans la langue moderne à se limiter à l'aspect perfectif. De ce fait, pour les
tiroirs verbaux du prétérit, c'est essentiellement avec celui dit "parfait" que l'opposition aspectuelle joue
pleinement aujourd'hui (c'est d'ailleurs le seul tiroir prétérit qui se soit maintenu en russe moderne).
Nous recourrons entre autres exemples à celui de différentes traductions de la Bible (où l’imparfait a
davantage résisté) depuis la fin du 19ème siècle, en prenant pour exemple des extraits de Mc 15. Leur
comparaison illustre bien la reconstruction du système aspecto-temporel qui est à l’œuvre en serbo-croate. La
confrontation de différentes traductions en français des mêmes extraits pour la même période peut d'ailleurs
poser la question d’une recomposition du système français, avec notamment le cas du passé simple et du
subjonctif imparfait.
1
Cf. notre article "Remarques sur l'aspect en serbo-croate", in : A. BORILLO, C. VETTERS et M.
VUILLAUME (éd.), Cahiers Chronos 2 - Regards sur l'aspect, Amsterdam : Rodopi, 1998
Cf. notre article présenté à CHRONOS 3 "Aoriste, aoristique et systèmes d’énonciation : le cas du serbo-croate
(bosniaque, croate, serbe)", Le langage et l'homme 33/1, mars 1998.
2
3
Nous entendons ici par "aspect" l'opposition morphologique perfectif / imperfectif qui se manifeste dans la
forme verbale, toute forme verbale slave étant morphologiquement aspectuée.
Marina Todorova
MODELLING THE ASPECTUAL CONSEQUENCES OF ARGUMENT PREDICATION
It is well known that the aspectual interpretation of verb phrases can be influenced by the type of nominal
predicate that appears in argument position. I argue here that the aspectual effects of argument predication can be
derived from the compositional premise of Neo-Davidsonian semantics, in conjunction with some assumptions
about the denotations of telic and non-telic predicates. In the Neo-Davidsonian framework, semantic
composition intersects sets of events; nominal denotations - i.e., sets of individuals – are converted into sets of
events by specialized functions (Theme-of, Agent-of, etc.).
Building on Krifka (1992, 1998), the aspectual distinction can be stated in relation to the property of
cumulative reference: non-telic predicates have such reference, but telic predicates do not. An analogous
distinction is defined in the nominal domain: bare mass and bare plural predicates have cumulative reference,
whereas count and DP predicates do not. For nouns, (non-)cumulativity is formally linked to the structure of the
set denoted by the predicate: cumulative predicates denote sets of sums of individuals ordered by the subset
relation, whereas non-cumulative predicates denote sets of individuals (Link 1983, and others). On the
assumption that the domain of events is closed under sum, the following becomes a possible restatement of the
aspectual distinction: non-telic predicates denote sets of sets (sums) of events ordered by the subset relation,
whereas telic predicates denote sets of (singular/ atomic) events. Since every lexical verb is a predicate of
events, every lexical verb will have inherent aspectuality: broadly, this results in the traditional distinction
between ‘activities’ (read) and ‘achievements’ (buy). Inherent aspectuality determines the possible effects of
predication to different types of arguments, cf.:
(1). John read books / fiction (for an hour) (non-telic)
(2). John read the book =
i. John read some portion of the book (for an hour). (non-telic)
ii. John read (more or less all of) the book (*for an hour). (telic)
 non-telic predicates have a single aspectual interpretation when combined with cumulative arguments, but
allow two aspectual interpretations when combined with non-cumulative arguments
(3). John bought books =
i. John bought some books (*for an hour) (telic)
ii. John engaged in book-buying (for an hour) (non-telic)
(4). John bought the book (*for an hour) (telic)
 telic predicates have a single aspectual interpretation when combined with non-cumulative arguments, but
allow two aspectual interpretations when combined with cumulative arguments
Overall, the combination of predicates with non-analogously structured denotations results in some form of
semantic shift: either a change in aspectuality ((2ii), (3ii)), or a non-standard interpretation of the thematic
argument (partitive in (2i), existential in (3i)).
Under the Neo-Davidsonian approach, the Theme-of function will convert sets of individuals into sets of
events, and sets of sums of individuals into sets of sums of events. These are then intersected with the denotation
of the verb. Intersection will return the empty set in every situation where one member of the predication denotes
a set of events, while the other denotes a set of event sums. In practice, such situations arise in the predication of
non-telic verbs to non-cumulative arguments, and in the predication of telic verbs to cumulative arguments.
Assuming that empty denotations are uninterpretable, we can predict reanalysis driven by the need to obtain a
meaningful outcome for the predication. The possibilities are as follows:
 to combine a verb denoting a set of sets of events (read) with an argument denoting a set of individuals (the
book):
- the denotation of the argument is converted into a set of sets; for example, through the application of partitive
operators returning sets of subsets/subparts of sets of individuals. The resulting interpretation is (2i).
- the denotation of the verbal predicate is converted into a set of events; for example, through the
application of an appropriate classifier/measure function (Kennedy & Levin 2002). The resulting
interpretation is (2ii).
 to combine a verb denoting a set of events (buy) with an argument denoting a set of sets of individuals (books):
- the denotation of the argument is converted into a set of individuals; for example, through the
application of -closure (Chierchia 1998). The resulting interpretation is (3i).
- the denotation of the verbal predicate is converted into a set of sets of events; for example, through
the application of the * (star) operator. The resulting interpretation is (3ii).
4
Cf. notre article "Le plus-que-parfait en serbo-croate (bosniaque, croate, monténégrin, serbe) dans une
approche contrastive avec le français", in : A. CARLIER, V. LAGAE et C. BENNINGER (éd.), Cahiers Chronos
6 - Passé et parfait, Amsterdam : Rodopi, 2000
This approach allows us to derive all the readings in (1) – (4) without recourse to aspectual features or
the (optional) application of a specialized mechanism of argument predication.
Représentations discursives: l'aoriste grec et le passé simple français
Anne Tzioka
Dans la Théorie de la Représentation Discursive (Kamp et Rohrer, 1983), la fonction
du passé simple français est d’intoduire un point référentiel nouveau auquel se rattachent les
faits rapportés par des phrases qui sont à un autre temps du passé. En outre, l’éventualité
rapportée par la phrase au passé simple –située avant le moment de la parole –coïncide
parfaitement avec ce point référentiel.
L’application de la règle proposée par Kamp et Rohrer pour le passé simple, à l’aoriste
grec s’avère problèmatique malgré les ressemblances qui existent entre les deux temps.
L’aoriste, s’utilise dans plusieurs contextes à savoir les contextes déictiques dans lesquels il
correspond au passé composé français, les contextes narratifs dans lequels il correspond au
passé simple et aussi les contextes, que nous appelons «déictiques à perspective déplacée»,
dans lesquels il correspond, selon le cas, au passé simple ou au plus-que-parfait français ou
encore à l’imparfait français.
Dans cette présentation, nous allons nous occuper du comportement de l’aoriste dans
les contextes déictiques à perspective déplacée et des temps qui lui correspondent dans ce
contexte en français. Nous aborderons aussi le problème de la perspective temporelle.
Finalement, nous proposerons des règles qui rendent compte des différents emplois de
l'aoriste.
Références bibliographiques
KAMP, H. (1981), «Evénements, représentations discursives et référence temporelle», Langages 64, p.39-64
KAMP, H. et ROHRER, C (1983), «Tense in texts», In: R. BAÜERLE, C. SCHWARZE et A. VON STECHOW
(eds), Meaning, use and interpretation of language, Berlin/New York, Mouton de Gruyter, p.250-269
KAMP, H. et REYLE, U. (1993). From Discourse to Logic. Dordrecht: Kluwer
ROHRER, C (1986) “Indirect discourse and “consecutio temporum”. In: V. Lo Cascio and C. Vet (eds).
Temporal structure in sentence and discourse. Dordrecht: ForisPublishers, p.79-97
VET, C (1991) “The temporal structure of discourse: setting, change, and perspective” In: S. FLEISCHMAN
and L. R. WAUGH (éds), Discourse-Pragmatics and the Verb: the Evidence from Romance, Londres and New
York: Rontledge, p.7-25
VET, C (1999) “Le passé simple, le passé composé et les règles d’interprétation discursive” In: M.Plénat et al.
(éds), L’emprise du sens: structures linguistiques et interprétations, Amsterdam-Atlanta,GA: Rodopi, p.323-336
Tense in speech and thought representation:
Some proposed modifications and correlations
Abstract submitted for the Fifth Chronos Colloquium to be held at Groningen University, 19-21 June
2002
Lieven Vandelanotte ([email protected])
Research assistant of the Fund for Scientific Research – Flanders (Belgium); University of Leuven
In this paper, I will argue that the fundamentally different nature of speech and thought reports
warrants according higher importance to issues of point-of-view in analyzing tense than is usually
done, in order to maximally contrast different types of speech and thought reports and set them apart
from other types of clause combinations. Second, I will argue that alongside free indirect speech or
thought, which typically has relative tense, there is a need to distinguish a second type of speech and
thought representation in between direct and indirect speech or thought: disclaiming indirect speech or
thought, which typically has absolute tense in terms of the relative-absolute (‘anaphoric’-‘deictic’)
distinction as defined in Declerck (1991).
I will argue that the ‘original speaker’, which I will call the Sayer/Cognizant (cf. Halliday 1994:
Ch. 5), should be accorded more importance in describing tense in speech and thought representation.
A concept similar to that of Sayer/Cognizant is used by Declerck and Tanaka (1996) in their
discussion of constraints on the use of absolute tense in (free) indirect speech and thought in order to
distinguish the ‘intensional domain’ (domain of interpretation) of the reporting Speaker from that of
the ‘original speaker’. I will argue that the concept is not only important in terms of interpretive
constructs but also, more tangibly grammatical, in terms of deictic centre. I will demonstrate that in
discussing and diagramming tense use in (free) indirect speech or thought, it is useful to invoke the
Sayer/Cognizant’s own time line and temporal zero-point so as to adequately capture the
fundamentally ‘different’ nature of speech and thought reports as compared to other types of
‘secondary’ clauses such as relative clauses, in which relative temporal locations cannot be indicated
on a time-line tied to some ‘non-Speaker’.
Furthermore, I will try to show that a distinct type of speech and thought representation should be
distinguished from free indirect speech or thought, even though it has typically been confused with it
in the literature (e.g. Bally 1914, Banfield 1982, Fludernik 1993): disclaiming indirect speech or
thought, in which an initiating clause is first entered into the discourse as a straightforward claim on
the part of the speaker, only to be nuanced afterwards in a sort of disclaiming afterthought (e.g. He
mailed you earlier today, he said). It will be argued that, in line with various aspects of the semantic,
grammatical, and pragmatic make-up of disclaiming indirect speech or thought, tense in the two
component clauses is determined independently and separately with respect to a single Speaker’s
temporal zero-point or t0 (Lyons 1977, Declerck 1991). As a result, contrary to what is the case for
(free) indirect speech or thought, the unmarked option in terms of tense choice is that of absolute tense
forms, involving a shift of the temporal domain from that in the initiating to that in the disclaiming
clause rather than incorporating the temporal location of the new situation in the already established
temporal domain. The point will not only be applied to examples with an explicit disclaiming clause
such as John will be late, he said (Reinhart 1975: 136; compare to FIST: He would be late, John said),
but also to examples in which there is no explicit disclaiming clause such as (1), for which Declerck
proposed a “shift of temporal focus” to the present.
(1) (When I met John, he immediately started asking me questions about Bill.) Where is Bill,
and when will he come back? (Declerck 1991: 91)
The absolute tense choice in the disclaiming type can be contrasted with that in direct speech or
thought in that in the latter, the distinct absolute temporal locations are referred to separate conscious
entities, each with their own time-line (Speaker and Sayer/Cognizant), whereas in the disclaiming type
they are located on the single time-line of one and the same Speaker. Here again, the usefulness of
working with the concepts of Speaker and Sayer/Cognizant in describing tense becomes apparent.
References
Bally, Ch. (1914) Figures de pensée et formes linguistiques I + II. Germanisch-Romanische Monatsschrift 6:
405-422; 456-470.
Banfield, A. (1982) Unspeakable Sentences. Narration and Representation in the Language of Fiction. Boston:
Routledge & Kegan Paul.
Declerck, R. (1991) Tense in English. Its Structure and Use in Discourse. London: Routledge.
Declerck, R. and K. Tanaka (1996) Constraints on tense choice in reported speech. Studia Linguistica 50.3: 283301.
Fludernik, M. (1993) The Fictions of Language and the Languages of Fiction. The Linguistic Representation of
Speech and Consciousness. London: Routledge.
Halliday, M.A.K. An Introduction to Functional Grammar. 2nd ed. London: Arnold.
Lyons, J. (1977) Semantics. Cambridge: CUP.
Reinhart, T. (1975) Whose main clause? (Point of view in sentences with parentheticals). Harvard Studies of
Syntax and Semantics 1: 127-171.
Acquiring the aspects in Polish
Angeliek van Hout, University of Groningen
This paper reports on a study that tested the comprehension of the perfective-imperfective paradigm by young
learners of Polish (2, 3 and 4 year-olds). In earlier work it was found that once Polish learners start to inflect
their verbs, they produce the two aspects in what sounds like adult ways (Weist et al. 1984). The results of my
study, however, indicate that young children=s comprehension of the two aspects is not at all adult-like. In
particular, their comprehension of the imperfective deviates from adult interpretation. It seems that production is
ahead of comprehension, a pattern very much unlike what is typically found in child language development. I
will draw parallels with studies on Dutch and Italian learners= comprehension of the aspectual tenses in their
languages which show the same pattern (Van der Feest and van Hout, in press; Hollebrandse and van Hout
(2001)). I will lay out a developmental model that explains these surprising results of comprehension lagging
behind production in terms of a discrepancy in children=s semantics and pragmatics of aspect and tense
knowledge. While learners may know the semantics of the aspects or tenses, they do not properly compute their
discourse relations.
In the Germanic and Romance languages lexical aspect is determined by the semantics of the verb and
its arguments, and, in the Germanic languages, additional VP modifiers such as directional phrases and particles.
Grammatical aspect is carried by the tense forms: a past tense can be perfective, imperfective or neutral between
the two aspects. Lexical and grammatical aspect interact. De Swart (1998) shows how the aspectual tenses in
French and English build on top of lexical aspect where the latter is determined by the VP predicate. Depending
on the semantics of the tense, the lexical aspect value (bounded or unbounded) is passed on unchanged or
manipulated into the opposite value (coerced, as De Swart claims). In Polish lexical and grammatical aspect
interact in a very different way. There is one morphological aspect paradigm that affects both lexical as well as
grammatical aspect values, making the aspectual computation more straightforward than in Romance of
Germanic: Polish perfective yields bounded and imperfective gives unbounded aspect. The tenses are a separate
morphological system and do not affect the aspects.
In a picture selection task Polish subjects (children n=56, adults n=20) were prompted with sentences
with perfective or imperfective verb forms. They had to choose between two pictures that showed different
aspects of a certain event: an event in mid-progress, an event=s incomplete termination moment or the
completed, final situation. These situations were presented in three conditions: subjects had to choose between:
(i) an ongoing versus completed event; (ii) a completed versus incomplete event and (iii) an ongoing versus
incomplete event. The results show that all Polish children allowed both the completed and the ongoing situation
for the imperfective, and even to some extent the incomplete situation,
whereas the adults clearly preferred the ongoing situation. In particular, the 2 and 3-year old subjects are not yet
aware of the aspectual entailments of imperfective aspect and choose the completed situation too often. At the
same time they correctly choose the completed situation when prompted with perfective aspect.
Why are these children overly liberal with imperfective aspect? I propose that young learners=
discourse linking system of time variables is not fully developed. In particular, children initially anchor an
imperfective past to any moment in the past instead of relating it to the last mentioned tense of the narrative.
Having mis-anchored their event variable to some earlier time, they then assume that the event may have
developed to its completion moment, thus allowing the completed situation. The perfective aspect on the other
hand is easier to get right since it refers to completed situations independent of the preceding temporal discourse.
References
van der Feest, S., and A. van Hout, in press, >Tense comprehension in child Dutch=. Proceedings of BUCLD 26.
Cascadilla Press, Somerville.
Hollebrandse, B. and A. van Hout, 2001, >On the acquisition of the aspects in Italian=. In J.-Y. Kim and A.
Werle(eds.) Proceedings of SULA, The semantics of the under-represented languages of the America=s.
University of Massachusetts Occasional Papers 25, 111-120. GLSA, Amherst.
de Swart, H., 1998, `Aspect shift and coercion=. NLLT 16, 347-385.
Weist, R., H. Wysocka, K. Witkowska-Stadnik, E. Buczowska and E. Konieczna, 1984, >The Defective Tense
hypothesis: On the emergence of tense and aspect in child Polish=. Journal of Child language 11, 347374.
How (in-)sensitive is tense to aspectual information?
Henk Verkuyl
In the traditional literature on aspectuality a clear division was made between lexical
aspect (Aktionsart) and grammatical aspect. Nowadays it has been generally
accepted that rather than speaking of lexical aspect one should speak of
predicational aspect, to use Co Vet's term for the aspectual information at the level at
which the information of the verb and its arguments forms a semantic unit that is
subjected to tense. So, given the assumption that both predicational aspect and
grammatical aspect are to be located at the sentential level, there is some room for
the idea that after all there is no need for a distinction that in former days was quite
natural. This idea has been pursued by some scholars in the literature. However,
other scholars maintain the traditional difference between two sorts of aspect, but it is
clear that the current difference should be grounded on different assumptions than
before, one argument against a distinction between the two being that the choice of
constituents in a sentence by a speaker already reveals a viewpoint. For example, in
saying "She drank three beers" rather than "She drank beer" about a certain
situation, the choice of the more specific NP "three beers" over the NP "beer" can be
taken as expressing a viewpoint. So, the question arises of whether there is more to
the notion of grammatical aspect than what could be included in the notion of
predicational aspect by taking all aspectual information as essentially expressing a
viewpoint.
It is also possible to distinguish predicational aspect and grammatical aspect by
relating the latter notion to the difference between aspect and tense. On that view,
grammatical aspect could be seen as belonging to the domain of aspectuality as
opposed to and separated from tense information, it could be seen as belonging to
tense or it could be taken as a bridge between tense and aspectual information. In
the latter case, grammatical aspect could be taken as a sort of intermediate between
tense and predicational aspect having its own place, so to say. The three positions
are easy to recognize: 1 23 12 3 and 1 2 3. The main question of the talk is about
whether 1 (tense) is dependent on 3 (pa) and/or 2 (ga), in some way.
All the positions just mentioned occur in the current literature on tense and aspect.
My intention is to compare and evaluate the different approaches. I will do so with the
help of recent discussions about the tense system of French as developed in the socalled PICS-project. The leading question is quite concrete and intriguing for a
semanticist believing in compositionality: if you have defined the term "voltooid"
(completed) and "onvoltooid" (incompleted) and you combine the terms
"tegenwoordig" (present) and "verleden" (past), how can you interpret then the
meaning of "voltooid tegenwoordig" (present completed) and "onvoltooid verleden"
(past incompleted)? An answer to this conceptual problem may lead to an answer to
the question in the title of this talk and contains at least two ingredients: (a) tense is
essentially a way to put a sentence into discourse; (b) predicational aspectual
information must be kept available.
Le système temporel du français: quatorze formes, six temps
Co Vet
Université de Groningen
Généralement, les grammaires du français distinguent entre dix et quatorze 'temps'. Si on
essaie de décrire ces formes à l'aide du système à neuf temps de Reichenbach (1966), il
s'avère que certains temps occupent la même position dans le système (le plus-que-parfait et
le passé antérieur, par exemple), tandis qu'il prévoit une position pour laquelle on cherche en
vain une forme correspondante (le 'Posterior Future'). Finalement, on cherche en vain une
position pour le futur antérieur du passé (serait venu).
Nous empruntons à Reichenbach l'idée selon laquelle on doit distinguer les différentes
positions que prévoit le système (qui se définissent par une configuration du point référentiel
R, du moment de la parole S et le procès E), et les formes capables d'exprimer ces
configuarations. Nous sommes arrivé à la conclusion qu'un système à six position suffit pour
décrire le système temporel du français. Nous montrerons qu'une partie des formes verbales
du français qu'on considère comme des temps verbaux sont en fait des variantes aspectuelles
d'un autre temps (viendra et sera venu, par exemple), ou qu'il s'agit de variantes de registre.
Le système temporel se compose de deux sous-systèmes à trois positions, le premier est de
nature déictique, le second est de nature anaphorique.
Nous indiquerons brièvement quelles sont les conséquences de notre analyse pour la
Théorie de la Représentation Discursive (Kamp et Reyle, 1993).
La représentation de l’adverbial temporel jamais
Svetlana Vogeleer
Institut Libre Marie Haps &
Université Libre de Bruxelles
L’étude se propose d’examiner les particularités de l’adverbial temporel jamais par rapport aux items de polarité
négative (IPN) “purs” (personne, rien). Les items personne et rien satisfont aux critères de la quantification
universelle négative (cf. Zanuttini 1991), ce qui permet de les considérer comme des quantificateurs plutôt que
comme des indéfinis négatifs. L’adverbial jamais est habituellement inclus dans ce même groupe. Je
m’attacherai à montrer qu’à la différence des négatifs personne et rien, l’item jamais a un comportement
variable. Tout d’abord, il est apte à assumer le rôle de variable libre (free-choice) dans des contextes nonnégatifs sous la portée de certains opérateurs “non-véridiques” (cf. Zwarts 1995, Giannakidou 1998), rôle qui,
dans beaucoup de langues, est lexicalisé (ever-never (en), ooit-nooit (nl), etc.). Dans des contextes négatifs,
jamais se comporte comme un quantificateur universel négatif si le type de procès et la relation discursive par
laquelle la phrase est rattachée à son contexte permettent l’interprétation itérative (ex. 1a,b). La quantification
universelle se trouve bloquée lorsque jamais est combiné à un verbe d’état (ex. 2a,b) ou lorsque la phrase est liée
à son contexte par une relation d’attente (ex. 3a,b):
(1)
a. Marie ne téléphone jamais à Pierre.
b. Marie n’a jamais téléphoné à Pierre.
(2)
a. *Marie n’aime jamais Pierre.
b. Marie n’a jamais aimé Pierre.
(3)
a. ??? Marie n’arrive jamais.
b. [Marie devait arriver lundi]. Elle n’est jamais arrivée.
L’étude propose une explication de cette variabilité liée au statut temporel de jamais et examine la différence
entre la négation simple (ne...pas) et la négation ne...jamais en combinaison avec différents temps verbaux.
Références
Giannakidou, A. (1998). Affective dependencies, Linguistics and Philosophy 22: 367-421.
Zanuttini, R. (1991). Syntactic properties of sentential negation, Doctoral dissertation, University of
Pensylvania.
Zwarts, F. (1995). Nonveridical contexts, Linguistic Analysis 25(3-4): 286-312.
The aspectual reading of progressive form in Brazilian
Teresa Cristina Wachowicz
This presentation aims at applying Verkuyl’s 1993, 1999 approach to aspectual readings of progressive
form in Brazilian Portuguese (BP), which is largely used by BP speakears. The progressive form is made by the
auxiliary verb ‘estar’, derived from the latin verb ‘stare’, plus the gerundive form (V + -ndo): João está cantando
(‘John is singing’). From a qualitative criterion, the aspectual value is the durative one, and it’s conditioned by
the –ndo morphology of the main verb. The sentence João está cantando, for example, doesn’t denote the
terminative point of the situation. In Verkuyl’s terms, this suffix can operate in ASP  position. From a
quantitative criterion, the progressive form varies among the episodic and the habitual readings, and it’s
compositionally read. The sentence João está cantando is ambiguous as ‘John sings just one time’, in the
episodic reading, or ‘he sings every day’, in the habitual reading. In Verkuyl’s terms, these values can be read in
the internal aspectuality and depend on the +ADDTO nature of the verb. In the case the form has an internal
argument NP, as in João está comendo três sanduíches (‘John is eating three sandwiches’), there are different
possible readings: John can eat all the sandwiches at once, in the episodic reading; John can eat two sandwiches
first and after that he eats the other one; or John can eat each sandwich one by one, in a kind of ‘iterative’
reading. In Verkuyl’s terms, these values depend on the +ADDTO feature of the verb, and the consequent
indices ordering, in association with the +SQA feature of the NP in internal argument position. So, we are
regarding the episodic and habitual readings also inside the sentence, and not restricted by the context.
Modal Sentences and Their Temporal Interpretation
Thomas Werner
In this talk I offer an explanation for the temporal interpretation of certain modal sentences in English. My starting point is
Kratzer (1977, 1991 and elsewhere) who develops a theory by which a modal has an invariant core meaning which interacts
with two contextually varying conversational backgrounds – a modal base and an ordering source – to give an interpretation
for a given modal utterance. Since the temporal interpretation of a modal varies across situations of use, my thesis is that this
temporal interpretation should be tied to conversational backgrounds. I posit a general principle governing the interpretation
of modal sentences that, together with a given modal base, determines the temporal interpretation of the sentence.
The following data show temporal variation between epistemics and other non-root or root uses of modals.
(1) John must leave. root: permission future
(2) John will be inside. non-root: epistemic present
(3) John will be inside non-root: metaphysical future
(4) John can give Susan a ride home. root: ability future
(5) It could be that he’s jealous. non-root: epistemic present
The data generalizes as follows: epistemic uses of modals are non-future; non-epistemic uses, whether root or non-root, are
future (here with respect to the time of utterance).
I assume that (2) and (3) have the structure in (6) and the translation in (7).
(6) [TP PRES [MP will [TP [T’ PROtime [VP John be inside]]]]]
(7) will’ (s*, ³t[t = t* & ³e[e B t & be-inside’(j,e)]])
The modal phrase is the complement of a tense phrase, and the modal itself takes another tense phrase as complement, the
head of which is occupied by a null pronoun for times, PROtime . A TP is type wt. PRES is type (iwt)wt. A modal is type
(wt)(((iwt)wt)wt). PRES translates as the variable s*, indexically fixed to the time of speech. PROtime translates as a free
variable over times, t*.
A central assumption in my analysis is that worlds branch over time, and this requires modification of Kratzer’s
theory. I propose that for non-epistemic modals, the modal base is a totally realistic function. This function f, the modal base,
takes a world w and a time t as arguments and gives as output a complete description of w up to t. Worlds that are identical up
to a time can stand in for each other at that time; I call these proxies at a time. It follows that _f(w,t) for totally realistic f is
the set of proxies of w up to t. An epistemic modal base, by contrast, selects the set of propositions known by the speaker up
to a point of time. _f(w,t) for an epistemic modal base f is the set of candidates for the actual world, worlds that could be the
actual world as far as the speaker knows. This set of candidates for a time t contains the set of proxies for the actual world at t
as a subset.
My interpretation principle for modal sentences is apparent through a constraint on sentence (2) above. (2)
cannot be appropriately uttered by someone who knows the truth value of the proposition that John is inside. In other words,
the proposition denoted by the embedded TP in this sentence must be open with respect to the set of worlds selected by the
modal base, _f(w,t). Although this constraint might be explained in terms of scalar implicature – the modal statement is ruled
out when the speaker has evidence for the stronger, declarative version – I posit instead that a TP embedded under a modal
must denote a proposition true in some but not all worlds selected by the modal base, that is, it must be a disparity fact with
respect to the modal base. It is on the basis of disparity facts, after all, that worlds selected by the modal base are ordered.
This principle drives the temporal interpretation of modal sentences in the following way. A totally realistic modal base
selects worlds that differ only over future facts. To ensure that the TP denotes a disparity fact with respect to such a modal
base, the free temporal variable must be assigned a future value in (7), guaranteeing a future interpretation. On the other
hand, an epistemic modal base selects worlds that differ by past, present, and future facts. Why, then, under an epistemic
reading, must the variable in (7) be assigned a present value? I propose that worlds are ordered as members of sets based on
proxy relations. That means, first, that orderings are linked to times and, second,
that orderings disregard facts future with respect to the time to which they are linked. If the assignment of temporal values in
modals sentences is in turn linked to particular orderings, the earlier question for (7) becomes, why is the only permissible
ordering for this sentence under an epistemic interpretation one linked to the time of speech? My answer is that such a
sentence involves a search for proxies for the actual world at the time of speech. Orderings linked to future times differentiate
between such proxies and are therefore inadmissible. Orderings linked to past times treat as proxies for the actual world
worlds that no longer are, and are also inadmissible.
A Two-Tiered Model of Situation Aspect
Zhonghua Xiao
In this paper we will extend Smith’s (1997) two-component aspect theory and develop a two-tiered model of
situation aspect, in which situation aspect is modelled as verb classes at the lexical level and as situation types at
the sentential level. Our two-tiered model of situation aspect was motivated by the deficiencies of Vendler
(1967) and Smith (1997). Vendler (1967) proposes a four-fold division of verbs into states, activities,
accomplishments and achievements. The Vendlerian taxonomy basically works at the lexical level (c.f. Verkuyl,
1993:33), though it also involves whole predicates rather than verbs alone. As such, Vendler has to put run and
walk under the category of activity and put run a mile and walk to school under the category of accomplishment,
thus making the lexicon unnecessarily large. Smith (1997), on the other hand, focuses her aspectual classification
directly on “idealised situations” at the sentential level. Smith (1997:54-55) also suggests a set of rules to govern
the interaction between verbs and their arguments in the composition process of situation aspect. However, as
she has not proposed an aspectual classification of verbs at the lexical level, these rules cannot be applied easily,
if at all. The deficiencies inherent in Vendler (1967) and Smith (1997) explain the two-tiered approach taken to
situation aspect in this paper. The Vendlerian approach works well at the lexical level, but not at the sentential
level. Conversely the approach of Smith works well at the sentential level but not at the lexical level. Our twolevel approach to situation aspect seeks to bridge this gap, operating at both the lexical and the sentential levels.
In our model, verbs are classified in neutral contexts (c.f. Lys and Mommer, 1986) based on a five-way classifier
system which is composed of [dynamic], [durative], [bounded], [telic] and [result]. Situation types are the
composite result of the rule-based interaction between verb classes and their arguments/adjuncts at the lexical,
core-sentence and full-sentence levels. The paper develops a more refined model of verbs and situation types,
proposes a dozen of rules, which are tested against an English corpus and a Chinese corpus, and gives a detailed
account of the individual roles played by verbs and arguments/adjuncts in the composition processes of situation
types.