This dissertation contributes to the research on tense and eventualities across languages. It presents the first systematic investigation and detailed theoretical analysis of the temporal... Show moreThis dissertation contributes to the research on tense and eventualities across languages. It presents the first systematic investigation and detailed theoretical analysis of the temporal interpretations of sentences with bare (aspectually unmarked) predicates in Mandarin. Traditionally considered a “tenseless” language, Mandarin lacks the morphological tense that we find in “tensed” languages such as English and French. Instead, its grammatical system displays a variety of aspectual markers giving information on the perspective on the eventuality described by the predicate. This study shows how a careful investigation of the temporal construals of sentences without overt morphological aspect can lead to novel and insightful generalizations about temporal reference in Mandarin. It attributes the contrast between stative and eventive predicates in the temporal interpretation to their argument structure, and claims that aspect must be overt in Mandarin root clauses. The interaction of past vs. future time adverbs and bare predicates provides evidence for a covert semantic tense in Mandarin, restricting the time reference of bare root clauses to non-future times. It is argued that bare sentences yielding “future” construals involve a non-future plan. Show less
Aspect and subjectivity in modal constructions This thesis investigates the interaction of aspect and subjectivity in modal constructions. In the linguistic literature dealing with the connection... Show moreAspect and subjectivity in modal constructions This thesis investigates the interaction of aspect and subjectivity in modal constructions. In the linguistic literature dealing with the connection between aspect and modality, a link has often been observed between imperfective aspect and modal readings. However, as is shown in this study, both aspect prominent languages, such as Slavic languages, and tense prominent languages, such as Germanic languages, present exceptions to this hypothesized rule, since perfective aspect can appear with modal readings in both types of languages. The following two questions concerning the interaction between aspect and modality are discussed in this thesis: (1) Can the hypothesis about a link between imperfective aspect and modality be confirmed or rejected? (2) Is imperfective aspect attracted to more ‘subjective’ modal readings? The data which are the focus of the thesis comprise modal infinitive constructions in Russian, German and Dutch, imperative constructions in Russian and Dutch, and modal uses of tenses in Russian and Serbian. In order to compare the interaction of aspect and subjectivity in modal constructions, the data are classified according to a parameter of modality. For that purpose, the semantic map approach to modality proposed by Van der Auwera & Plungian (1998) is used. The notion of subjectivity adopted in the thesis is based on the definition of Langacker (1985). The thesis proposes three tests for determining degrees of subjectivity in modal uses of the different constructions. The tests relate to the following factors: (1) The nature of the modal source; (2) The role of the modal target participant; (3) The nature of the subject. The book shows that modal meanings can actually be expressed with both imperfectives and perfectives, both in aspect and in tense prominent languages. However, modal readings that are more subjective do most often correlate with imperfective aspect. Show less
The main topic of the book is the nature of inner aspect of the Verb Phrase, and the relation between the decompositional and the quantificational approaches to this problem. Decompositional... Show moreThe main topic of the book is the nature of inner aspect of the Verb Phrase, and the relation between the decompositional and the quantificational approaches to this problem. Decompositional approaches analyze eventualities into simpler components, organized by some kind of structure. In this view, an eventuality is telic if, in decomposition, it can be shown to involve a result component (also referred to as the culmination or termination component, or as the telos). Quantificational approaches see telicity as a property of the predicate of an eventuality, usually described as boundedness, lack of the subinterval property, or a specified quantity. The major advantage of the decompositional approaches is that they directly match the syntax-semantics interface of the VP with the conceptual image of an eventuality. Quantificational approaches blur the picture in this respect, because they involve effects like distributive readings, which are not a typical interpretational component of the VP domain. On the other hand, the major advantage of the quantificational approaches is that they assign similar or identical properties to (the predicates of) eventualities and nominal expressions. This enables them to capture the phenomenon of incremental themes (participants that appear to measure out the eventuality in which they take part), by relating the predicates of eventualities and those of their arguments. The dissertation presents a new approach, which not only combines the two approaches above, but also shows how they are directly mutually related, and how some quantificational properties can be derived from the domain of decomposition. Show less
