Time and Modality

by Gueron, Jacqueline; Lecarme, Jacqueline

• ISBN13: 9781402083532
• ISBN10: 140208353X
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2008-09-03
• Publisher: Springer Verlag

Summary

Time and Modality is a unique work of reference; not only does it unite studies which explore the syntax and semantics of tense or modality but it is the first book of its kind to embrace the interaction of tense and modality within a coherent generative model. Various topics are covered in this volume: among them are the counterfactual uses of conditionals, modals, and past tense; the irrealis use of perfective aspect; a special English subjunctive; the interaction of tense assignment and the definition of an event; the modal verb as a causative verb; the interaction of modality, tense, and aktionsart; the contrast between deontic and epistemic modal with respect to tense interpretation; the syntax of epistemic modals; the long-awaited definition of generic and habitual sentence; and the introduction of intensionality in copular clauses.Although every article deals with English to some degree, two chapters compare the syntax and semantics of tense and modality in Spanish vs English. The authors also investigate Slavic, Germanic, Afro-Asiatic, Oriental, Amerindian Languages and Hungarian.

Table of Contents

Preface	p. vii
Contributors	p. xv
Introduction	p. 1
Tense	p. 2
Aspect	p. 3
Perfect and Perfectivity	p. 3
Eventuality Type	p. 4
Modals and Modal Verbs	p. 5
Subject/Speaker Orientation	p. 5
The Temporal Location of Modal Verbs	p. 6
The Temporal/Causal Function of Modal Verbs	p. 7
The Temporal Syntax of Non-Root Modals	p. 8
Weak Necessity Modals	p. 9
The Role of Past Morphology in Modal Contexts	p. 9
The Subjunctive	p. 10
Genericity	p. 11
Copular Clauses	p. 11
Conclusions and Open Problems	p. 12
References	p. 14
Patterns in the Semantics of Generic Sentences	p. 17
The Setting	p. 17
The Issues	p. 18
Induction and Stipulation	p. 22
Rules and Induction	p. 22
What do Generic Sentences do?	p. 23
Inductive Generalizations Again	p. 24
Patterns	p. 25
Patterns and Non-Patterns	p. 25
Generic Sentences	p. 27
Restriction	p. 31
Review of Issues	p. 33
Weak and Really Strong Generalizations	p. 34
Conclusion	p. 36
References	p. 37
Intensional Subjects and Indirect Contextual Anchoring	p. 39
Introduction	p. 39
Specificational Copular Clauses	p. 40
Higgins's (1973) Taxonomy of Copular Clauses	p. 40
The Subject of Specificational Clauses	p. 41
The Copula of Specification	p. 42
Romanian Questions of the Form Care Copula DP?	p. 43
Two Types of Discourse-Linking	p. 43
Semantic Restrictions on the Postcopular DP	p. 44
Remarks on the Syntax of Romanian Questions of the Form 'Care Copula DP?'	p. 49
Conclusion	p. 51
Indefinite Subjects, Topichood, and Point of View	p. 52
Indefinite Subjects and Topichood in Constituent Questions	p. 52
Topichood, Point of View, and the Conditional Mood	p. 53
Conclusions	p. 56
References	p. 56
Temporal Orientation in Conditionals (Or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love UFO's)	p. 59
UFOs and Other Oddities	p. 60
Away from an Explanation	p. 65
Towards an Explanation	p. 68
No Real Epistemic Eventives	p. 69
Antecedents Have Their Own Modal Flavors	p. 73
Conclusion	p. 76
References	p. 76
On the Temporal Syntax of Non-Root Modals	p. 79
Crosslinguistic Asymmetries in the Temporal Construals of Non-Root Modals	p. 80
The Grammar of Temporal Relations	p. 82
Tenses and Aspects as Spatiotemporal Predicates	p. 82
Anaphora	p. 84
Condoravdi (2002): Perfect Modals	p. 87
The Temporal Phrase Structure of Non-Root Modals	p. 89
Setting the Modal-Time	p. 89
Ordering the Modal-Time	p. 90
The Temporal Interpretation of English Non-Root Modals	p. 91
Present/Future Oriented Epistemic Modals	p. 91
Aspectually Complex Modals: Progressive and Perfect Modals	p. 95
The Temporal Interpretation of Spanish Non-Root Modals	p. 104
Modals Inflected for the Past	p. 104
Modals Inflected for the Present	p. 109
Modals Inflected for the Future	p. 110
Conclusions	p. 111
References	p. 112
How to Say Ought in Foreign: The Composition of Weak Necessity Modals	p. 115
A Basic Contrast	p. 116
Weakness	p. 117
The Crosslinguistic Picture	p. 120
Flavors	p. 126
Epistemic Modality	p. 126
Goal-Oriented Modality	p. 127
Deontic Modality	p. 127
Counterfactuality?	p. 128
A Consolation and a Precedent	p. 131
Scope Confusion?	p. 135
Ordering Source Promotion	p. 136
Why Counterfactual Marking?	p. 139
Conclusion	p. 139
References	p. 140
On the Temporal Function of Modal Verbs	p. 143
Modal Verbs Part I: Grammatical Properties	p. 144
The Tense of Modals	p. 144
Absence of Agreement Morphology	p. 146
The Temporal/Causal Function of Modal Verbs	p. 149
Causality in Grammar	p. 149
Two Syntactic Levels of Interpretation	p. 149
Point of View	p. 150
The Instrument	p. 150
Two Types of Causality	p. 151
Metaphysical Causality on Higher vP Levels	p. 161
On the Syntactic Determination of Causality	p. 164
"Metaphysical Intentionality"	p. 167
Modal Verbs Part II: Causality	p. 167
Conclusion	p. 169
References	p. 170
The English Perfect and the Metaphysics of Events	p. 173
Introduction	p. 173
Metaphysical Issues	p. 176
Interactions with Sequence of Tense	p. 181
Shifted Perfects	p. 184
Conclusion	p. 192
References	p. 192
Tense and Modality in Nominals	p. 195
Tense in Nominals	p. 197
Space and Time	p. 197
The D-T Relation	p. 198
Time and the Noun	p. 202
Interim Discussion	p. 204
Modality	p. 205
Time and Worlds	p. 205
Generics and Habituals	p. 206
Attitude Verbs	p. 208
Free Relatives	p. 209
Interim Discussion	p. 211
Evidentiality	p. 211
Visual Evidentiality	p. 212
Approaches to (Sentential) Evidentiality	p. 214
Extending Kratzer's Theory	p. 217
Conclusions	p. 220
References	p. 221
Time With and Without Tense	p. 227
Background and Principles	p. 228
Background	p. 228
Pragmatic Principles for Temporal Interpretation	p. 230
Temporal Information in Language: A Classification	p. 231
Tensed Languages	p. 232
Tenseless Languages and Mixed-Temporal Languages	p. 234
Mandarin Chinese	p. 234
Inferred Temporal Location	p. 235
Sentences With Overt Aspectual Viewpoints	p. 237
Other Tenseless Languages	p. 239
Mixed-Temporal Languages	p. 240
Zero-Marked Sentences: The Neutral Viewpoint	p. 241
Formalizing the Analysis	p. 243
Conclusion	p. 246
References	p. 247
The English Konjunktiv II	p. 251
The Syntactic Distribution of K2	p. 252
A Sociolinguistic Interlude	p. 255
Subjunctive and Indicative Conditionals	p. 257
Counterfactual Subjunctives Versus Other Types of Subjunctives	p. 264
Further Aspects of English Counterfactual Subjunctives and Sequence of Tense	p. 266
Inversion in Conditionals	p. 268
A Variant Form of the Subjunctive	p. 269
Conclusion	p. 271
References	p. 271
Phasing in Modals: Phases and the Epistemic/Root Distinction	p. 273
Introduction	p. 273
Epistemic and Root Modals	p. 276
Subject Versus Non-Subject Orientation	p. 277
Modal Evaluation Time	p. 278
Aspect and Veridicality of the Event	p. 281
Modals and Phases	p. 283
Toward a Phase-Based Analysis: Lexical Features of Modals	p. 284
Modals as Tense Morphemes	p. 285
Perfectivity and Root Modals	p. 288
Conclusion	p. 290
References	p. 290
Index	p. 293
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