scholarly journals Definite descriptions of events: progressive interpretation in Ga (Kwa)

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Agata Renans
Keyword(s):  
Definite Description ◽  
Definite Descriptions ◽  
Imperfective Aspect ◽  
Discourse Referent ◽  
Grammatical Aspect ◽  
Topic Time

AbstractThis paper demonstrates that the progressive interpretation in Ga is an effect of the interaction between the imperfective aspect and a definite description of events. Crucially, the data from Ga point to the consequences of the view that definite descriptions of events encode the familiarity of the discourse referent and its uniqueness in bearing the property in question. Namely, they yield direct evidentiality and the necessary ongoingness of the event at the topic time. Thus, the paper identifies previously unattested variation in the semantics of the progressive in a cross-linguistic perspective and shows that not only lexical but also grammatical aspect exhibits striking parallelisms with the nominal domain.

scholarly journals (De)accenting definite descriptions

2001 ◽  
Vol 23 ◽  
pp. 231-249
Author(s):  
Carla Umbach
Keyword(s):  
Definite Description ◽  
Definite Descriptions ◽  
Definite Article ◽  
Descriptive Content ◽  
Discourse Referent

This paper focuses on definite descriptions. It will be shown that a definite description refers to a given discourse referent if the descriptive content is completely deaccented. But if there is a focussed element within the descriptive content it introduces a novel referent. This amounts to allowing two readings for definite descriptions without, however, allowing two readings for the definite article.  

scholarly journals Interactions Between Viewpoint Aspect and Situation Aspect: A Case Study of Alternating Intransitive Constructions in Thai

MANUSYA ◽  
2007 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 54-79
Author(s):  
Kachen Tansiri
Keyword(s):  
Causal Chain ◽  
Imperfective Aspect ◽  
Grammatical Aspect ◽  
Dynamic Phase ◽  
Viewpoint Aspect ◽  
Situation Aspect ◽  
Aspect Marker ◽  
Aspect Markers ◽  
The One ◽  
Verb Meaning

This paper aims at analyzing an internal temporal constituency of situations denoted by alternating intransitive constructions (AIC) in Thai in order to subclassify them, and investigating interactions between two viewpoint-aspect markers, namely kamlaƞ and jùu, and each subtype of AICs. According to the scope of a profile on the causal chain, the AICs in Thai are arranged into two main groups, i.e., the AICs denoting a simplex causal situation and the AICs denoting a complex causal situation. In each group, they are further subclassified according to the situation aspect of the denoted situations. In analyzing the interactions between viewpoint aspect and situation aspect, I show that kamlaƞ and jùu both function as imperfective viewpoint-aspect markers because they interact with situation aspect at the phase of the situation without any reference to the boundaries. However, they are distinguished in terms of the semantics of the forms themselves and the semantics of the phase they profile. On the one hand, kamlaƞ functions as a dynamic imperfective viewpoint-aspect marker in that it profiles the dynamic phase of the situations and construes them as on-going processes. On the other hand, jùu functions as a stative imperfective aspect marker. Unlike kamlaƞ , jùu can profile either a static or a dynamic phase. If jùu co-occurs with a static situation, the situation will be construed as a persistent state. If jùu co-occurs with a dynamic one, it refers to the progressive situation, which is viewed as stative. Since the grammatical aspect marker jùu is grammaticalized from the lexical verb meaning ‘to exist,’ there is a remnant of that meaning when jùu functions as a grammatical aspect marker. Consequently, the grammaticalized viewpoint-aspect marker jùu conveys the meaning that there exists a static or dynamic situation on the time line at the reference time or the speech-act time.

scholarly journals KAIP APIBRĖŽIAMOSIOS DESKRIPCIJOS VARTOJAMOS SINGULIARINIAMS TEIGINIAMS IŠREIKŠTI?

Problemos ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 85 ◽  
pp. 130-140
Author(s):  
Evgeny Borisov
Keyword(s):  
Possible Worlds ◽  
Definite Description ◽  
Definite Descriptions ◽  
Singular Proposition ◽  
Possible World ◽  
Possible World Semantics ◽  
Singular Propositions ◽  
Subject Term ◽  
The Subject

Straipsnyje keliamas klausimas: kokios sąlygos turi būti patenkintos, kad, ištarę sakinį su apibrėžiamąja deskripcija kaip sakinio subjektu, mes išreikštume singuliarinį teiginį (Kaplano prasme). Autorius teigia, kad Wettsteino įsitikinimas, jog teiginio singuliariškumas nustatomas ištarimo metu nurodant apibrėžiamosios deskripcijos referentą, yra nenuoseklus. Straipsnyje siūlomas kitas singuliariškumo kriterijus: teiginys yra singuliarinis, jeigu jame dalyvaujanti apibrėžiamoji deskripcija įvertinama vieninteliame galimame pasaulyje, o jeigu apibrėžiamoji deskripcija turi būti įvertinta daugiau nei vieno galimo pasaulio atžvilgiu, tai teiginys yra bendrasis (general). Šis kriterijus veiksmingas aiškinant kontroversiškus atvejus – kai išreiškiame teisingą singuliarinį teiginį, kurio subjekto dėmuo nedera su apibrėžiamąja deskripcija, pavartota ištartame sakinyje.Pagrindiniai žodžiai: apibrėžiamoji deskripcija, nuoroda, singuliarinis ir bendrasis teiginys, galimų pasaulių semantika. How Do We Use Definite Descriptions to Express Singular Propositions?Evgeny Borisov AbstractThe paper is devoted to the question: under what conditions do we express a singular proposition (in the Kaplanian sense) when uttering a sentence containing a definite description as the subject term. It is argued that Wettstein’s claim that singularity of a proposition is determined by the demonstration of the referent of definite description accompanying the utterance contains an inconsistency. An alternative criterion of singularity is proposed: we express a singular proposition if the definite description in question is to be evaluated at a single possible world, and we express a general one if the definite description in question is to be evaluated at a range of possible worlds. This criterion is effective in explaining controversial cases in which we manage to express a true singular proposition with a subject constituent that does not fit the definite description used in the utterance.Keywords: definite description, reference, singular and general propositions, possible world semantics

scholarly journals Aspect and Narrative Event Segmentation

2019 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel P. Feller ◽  
Anita Eerland ◽  
Todd R. Ferretti ◽  
Joseph P. Magliano
Keyword(s):  
Human Cognition ◽  
World Knowledge ◽  
Event Duration ◽  
Event Segmentation ◽  
Imperfective Aspect ◽  
Structure Information ◽  
Tense And Aspect ◽  
Grammatical Aspect ◽  
Segmentation Task ◽  
Narrative Event

Time is central to human cognition, both in terms of how we understand the world and the events that unfold around us as well as how we communicate about those events. As such, language has morphological systems, such as temporal adverbs, tense, and aspect to convey the passage of time. The current study explored the role of one such temporal marker, grammatical aspect, and its impact on how we understand the temporal boundaries between events conveyed in narratives. In Experiments 1 and 2, participants read stories that contained a target event that was either conveyed with a perfective (e.g., watched a movie) or imperfective aspect (e.g., was watching a movie) and engaged in an event segmentation task. Events described in the perfective aspect were more often perceived as event boundaries than events in the imperfective aspect, however, event duration (long vs. short) did not impact this relationship in Experiment 2. Experiment 3 demonstrated that readers were sensitive to grammatical aspect and event duration in the context of a story continuation task. Overall this study demonstrates that grammatical aspect interacts with world knowledge to convey event structure information that influences how people interpret the end and beginning of events.

What’s really going on with the ham sandwich?

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 22-55
Author(s):  
Josephine Bowerman
Keyword(s):  
Relevance Theory ◽  
Definite Description ◽  
Definite Descriptions ◽  
Literal Meaning ◽  
Ham Sandwich

Abstract Working within the framework of Relevance Theory, I investigate the nature of referential metonymy (specifically, metonymically-used definite descriptions), aiming to elucidate (i) the pragmatic mechanisms involved in referential metonymy comprehension, and (ii) the contribution of a metonymically-used definite description to the explicitly communicated content of an utterance. I propose that, while the interpretation of referential metonymy is properly inferential in nature, it cannot be explained in terms of ‘meaning modulation’ (narrowing and broadening); rather, the literal meaning of a metonymically-used referring expression remains intact, and is used as evidence of the speaker’s target referent. In addition, I argue that the referential/attributive distinction proposed by Donnellan (1966) for literally-used definite descriptions also applies to metonymically-used definite descriptions. Thus, the contribution of a metonymically-used definite description to explicit utterance content differs according to whether the definite description is used ‘referentially’ or ‘attributively’.

scholarly journals Null Complement Anaphors as Definite Descriptions

2012 ◽  
Vol 22 ◽  
pp. 125 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexander Williams
Keyword(s):  
Definite Description ◽  
Definite Descriptions ◽  
Null Complement Anaphora

This paper develops the observation that, for many predicates, Null Complement Anaphora (NCA) is like anaphora with a descriptively empty definite description (Condoravdi & Gawron 1996, Gauker 2012). I consider how to distinguish this sort of NCA from pronouns theoretically, and then observe an unnoticed exception to the pattern. For verbs like "notice", NCA is neither like a definite description nor like a pronoun, raising a new puzzle of how to represent it

scholarly journals Null Complement Anaphors as Definite Descriptions

2015 ◽  
pp. 125
Author(s):  
Alexander Williams
Keyword(s):  
Definite Description ◽  
Definite Descriptions ◽  
Null Complement Anaphora

This paper develops the observation that, for many predicates, Null Complement Anaphora (NCA) is like anaphora with a descriptively empty definite description (Condoravdi & Gawron 1996, Gauker 2012). I consider how to distinguish this sort of NCA from pronouns theoretically, and then observe an unnoticed exception to the pattern. For verbs like "notice", NCA is neither like a definite description nor like a pronoun, raising a new puzzle of how to represent it

scholarly journals The Blame Game: An investigation of Grammatical Aspect and Blame Judgments

2017 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Anita Eerland ◽  
Andrew M. Sherrill ◽  
Joseph P. Magliano ◽  
Rolf A. Zwaan
Keyword(s):  
Language Processing ◽  
Current Literature ◽  
Mental Representation ◽  
Temporal Dynamics ◽  
Processing System ◽  
Chronological Order ◽  
Imperfective Aspect ◽  
Grammatical Aspect ◽  
New Finding ◽  
Influence Perceptions

Imperfective aspect (i.e., Mark was punching John) is interpreted by the language processing system as a dynamic, unfolding sequence of actions, whereas perfective aspect (i.e., Mark punched John) is interpreted as a complete whole. A recent study showed that grammatical aspect can influence perceptions of intentionality for criminal actions (Hart & Albarracín, 2011). The current study builds on this finding. Five experiments examine whether grammatical aspect can also influence perceptions of blame, a concept related to intentionality. There were no effects of grammatical aspect on judgments of blame but the results showed an effect of narrated order (Experiments 1–3). First-mentioned actions made the agent more to blame for the outcomes than last-mentioned actions. This effect was not due to the order of the blame questions (Experiment 2) or influenced by the chronological order of the events (Experiment 3). Experiments 4 and 5 showed strong effects of grammatical aspect on temporal dynamics and revealed an interesting new finding. Grammatical aspect can influence the mental representation of a non-mentioned action. We discuss our results in light of the current literature on grammatical aspect effects.

4. Descriptions and existence: did the Greeks worship Zeus?

2017 ◽  
pp. 24-29
Author(s):  
Graham Priest
Keyword(s):  
Proper Names ◽  
Special Kind ◽  
Definite Description ◽  
Big Bang ◽  
Definite Descriptions ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The Big Bang ◽  
Mathematics And Physics

There is a certain kind of phrase that can be the subject of a sentence. This is a definite description. Generally, descriptions have the form: the thing satisfying such and such a condition. ‘Descriptions and existence: did the Greeks worship Zeus?’ examines definite descriptions, how they can be combined with predicates to make whole sentences, and examples of how logic can be used. Descriptions are names, not quantifiers, as they usually refer to objects. However, descriptions are a special kind of name. Unlike proper names like ‘Annika’ or ‘the Big Bang’, they carry information about the object referred to and are often central to important arguments in mathematics and physics.

scholarly journals The interpretative options of anaphoric complex demonstratives

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stefan Hinterwimmer ◽  
Umesh Patil
Keyword(s):  
Experimental Evidence ◽  
Definite Description ◽  
Definite Descriptions ◽  
Complex Demonstratives ◽  
Complex Demonstrative ◽  
Acceptability Rating ◽  
Pragmatic Account ◽  
Present Experimental Evidence ◽  
Made In ◽  
Alternative Economy

In this paper, we present experimental evidence from a ‘yes’/’no’ judgement task and twoacceptability rating studies (Experiments 1a-c) for the claim made in Hinterwimmer (2019) thatsentences with two anaphorically interpreted complex demonstratives are less acceptable thansentences with two anaphorically interpreted definite descriptions and sentences where one ofthe two previously introduced referents is picked up by a complex demonstrative, while the otherone is picked up by a definite description. The results of Experiment 1a and 1b are in principlecompatible with the account argued for in Hinterwimmer (2019), according to which the (potentiallyabstract) demonstrations presupposed by demonstratives may not have overlapping trajectories.However, sentences with two anaphorically interpreted complex demonstratives are not judgedas unacceptable as would be expected if they involved a presupposition violation. Therefore, wepropose an alternative, economy-based pragmatic account that builds on Ahn (2019) and Nowak(2019). The question of whether the observed pattern is more compatible with the accountproposed by Hinterwimmer (2019) or the alternative pragmatic account is directly addressed in afurther acceptability rating study (Experiment 1c). The design of that study is similar to that ofExperiment 1b, but it includes as fillers both sentences clearly violating a presupposition andsentences violating a pragmatic constraint. Since the ratings for sentences containing twoanaphorically interpreted complex demonstratives are closer to the ratings for sentences violatinga pragmatic constraint than for sentences violating a presupposition, we conclude that thealternative pragmatic account is preferable to the account by Hinterwimmer (2019).

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