The Interaction of ‘If’ and ‘Would’: Semantics and Logic

2020 ◽  
pp. 167-188
Author(s):  
Timothy Williamson
Keyword(s):  
Actual World ◽  
Modus Ponens ◽  
Context Dependence ◽  
Compositional Semantics ◽  
Counterfactual Conditionals ◽  
Verb Forms ◽  
Contextual Restriction ◽  
The Difference

This chapter argues that the difference between indicative and counterfactual conditionals traces to the overt difference in verb forms and not to any alleged covert ambiguity or context-dependence in ‘if’. ‘Would’ has a life beyond conditionals; the best hypothesis is that it is a necessity modal restricted to contextually relevant worlds. In standard counterfactual conditionals, ‘would’ scopes over ‘if’; given the invariant truth-functional semantics of ‘if’, the compositional semantics then makes counterfactual conditionals contextually restricted strict conditionals. The chapter explores the consequences of this for the logic of counterfactuals: principles such as transitivity, contraposition, and strengthening the antecedent hold, with appearances to the contrary being explained by context-shifting caused by the application of the suppositional heuristic. However, modus ponens fails because the contextual restriction may exclude the actual world.

scholarly journals Difference between the Real World and Virtual World

Proceedings ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 47 (1) ◽  
pp. 35
Author(s):  
Wei Wang
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Reality ◽  
Real World ◽  
Virtual World ◽  
Actual World ◽  
Scientific Representation ◽  
The Real ◽  
The Difference

The development of virtual reality brings an old and historic question on the difference between the real world and unreal world. In this paper, starting from the concept of representation, I argued that what we call “virtual reality” is a representation of an actual or non-actual world and the criterion of difference between the “real world” and “virtual reality” is whether we present it with the intention of using it as a representation. After that, the thesis is demonstrated again from different theories of scientific representation. Therefore, the intuitive distinction between the “real world” and “virtual reality” can be drawn on the epistemological criterion; that is to say, the virtual world is a representation while the real world is not.

THE TENSE-ASPECT SYSTEM IN PIDGINS AND NATURALISTICALLY LEARNED L2

2003 ◽  
Vol 25 (2) ◽  
pp. 245-281 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Clancy Clements
Keyword(s):  
First Language ◽  
Verbal System ◽  
Second Languages ◽  
Advantages And Disadvantages ◽  
System A ◽  
Verb Forms ◽  
Third Person ◽  
The Difference ◽  
L1 Acquisition ◽  
The Third Person

The advantages and disadvantages of wider or narrower definitions of pidginization and pidgin are reviewed to determine the differences between pidgins and naturalistically learned second languages (L2s). It is argued that a wider definition is preferred because it avoids problematic counterexamples and captures generalizations that allow us to view the difference between naturalistic L2 varieties and pidgins as one of degree, not of type. In first language (L1) acquisition, Bates and Goodman (1999) showed the link between the development of vocabulary and grammar and argued that this may be explained by, among other things, logical and perceptual bootstrapping. It is suggested that these types of bootstrapping are also relevant for explaining the pace of grammar development in pidgins and naturalistic L2 varieties. The tense-aspect system of a Spanish variety spoken by a Chinese immigrant in Spain is examined in detail. The data, taken from a 90-minute interview that yielded 602 tokens, reveal several clear traits of the informant's verbal system: (a) All nonfinite, imperfective verb forms (gerunds) correspond exclusively to Vendlerian activities; (b) all but three of the perfective nonfinite forms (past participles) correspond to telic verbs or predicates; and (c) 81% of the stative verbs appear in the third-person-singular present form. The sensitivity to aspectual distinctions in the informant's variety of Spanish is not addressed by logical and perceptual bootstrapping. Furthermore, although this sensitivity can be partially explained by language-specific considerations (i.e., transfer from Mandarin), such an explanation does not speak to precise form–function mappings found, which are best accounted for by appealing to the Primacy of Aspect and Distributional Bias hypotheses (Andersen, 1993; Andersen & Shirai, 1996).

A contrastive look at the present perfect/preterite opposition in English and Norwegian

2001 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 3-40 ◽  
Author(s):  
Johan Elsness
Keyword(s):  
Zero Point ◽  
Time Span ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Present Perfect ◽  
Parallel Corpus ◽  
Source Language ◽  
Past Time ◽  
The Past ◽  
Verb Forms ◽  
The Difference

This article deals with the opposition between the present perfect and the preterite in English and Norwegian from a contrastive point of view. The use of these verb forms is very similar in the two languages, and markedly different from that in closely related languages such as German and French, where the present perfect is used much more widely. In English and Norwegian the preterite is the norm if the reference is identified as being to past time which is clearly separate from the deictic zero-point, for instance through adverbial specification, while the present perfect is used of situations extending from the past all the way up to the deictic zero-point, and of situations located within such a time span. In many intermediate cases, where the reference is to a loosely defined past time, either verb form may be used in both languages, although several writers have claimed that the present perfect is more common in Norwegian than in English in such cases. The difference between the two languages is more distinct if the reference is to what can be seen as unique past time, in which case the present perfect is usually blocked in English but very common in Norwegian. Also, the so-called inferential perfect in Norwegian is not matched by any similar perfect use in English. These claims are amply confirmed by an investigation of the English–Norwegian Parallel Corpus (ENPC), where the present perfect is more frequent in the Norwegian as compared with the English sections, at the expense of the preterite. Moreover, there is found to be a marked difference between the original and the translated texts of the ENPC: the ratio between the present perfect and the preterite is generally higher in Norwegian than in English but not quite so high in Norwegian texts translated from English as in Norwegian original texts, and somewhat higher in English texts translated from Norwegian than in English original texts. This difference is ascribed to interference from the source language in the translated texts.

Immediacy and certainty: factors in understanding future reference

1982 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 115-124 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lorraine Harner
Keyword(s):  
Future Time ◽  
The Past ◽  
Verb Forms ◽  
The Future ◽  
The Difference ◽  
Remote Past ◽  
Future Reference

ABSTRACTSeventy-five children, 3, 4, and 5 years old, were interviewed about: (a) toys they had played with just a few minutes earlier, (b) toys they had played with on the preceding day, (c) toys they would play with in a few minutes, and (d) toys reserved for use on the following day. Verb forms indicating past and future time were used as well as the adverbials before and after. The past verb form was understood equally well in reference to the immediate past and the more remote past. However, the future verb form was better understood in reference to the immediate future than in reference to the remote future (the following day). The difference is discussed in terms of the intersection of time and mood in future verb forms. Immediacy of action and certainty of occurrence are suggested as early meaning components of future verb forms.

scholarly journals ANALISIS KONTRASTIF PEMBENTUKAN VERBA BAHASA ARAB DAN BAHASA INDONESIA SERTA IMPLIKASINYA DALAM PEMBELAJARAN BAHASA ARAB

2018 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 258
Author(s):  
Isra Mirdayanti ◽  
Najmuddin Abd. Safa ◽  
Kaharuddin Kaharuddin
Keyword(s):  
Arabic Language ◽  
Technical Note ◽  
Contrastive Analysis ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
Verb Forms ◽  
Verb Phrases ◽  
Semantic Concepts ◽  
The Difference ◽  
And Gender ◽  
Collection Methods

The construction Arabic dan Indonesian verbs within implication of learning Arabic language. The purpose of this study is to describe the process of formation of verbs Arabic and Indonesian, analyzing the difference between the two processes and outlines the implications of the differences in Arabic and Indonesian verb formation on Arabic learning. This research includes qualitative research. The data in this study are written data, whether published in articles, papers, books, and those contained in other writings related to the formation of verbs Arabic and Indonesian language and learning Arabic. The data collection methods used to refer to the technical note. The data collected in this study were analyzed using contrastive analysis. The results of this study describe the formation of Arabic verbs through internal modification and affixation, while the formation of verbs in the Indonesian language is done through affixation, reduplication and composition. The significant difference between the two is that the formation of verbs in Arabic is always related to time, quantity, and gender so as to reveal time, different numbers or genders are expressed grammatically through verb changes, whereas the formation of verbs in Indonesian is not related to time, and gender so as to reveal semantic concepts of time, quantity, and gender are lexically represented accompanying verbs to form verb phrases without altering their verb forms. The differences between them have implications for the Arabic learning process, namely the emergence of difficulties faced by Arabic learners.

scholarly journals VERBA MEMUKUL DALAM BAHASA BALI KAJIAN METABAHASA SEMANTIK

PRASI ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 12 (01) ◽  
Author(s):  
I Made Dian Saputra
Keyword(s):  
Lingua Franca ◽  
Original Meaning ◽  
Verb Forms ◽  
Subject And Object ◽  
The Difference

Balinese language as Balinese Lingua franca still has rules in speaking. There many Balinese words that are not familiar even neglected in this era, one of  those is verb. There are many verbs in Balinese, but researcher just wants to focus on one verb, that is ngetok seen from metalanguagenatural semantics. The verb ngetok has 32 similar meanings as follows; “ngebug, ngedig, nigtig, ngupek, magambel, mugpugin, mukpukin, ngukul, nungting, ngempug, nyakcak, noktok, ngeplokin, nebuk, ngaasin, nepung, ngintuk, ngalocok, namplak, nyemés, nempéléng, nyagur, nyepédin, nglamet, ngamplongin, ngamplengin, ngemplangin, nglentangin, ngaplekin, nyontok, nylimed and  mentil.” From the whole verb forms of “ngetok” there are differences of each form seen from the wat of hitting related to the device used to hit, subject and object being hit. Verb in Balinese has to different meanings, that can be explained by explication technique of X does something on Y, something good or bad happens on Y. The difference of meaning was gained from the analysis of original meaning with uncomposed polysemi.

scholarly journals Time and the event: The semantics of Russian prefixes

Nordlyd ◽  
10.7557/12.72 ◽  
2005 ◽  
Vol 32 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Gillian Ramchand
Keyword(s):  
Argument Structure ◽  
Temporal Structure ◽  
Event Structure ◽  
Temporal Domain ◽  
Structure Level ◽  
Verb Forms ◽  
Basic Distinction ◽  
The Difference ◽  
The One ◽  
Structure Domain

In this paper, I draw on data from prefixation in Russian to argue for a basic distinction between event structure and temporal struc- ture. I present a linguistic semantics of verb and argument structure interpretation on the one hand, and a formal semantic implementa- tion of 'telicity' on the other, which makes sense of the generalisations apparently common to both domains. I will claim that the temporal domain embeds the event structure domain, and that the latter con- strains the former. At the same time, the different formal primitives that operate at the levels proposed form the basis for a principled linguistic distinction between the two tiers of composition: the event structure level encodes subevental relations and predicational rela- tions within those subevents; the temporal structure level introduces a t variable explicitly and relates it to the structure built up by the event level. Whether the event structure is homogenous or not will have an impact on whether the temporal variable chosen will be 'def- inite' or 'indefinite.' This latter claim then forms the basis for a new conception of the difference between perfective and imperfective verb forms in Russian.

scholarly journals Counterfactuals and Conditional Questions under Discussion

2015 ◽  
pp. 194
Author(s):  
Michela Ippolito
Keyword(s):  
Context Dependence ◽  
Discourse Structure ◽  
Truth Conditions ◽  
Counterfactual Conditionals ◽  
Question Under Discussion ◽  
The Right

In this paper I investigate the issue of the context-dependence of counterfactual conditionals and how the context constrains similarity in selecting the right set of worlds necessary in order to arrive at their correct truth-conditions. I will review previous proposals and conclude that the puzzle of how we measure similarity and thus resolve the context-dependence of counterfactuals remains unsolved. I will then consider an alternative based on the idea of discourse structure and the concept of a question under discussion.

scholarly journals Counterfactuals and Conditional Questions under Discussion

2013 ◽  
Vol 23 ◽  
pp. 194 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michela Ippolito
Keyword(s):  
Context Dependence ◽  
Discourse Structure ◽  
Truth Conditions ◽  
Counterfactual Conditionals ◽  
Question Under Discussion ◽  
The Right

In this paper I investigate the issue of the context-dependence of counterfactual conditionals and how the context constrains similarity in selecting the right set of worlds necessary in order to arrive at their correct truth-conditions. I will review previous proposals and conclude that the puzzle of how we measure similarity and thus resolve the context-dependence of counterfactuals remains unsolved. I will then consider an alternative based on the idea of discourse structure and the concept of a question under discussion.

Expressions of habituality in Polish

2019 ◽  
Vol 72 (1) ◽  
pp. 161-184
Author(s):  
Lea Sawicki
Keyword(s):  
Actual World ◽  
Verb Forms

Abstract In this article, I discuss the strategies employed in Polish for expressing habituality in various contexts. It is also for Polish that I define habituality as a summarized presentation of similar events in the ‘actual world’ (or the ‘narrated world’) which occur over a relatively long stretch of time, on several separate occasions, with the number of occurrences not specified explicitly and with a clear interval between the occasions. Thus defined, habituality may be denoted in Polish by imperfective verb forms, specialized derived imperfective verb forms, periphrasis with the verb zwyknąć ‘to be in a habit of’, and reflexive habitual forms.

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