Adverbs of Change, Aspect, and Underspecification

Semantics and Linguistic Theory ◽

10.3765/salt.v27i0.4123 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 27 ◽

pp. 22

Author(s):

Todor Koev

Keyword(s):

Discourse Structure ◽

Temporal Distance ◽

Main Claim ◽

Previous Event ◽

Change Measure

Adverbs of change, such as quickly or slowly, are known to give rise to a number of interpretations. For example, Selena ran quickly says that the rate of running is high while Selena quickly noticed the plane implies that the distance between the event of noticing the plane and some previous event is short. Existing accounts (e.g. Cresswell 1978; Rawlins 2013) take rate readings as primary but struggle to derive additional interpretations. By contrast, I argue that adverbs of change measure the temporal distance between two salient events (or event parts) that are compositionally or contextually available. The main claim of the paper is that adverbs of change have a single if underspecified semantics and that the different interpretations arise through interaction with aspectual and discourse structure.

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Commentaries and Rejoinder on

Social Psychology ◽

10.1027/1864-9335/a000206 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 45 (4) ◽

pp. 327-334 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Han Gong ◽

Douglas L. Medin ◽

Tal Eyal ◽

Nira Liberman ◽

Yaacov Trope ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Moral Judgment ◽

Psychological Distance ◽

Temporal Distance ◽

Moral Cognition ◽

Cultural Systems ◽

Moral Condemnation ◽

Construal Levels

In the hope to resolve the two sets of opposing results concerning the effects of psychological distance and construal levels on moral judgment, Žeželj and Jokić (2014) conducted a series of four direct replications, which yielded divergent patterns of results. In our commentary, we first revisit the consistent findings that lower-level construals induced by How/Why manipulation lead to harsher moral condemnation than higher-level construals. We then speculate on the puzzling patterns of results regarding the role of temporal distance in shaping moral judgment. And we conclude by discussing the complexity of morality and propose that it may be important to incorporate cultural systems into the study of moral cognition.

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Replication of Experiments Evaluating Impact of Psychological Distance on Moral Judgment

Social Psychology ◽

10.1027/1864-9335/a000188 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 45 (3) ◽

pp. 223-231 ◽

Cited By ~ 20

Author(s):

Iris L. Žeželj ◽

Biljana R. Jokić

Keyword(s):

Moral Judgment ◽

Social Distance ◽

Psychological Distance ◽

Temporal Distance ◽

Construal Level ◽

Systematic Effect ◽

Replication Studies ◽

Opposite Conclusion ◽

Moral Transgressions ◽

Replication Of Experiments

Eyal, Liberman, and Trope (2008) established that people judged moral transgressions more harshly and virtuous acts more positively when the acts were psychologically distant than close. In a series of conceptual and direct replications, Gong and Medin (2012) came to the opposite conclusion. Attempting to resolve these inconsistencies, we conducted four high-powered replication studies in which we varied temporal distance (Studies 1 and 3), social distance (Study 2) or construal level (Study 4), and registered their impact on moral judgment. We found no systematic effect of temporal distance, the effect of social distance consistent with Eyal et al., and the reversed effect of direct construal level manipulation, consistent with Gong and Medin. Possible explanations for the incompatible results are discussed.

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