Mood variation with belief predicates: Modal comparison in semantics and the common ground

This paper proposes that subjunctive in the complement of belief sen- tences in Italian expresses a relation between the attitude holder’s beliefs and the common ground. In contrast to most other Romance languages, ‘believe’ commonly and prescriptively takes subjunctive in Italian, though indicative is found as well, and as has been observed in the literature, the choice of indicative or subjunctive has semantic effects. We show that the indicative with ‘believe’ is used when the belief statement describes the personal mental state of the holder of the attitude, an interpretation that follows from the traditional Hintikkean semantics. In contrast, we show that subjunctive with ‘believe’ is used to mark a relation between the content of belief and the discourse context. To analyze these facts, we propose that the modal quantification present in attitude reports comes not from the attitude verb, but instead from the embedded verbal mood. What differentiates Italian from related languages where ‘believe’ only takes indicative, is that Italian allows the subjunctive to access the com- mon ground as a modal base, utilizing the verb’s doxastic background as an ordering source. The fact that subjunctive relates the common ground to the subject’s beliefs explains the discourse oriented meaning of this combination. We extend our analysis to several other predicates that show mood variation in Italian.

Subjuntivo en oraciones independientes

In this paper, three cases of grammatical variation in Spanish are studied in which a subjunctive verb alternates with another verbal mood in a main clause: optative main sentences with a bare subjunctive verb (alternating with optative main sentences introduced by a conjunction or an adverb); declarative and interrogative sentences with a subjunctive verb (alternating with a conditional verb); and «retrospective imperative» sentences (where the subjunctive mood alternates with a perfect infinitive). It is proposed that, in the varieties where these main clauses with a subjunctive verb are possible, the subjunctive mood has a performative value and satisfies the illocutionary properties in Force associated with sentential modality. The performative value of subjunctive is associated with an irrealis modal base, which is provided by the lexical meaning of a modal verb or by the past perfect temporal anchoring of tense. The proposal shows that the same conditions constraint the three constructions under study and explains the coincidence between the varieties that allow the performative subjunctive (or use it more frequently).

Terminologia związana z tłem konwersacyjnym w opisie modalności językowej oraz propozycja jej przekładu na język polski

The article aims at bringing the model of the semantic field of modal expressions presented by Angelika Kratzer to the attention of Polish-speaking readers. The framework consists of three domains: modal force, modal base and ordering source. The last two are conversational backgrounds. The duality of the modal base also allows for a binary typology of modality. In addition, the paper proposes Polish equivalents of English-language terminology.

Culminating and non-culminating accomplishments in Malagasy

Malagasy is a language with non-culminating accomplishments. There is, however, a specific prefix (maha-), which appears to entail culmination. Moreover, verbs prefixed with maha- display a range of interpretations: causative, abilitive, ‘manage to’, and unintentionality. This paper accounts for these two aspects of this prefix with a unified semantic analysis. In particular, maha- encodes double prevention. The double prevention configuration is associated with a circumstantial modal base, which leads to culminating readings in the past and future, but not the present tense. The embedding of double prevention in a force-theoretic framework leads to a more fine-grained theory of causation, which the Malagasy data show to have empirical relevance.

From inquisitive disjunction to nonveridical equilibrium: Modalized questions in Korean

The goal of the present study is to identify a novel paradigm of epistemic modal operator derived from disjunction. Our main data involves an inquisitive disjunction marker nka in Korean, the presence of which enhances a speaker’s epistemic uncertainty and forms a modalized question. We show how nka contributes the modal effects in question within a theory of nonveridicality. In particular, we propose that the prerequisite of nka are non-homogenous nonveridical states that are partitioned in equipoised epistemic spaces because of the absence in ranking between them. The distinct notions of disjunction, question, and possibility modals can thus be systematically captured under the framework of nonveridical equilibrium. The current analysis offers important insights into the relationship between the classes of nonveridical and modal ingredients involved in inquisitive disjunction: First, Korean facts importantly reveal that modalized questions do not form a uniform class with regular questions, since interrogative semantics alone cannot predict the epistemic uncertainty. Second, languages parameterize as to how they lexicalize the function of manipulating modal base. The implication of our findings is that disjunction needs to be recognized as a novel device for encoding a speaker’s weakest perspective on epistemic modality.

A Modal Based Approach for the Lateral Dynamic Analysis of Rotating Shafts Supported by Elastic Substructures

It is well known that the detailed modelling of the structures supporting modern, heavy-duty gas turbines is essential for accurately estimating the dynamic behaviour of the complete coupled system. In this paper, the equations of motion governing the lateral dynamics of a rotating shaft supported by an elastic substructure are assembled by making exclusive use of modal parameters — such as modal damping ratios, undamped natural frequencies and modal shapes — of both the supporting structure and the undamped, non-rotating and unconstrained rotor. Thanks to the particular approach of considering the rotor in its unconstrained configuration, the modal base used to derive the equations of motion becomes independent on the rotational speed. It therefore needs to be extracted only once. Gyroscopic effects can then be effortlessly introduced by projecting the gyroscopic matrix on the modal base described above. Harmonic, modal and transient analyses can be carried out by means of the proposed set of equations. Additionally, since the mathematical expression of a modal tracking parameter is reduced to a simple scalar product by the particular shape of the proposed system matrices, Campbell’s diagram analyses result to be simplified. An actual example of application to the modal and unbalance analyses of a heavy-duty gas turbine engine is presented. The proposed approach is used to produce the Campbell’s diagram of the complete rotor-structure system and extract bearing vibration velocities for a typical case of unbalance. Results are then compared on the one hand with those calculated by a well-known commercial tool and on the other hand with real measurement data. Since a key benefit of the present approach is that it is fully independent from the method used to extract the input modal parameters, it allows using results from models of the most appropriate complexity — 1D, 2D or 3D. Alternatively, and as shown in this paper, validated measurement data can also be used for fine-tuning of the input parameters in order to close potential gaps between numerical models and real machine dynamic behaviour.

Modal height and modal flavor: the case of Wolof "di"

The Wolof imperfective auxiliary di is compatible with event-in-progress, habitualand future readings. Furthermore, while varieties of all these readings are available fordi when it sits in a syntactically low position, only future readings are available when it sitsin a syntactically high position. We aim to account for this puzzle by combining several ingredientsindependently motivated in the literature: (i) event-relative circumstantial modalityfor event-in-progress, habitual, and a subset of future readings; (ii) metaphyisical modality forgeneralized future readings; (iii) the idea that syntactic height determines the type of modalanchor that projects a modal base. This study contributes to our understanding of the relationbetween syntactic height and modal flavor, as well as the nature of modal-aspectual interactionscross-linguistically.Keywords: aspect, future, habitual, imperfective, modality, modal flavor, progressive.

Expletive agreement, evidentiality, and modality in Logooli

We discuss and analyze two subject agreement markers in Logooli (Bantu,Kenya). We show that e- (class 9 subject agreement) and ga- (class 6 subjectagreement) give rise to a variety of apparently evidential or modal meanings whenthey occur in constructions translated with "expletive" subjects. We propose atreatment of the Logooli data following Matthewson, et al. (2007)'s and Rullmann,et al. (2008)'s choice function analysis of modality and evidentiality in St'át'imcets,and extend their original proposal to account for novel data in Logooli. We showthat these two morphemes occur only with verbs that introduce modal bases, andpropose that they differ from one another in the size of the subset of possible worldsthat their associated choice functions select from the modal base. This in turn resultsin different interpretations based on the size of the subset of worlds that they select,the speaker's ordering source, and the modal base provided by the verb.

Real tense and real aspect in mirativity

The goal of this paper is an account of the role of tense and aspect in mirative constructions in Spanish. I propose that the past tense morphology and the imperfect/perfect morphology in Spanish miratives contribute their standard meanings to the semantics of mirativity. I define mirativity as the clash between the speaker’s previous beliefs and the current state of affairs asserted by the proposition. I propose a M operator that relates the speaker’s beliefs and the proposition by ranking the worlds in which the proposition doesn’t hold in the speaker’s previous beliefs as better ones. The past tense is interpreted outside the proposition, and constitutes the time argument of the modal base (doxastic domain). Aspect gets its usual interpretation in the proposition but also in the alternative propositions that order the worlds in the modal base. This way, differences regarding the imperfect mirative and the pluperfect one are accounted for. Finally, the paper also discusses stative miratives, which apparently challenge part of the analysis. I claim that these are not counter examples, but rather confirmation of the analysis, once we account for the interaction between miratives, statives and lifetime effects.