Ups and downs in the theory of temporal reference

Reyle, Uwe; Roßdeutscher, Antje; Kamp, Hans

doi:10.1007/s10988-008-9027-0

Cited by 15 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 20 publications

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“…Recall that the inference that the goal is reached is globally weaker in German than in English, compare the plots in Figure 3a vs. 3b-3c. We propose that outer aspect is a source of non-culmination in German, but not in English: the German present perfect can not only be interpreted as a perfective, but also as an imperfective; see Bäuerle 1988, Schilder 1997, Löbner 2002, Reyle, Rossdeutscher & Kamp 2007, Schaden 2011and Bott & Hamm 2014. By contrast, in English, the simple past invariably conveys perfectivity with eventive predicates.…”

Section: English Vs Germanmentioning

confidence: 84%

A new case of low modality: Goal PPs*

Martin¹,

Grant

Piñón

et al. 2021

SALT

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This paper provides experimental evidence from German and English against the view that a goal to/zu-PP in combination with a motion verb designates a goal that is reached. We propose that to/zu have a modal meaning, responsible for the defeasibility of the inference that the goal is reached. We argue that the type of subjects (intentional agent vs. accidental agent or theme) determines the flavor of the (necessity) modal encoded by the preposition (teleological or circumstantial), which allows us to account for the observed variation in the strength of the inference with the type of subjects and the type of verbs.

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Section: English Vs Germanmentioning

confidence: 84%

A new case of low modality: Goal PPs*

Martin¹,

Grant

Piñón

et al. 2021

SALT

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“…German children occasionally accepted simple past or present perfect sentences with nonincremental verbs, such as for instance wachmachen 'wake up', as descriptions of failed attempts/zero change situations. This behavior is expected on the Form-to-Meaning Correspondence Hypothesis since the German simple past (or present perfect) does indeed admit an imperfective use alongside its perfective use (see, e.g., Bäuerle 1988;Bott and Hamm 2014;Reyle et al 2007;Schaden 2011;Schilder 1997).…”

Section: Variable Meaning Of the Past Formmentioning

confidence: 86%

Children’s non-adultlike interpretations of telic predicates across languages

et al. 2020

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The acquisition literature has documented several different types of misinterpretations of telic sentences by children, yet a comprehensive analysis of these child interpretations has not been attempted and a crosslinguistic perspective is lacking. This task is not easy, for, on the surface, children’s non-adultlike interpretations appear to be scattered and even contradictory across languages. Several cognitive biases have been proposed to explain given patterns (children initially adhere to a Manner bias, or alternatively a Result bias). Reviewing a wide range of studies on the acquisition of telic sentences in relation to tense-aspect markers, we show that children’s non-adultlike interpretations fall into three different patterns. We conclude that the diversity of non-adultlike interpretations that is found across child languages is incompatible with accounts that rely on these cognitive, language-independent principles, but instead is triggered by language-specific properties. Analyzing these patterns in detail, it appears that child learners across languages have problems with tense-aspect forms with variable meanings, in contrast to forms with a one-to-one form/meaning mappings which are acquired earlier. While adults use a context-sensitive interpretation of forms with multiple meanings, various semantic-pragmatic sources can explain children’s difficulties with interpreting such forms. All explanations that we identify across child languages rely on children’s immature command of pragmatic reasoning, albeit in very different ways for the three different patterns. Thus, by taking a crosslinguistic semantic approach and integrating detailed insights from the tense-aspect semantics of specific languages with universal pragmatic effects, we explain the non-adultlike interpretation of telic sentences in a variety of child languages in a comprehensive way.

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“…I could have been the Wolf! It is also unusual for a covert element to be an optional operator-unusual, but not unique to S; some versions of the covert genericity or habituality operator commonly assumed for the analysis of generic or habitual sentences are cases in point, for example, the habituality operator proposed by Reyle, Rossdeutscher, and Kamp (2007).…”

Section: (48)mentioning

confidence: 99%

Lessons from Descriptive Indexicals

Sæbø

2015

Mind

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Two main methods for analysing de re readings of definite descriptions in intensional contexts coexist: that of evaluating the description in the actual world, whether by means of scope, actuality operators, or nonlocal world binding, and that of substituting another description, usually one expressing a salient or 'vivid' acquaintance relation to an attitude holder, prior to evaluation. Recent work on so-called descriptive indexicals suggests that contrary to common assumptions, both methods are needed, for different ends. This paper aims to show that there is indeed a division of labour between the two methods of analysis and to identify criteria for choosing among alternative ways to model the second, substitutional method.

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Ups and downs in the theory of temporal reference

Cited by 15 publications

References 20 publications

A new case of low modality: Goal PPs*

A new case of low modality: Goal PPs*

Children’s non-adultlike interpretations of telic predicates across languages

Lessons from Descriptive Indexicals

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