scholarly journals Copular Sentences and the Hierarchical Lexicon

2007 ◽  
Vol null (24) ◽  
pp. 285-318
Author(s):  
Eun-Jung Yoo
Keyword(s):  
Hierarchical Lexicon ◽  
Copular Sentences

scholarly journals Ad hoc properties and locations in Maltese

2015 ◽  
Vol 1 ◽  
pp. 64-85 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gréte Dalmi
Keyword(s):  
Ad Hoc ◽  
Semantic Theory ◽  
Alternative States ◽  
Verbal Predicate ◽  
Spatio Temporal ◽  
The Difference ◽  
Copular Sentences ◽  
Event Variable ◽  
Temporal Variable ◽  
Account Variation

This paper aims to show that the four-way BE-system of Maltese can best be accommodated in a theory of non-verbal predication that builds on alternative states, without making any reference to the Davidsonian spatio-temporal event variable. The existing theories of non-verbal predicates put the burden of explaining the difference between the ad hoc vs. habitual interpretations either solely on the non-verbal predicate, by postulating an event variable in their lexical layer (see Kratzer 1995; Adger and Ramchand 2003; Magri 2009; Roy 2013), or solely on the copular or non-copular primary predicate, which contains an aspectual operator or an incorporated abstract preposition, responsible for such interpretive differences (Schmitt 2005, Schmitt and Miller 2007, Gallego and Uriagereka 2009, 2011, Marín 2010, Camacho 2012). The present proposal combines Maienborn’s (2003, 2005a,b, 2011) discourse-semantic theory of copular sentences with Richardson’s (2001, 2007) analysis of non-verbal adjunct predicates in Russian, based on alternative states. Under this combined account, variation between the ad hoc vs. habitual interpretations of non-verbal predicates is derived from the presence or absence of a modal OPalt operator that can bind the temporal variable of non-verbal predicates in accessible worlds, in the sense of Kratzer (1991). In the absence of this operator, the temporal variable is bound by the T0 head in the standard way. The proposal extends to non-verbal predicates in copular sentences as well as to argument and adjunct non-verbal predicates in non-copular sentences.

scholarly journals A remark on Béjar & Kahnemuyipour 2017: Specificational subjects do have phi-features

2018 ◽  
Vol 54 (3) ◽  
pp. 611-627 ◽  
Author(s):  
JUTTA M. HARTMANN ◽  
CAROLINE HEYCOCK
Keyword(s):  
Subject Position ◽  
Correct Analysis ◽  
Agreement Morphology ◽  
Copular Sentences ◽  
Specificational Sentences ◽  
Actual Agreement

In a number of languages, agreement in specificational copular sentences can or must be with the second of the two nominals, even when it is the first that occupies the canonical subject position. Béjar & Kahnemuyipour (2017) show that Persian and Eastern Armenian are two such languages. They then argue that ‘NP2 agreement’ occurs because the nominal in subject position (NP1) is not accessible to an external probe. It follows that actual agreement with NP1 should never be possible: the alternative to NP2 agreement should be ‘default’ agreement. We show that this prediction is false. In addition to showing that English has NP1, not default, agreement, we present new data from Icelandic, a language with rich agreement morphology, including cases that involve ‘plurale tantum’ nominals as NP1. These allow us to control for any confound from the fact that typically in a specificational sentence with two nominals differing in number, it is NP2 that is plural. We show that even in this case, the alternative to agreement with NP2 is agreement with NP1, not a default. Hence, we conclude that whatever the correct analysis of specificational sentences turns out to be, it must not predict obligatory failure of NP1 agreement.

Toward the Source of Order

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrea Moro
Keyword(s):  
Physical World ◽  
Language Structure ◽  
The World ◽  
Main Verb ◽  
Historical Observation ◽  
Copular Sentences

Is language structure influenced by the organization of the physical world as observed by means of our senses? Or is it rather the opposite, namely the structure of language influences our perception and representation of the world. After some historical observation the notion of analogy and anomaly is explored by providing a clear empirical case constituted by those sentences which contain the verb “to be” as a main verb (copular sentences):

Linking as Constraints on Word Classes in a Hierarchical Lexicon

Language ◽  
2000 ◽  
Vol 76 (1) ◽  
pp. 56 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anthony R. Davis ◽  
Jean-Pierre Koenig
Keyword(s):  
Hierarchical Lexicon ◽  
Word Classes

scholarly journals Well-formed lists: specificational copular sentences as predicative inversion constructions

2016 ◽  
Vol 22 (01) ◽  
pp. 77-99 ◽  
Author(s):  
AMANDA L. PATTEN
Keyword(s):  
Class Inclusion ◽  
Functional Perspective ◽  
Specific Concept ◽  
Copular Sentences ◽  
Specificational Sentences

This article re-examines the case for analysing specificational NP be NP sentences as predicative inversions. Taking a constructional and functional perspective, I show that only predicational sentences exhibiting a relation of class inclusion permit a specificational interpretation, and argue, following Higgins (1979), that the form of specificational inversion sentences is dependent upon the construction-specific concept of specificational meaning. In this way, the account provides an explanation for the restrictions on NP predicative inversion that have posed a problem for inverse analyses developed from within the formalist tradition. Since the distributional facts can be better captured than with the alternative equative approach (which treats specificational sentences as instances of semantic equation), the article concludes that specificational copular sentences are best analysed as instances of predicative inversion.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document