Abstract
This paper presents an account of the semantics of copular be as displayed in its behaviour in be+AP configurations. I begin by arguing against the Partee/Dowty distinction between a semantically null be of predication and a thematically relevant agentive be, and I propose that there is one semantically relevant verb whose grammatical role is to turn an AP predicate into a verbal one. The denotation of be must thus be a function from denotations of Adjective Phrases to denotation of Verb Phrases. I argue that these denotations are crucially different in kind: verbs (and thus VPs) denote eventualities, which are count entities and which are temporally locatable, while adjectives (and thus APs) denote mass entities, which are states and which are not temporally locatable. Be thus denotes a locating function which maps from the mass to the count domain, and is the analogue of the ‘packaging’ function in the nominal domain. After a comparison between the mass/count distinction in the verbal and nominal domains, I show how this theory accounts for properties of be in small clause and progressive constructions which have hitherto been explained by positing a so-called agentive be.
Similar content being viewed by others
REFERENCES
Bach, E.: 1986, ‘The Algebra of Events’, Linguistics and Philosophy 9, 5–16.
Chierchia, G.: 1984, Topics in the Syntax and Semantics of Indefinites and Gerunds, Ph.D. dissertation, University of Massachusetts, Amherst.
Chierchia, G.: 1997, ‘Kind Referring Terms’, manuscript, University of Milan. Published in a later version in Natural Language Semantics 6, 334–405, 1998.
Chierchia, G.: 1998, ‘Plurality of Mass Nouns and the Notion of “Semantic Parameter”’, in S. Rothstein (ed.), Events and Grammar, pp. 53–104. Kluwer, Dordrecht.
Condoravdi, C.: 1992, ‘Individual Level Predicates in Conditional Clauses’, manuscript, Stanford University.
Davidson, D.: 1967, ‘The Logical Form of Action Sentences’, in Essays on Actions and Events, pp. 105–148. Oxford University Press, Oxford.
Dowty, D.: 1979, Word Meaning and Montague Grammar, Reidel, Dordrecht.
Greenberg, Y.: 1994, ‘Hebrew Nominal Sentences and the Stage-Individual Level Distinction’, M.A. thesis, Bar-Ilan University.
Krifka, M.: 1989, ‘Nominal Reference, Temporal Constitution and Quantification in Event Semantics’, in R. Bartsch, J. van Bentham, and P. van Emde Boas (eds.), Semantics and Contextual Expressions, pp. 75–115. Foris, Dordrecht.
Krifka, M.: 1992, ‘Thematic Relations as Links between Nominal Reference and Temporal Constitution’, in I. Sag and A. Szabolsci (eds.), Lexical Matters, pp. 29–53. CSLI Publications, Stanford.
Lakoff, G.: 1970, Irregularity in Syntax, Holt, Rinehart and Winston, New York.
Landman, F.: 1991, Structures for Semantics, Kluwer, Dordrecht.
Landman, F.: 1992, ‘The Progressive’, Natural Language Semantics 1, 1–32.
Landman, F.: 1999, Events and Plurality, to appear, Kluwer, Dordrecht.
Link, G.: 1983, ‘The Logical Analysis of Plurals and Mass Terms: A Lattice Theoretical Approach’, in R. Bäuerle, C. Schwarze, and A. von Stechow (eds.), Meaning, Use and Interpretation of Language, pp. 303–323. De Gruyter, Berlin.
Mittwoch, A.: 1988, ‘Aspects of English Aspect: On the Interaction of Perfect Progressive and Durational Phrases’, Linguistics and Philosophy 11, 203–254.
Moens, M. and M. Steedman: 1988, ‘Temporal Ontology and Temporal Reference’, Computational Linguistics 14(2), 15–28.
Moro, A.: 1997, The Raising of Predicates: Predicative Noun Phrases and the Theory of Clause Structure, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
Parsons, T.: 1990, Events in the Semantics of English, MIT Press, Cambridge, Mass.
Partee, B.: 1977, ‘John is Easy to Please’, in A. Zampolli (ed.), Linguistic Structures Processing, pp. 281–312. North-Holland, Amsterdam.
Partee, B.: 1986, ‘Ambiguous Pseudoclefts with Unambiguous “Be”’, in S. Berman et al. (eds.), Proceedings of NELS 16, pp. 354–366, GLSA, University of Massachusetts, Amherst.
Partee, B.: 1987, ‘Noun Phrase Interpretation and Type Shifting Principles’, in J. Groenendijk and M. Stokhof (eds.), Studies in Discourse Representation Theory and the Theory of Generalized Quantifiers (GRASS 8), pp. 115–143. Foris, Dordrecht.
Pelletier, F.J.: 1979, ‘Non-Singular Reference’, in F.J. Pelletier (ed.), Mass Terms: Some Philosophical Problems, pp. 1–14. Kluwer, Dordrecht.
Rothstein, S.: 1983, The Syntactic Forms of Predication, PhD dissertation, MIT.
Rothstein, S.: 1995a, ‘Adverbial Quantification over Events’, Natural Language Semantics 3, 1–31.
Rothstein, S.: 1995b, ‘Pleonastics and the Interpretation of Pronouns’, Linguistic Inquiry 26, 499–529.
Rothstein, S.: 1998, ‘Progressive Achievements’, manuscript, Bar-Ilan University.
Rothstein, S.: 1999, Predicates and Their Subjects, manuscript, Bar-Ilan University. To be published by Kluwer, Dordrecht.
Russell, B.: 1919, Introduction to Mathematical Philosophy, Allen and Unwin, London.
Stowell, T.: 1978, ‘What Was There Before There Was There’, in CLS 14, pp. 457–471, Chicago Linguistics Society, Chicago.
Stowell, T.: 1983, ‘Subjects across Clauses’, The Linguistics Review 2, 285–312.
Stowell, T.: 1991, ‘Small Clause Restructuring’, in R. Freidin (ed.), Comparative Grammar, pp. 182–218. MIT Press, Cambridge, Mass.
Vendler, Z.: 1967, Linguistics in Philosophy, Cornell University Press, Ithaca, N.Y.
Vlach, F.: 1983, ‘On Situation Semantics for Perception’, Synthese 54, 129–152.
Williams, E.: 1994, Thematic Structure in Syntax, MIT Press, Cambridge, Mass.
Zucchi, A.: 1998, ‘Aspect Shift’, in S. Rothstein (ed.), Events and Grammar, pp. 349–370. Kluwer, Dordrecht.
Zucchi, S. and M. White: 1996, ‘Twigs, Sequences and the Temporal Constitution of Predicates’, in T. Galloway and J. Spence (eds.), Proceedings of SALT 6, pp. 329–346.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Rothstein, S. FINE-GRAINED STRUCTURE IN THE EVENTUALITY DOMAIN: THE SEMANTICS OF PREDICATIVE ADJECTIVE PHRASES AND BE. Natural Language Semantics 7, 347–420 (1999). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1008397810024
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1008397810024