Unifying the imperfective and the progressive: Partitions as quantificational domains
Linguistics and Philosophy 32 (5):475-521 (2009)
| Abstract | This paper offers a new unified theory about the meaning of the imperfective and progressive aspects that builds on earlier of analyses in the literature that treat the imperfective as denoting a universal quantifier (e.g. Bonomi, Linguist Philos, 20(5):469–514, 1997; Cipria and Roberts, Nat Lang Semant 8(4):297–347, 2000). It is shown that the problems associated with such an analysis can be overcome if the domain of the universal quantifier is taken to be a partition of a future extending interval into equimeasured cells. Treating the partition-measure (the length of each partition-cell) as a contextually dependent variable allows for a unified treatment of the habitual and event-in-progress readings of the imperfective. It is argued that the contrast between the imperfective and the progressive has to do with whether the quantifier domain is a regular partition of the reference interval or a superinterval of the reference interval. | |||||||||
| Keywords | No keywords specified (fix it) | |||||||||
| Categories | ||||||||||
| Options |
|
|||||||||
Download options| PhilPapers Archive |
Upload a copy of this paper Check publisher's policy on self-archival Papers currently archived: 5,709 |
| External links |
 |
| Through your library | Configure |
Similar books and articlesMichael Smithson (2011). How Many Alternatives? Partitions Pose Problems for Predictions and Diagnoses. Social Epistemology 23 (3):347-360.
Norman Dale Norris (2004). The Promise and Failure of Progressive Education. Scarecroweducation.
David Ellerman (2009). Counting Distinctions: On the Conceptual Foundations of Shannon's Information Theory. Synthese 168 (1):119 - 149.
D. Altshuler (2012). Aspectual Meaning Meets Discourse Coherence: A Look at the Russian Imperfective. Journal of Semantics 29 (1):39-108.
P. R. Graves (1997). Reference and Imperfective Paradox. Philosophical Studies 88 (1):81-101.
David R. Dowty (1977). Toward a Semantic Analysis of Verb Aspect and the English 'Imperfective' Progressive. Linguistics and Philosophy 1 (1):45 - 77.
Renaat Declerck (1979). On the Progressive and the 'Imperfective Paradox'. Linguistics and Philosophy 3 (2):267 - 272.
Alex Lascarides (1991). The Progressive and the Imperfective Paradox. Synthese 87 (3):401 - 447.
Analytics
Monthly downloads |
Added to index2010-03-13Total downloads34 ( #35,390 of 549,571 )Recent downloads (6 months)1 ( #63,397 of 549,571 )How can I increase my downloads? |
My notes
Discussion
