Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

On the Position and Interpretation of Locative Modifiers

  • Published:
Natural Language Semantics Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

This study offers syntactic and semantic evidence that there are three types of locative modifiers within the verbal domain that differ with respect to their syntactic base position and interpretation. Two of them are subject to semantic indeterminacy, thereby leading to multiple utterance meanings. The study aims at showing that the full range of interpretations can be derived within a rigid account of lexical and compositional semantics. Locative modifiers are invariably treated as first-order predicates adding a locative constraint. All semantic differences originate from the structural environment they are embedded in and the pragmatic resolution of semantic indeterminacy. The syntactic distribution of locative modifiers is shown to be derivable from interface conditions.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

REFERENCES

  • Abraham, Werner: 1986, ‘Word Order in the Middle Field of the German Sentence’, in W. Abraham and S. de Meij (eds.), Topic, Focus, and Configurationality, Papers from the 6th Groningen Grammar Talks 1984, pp. 15–38. Benjamins, Amsterdam.

    Google Scholar 

  • Alexiadou, Artemis: 1997, Adverb Placement: A Case Study in Antisymmetric Syntax. Benjamins, Amsterdam.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bellert, Irena: 1977, ‘On Semantic and Distributional Properties of Sentential Adverbs’, Linguistic Inquiry 8, 337–351.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bierwisch, Manfred: 1982, ‘Formal and Lexical Semantics’, Linguistische Berichte 80, 3–17.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bierwisch, Manfred: 1988, ‘On the Grammar of Local Prepositions’, in M. Bierwisch, W. Motsch, and I. Zimmermann (eds.), Syntax, Semantik und Lexikon, pp. 1–65. Akademie–Verlag, Berlin.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bierwisch, Manfred: 1996, ‘How Much Space Gets into Language?’, in P. Bloom et al. (eds.), Language and Space, pp. 31–76. MIT Press, Cambridge, Mass.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bierwisch, Manfred: 1997, ‘Lexical Information from a Minimalist Point of View’, in Ch. Wilder, H.–M. Gärtner, and M. Bierwisch (eds.), The Role of Economy Principles in Linguistic Theory, pp. 227–266. Akademie–Verlag, Berlin.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bierwisch, Manfred and Ewald Lang: 1989, ‘Somewhat Longer – Much Deeper – Further and Further. Epilogue to the Dimension Adjective Project’, in M. Bierwisch and E. Lang (eds.), Dimensional Adjectives: Grammatical Structure and Conceptual Interpretation, pp. 471–514. Springer, Berlin.

    Google Scholar 

  • Büring, Daniel: 1997: The 59th Street Bridge Accent. Routledge, London.

    Google Scholar 

  • Carlson, Greg: 1978, Reference to Kinds in English, PhD dissertation, University of Massachusetts at Amherst.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chafe, Wallace: 1976, ‘Givenness, Contrastiveness, Definiteness, Subjects, Topics, and Point of View’, in C. N. Li (ed.), Subject and Topic, pp. 25–55. Academic Press, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chierchia, Gennaro: 1995, ‘Individual–Level Predicates as Inherent Generics’, in G. N. Carlson and F. J. Pelletier (eds.), The Generic Book, pp. 176–223. The University of Chicago Press, Chicago.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cinque, Guglielmo: 1999, Adverbs and Functional Heads: A Cross–Linguistic Perspective. Oxford University Press, Oxford.

    Google Scholar 

  • Diesing, Molly: 1992a, Indefinites. MIT Press, Cambridge, Mass.

    Google Scholar 

  • Diesing, Molly: 1992b, ‘Bare Plural Subjects and the Derivation of Logical Representations’, Linguistic Inquiry 23(3), 353–380.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dölling, Johannes: 1997, ‘Semantic Form and Abductive Fixation of Parameters’, in R. van der Sandt, R. Blutner, and M. Bierwisch (eds.), From Underspecification to Interpretation, Working Papers of the Institute of Logic and Linguistics, pp. 113–139. IBM, Heidelberg.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dölling, Johannes: 2000, ‘Reinterpretations in Adverbal Modification: A General Approach’, in C. Fabricius–Hansen, E. Lang, and C. Maienborn (eds.), Approaching the Grammar of Adjuncts, ZAS Papers in Linguistics 17, pp. 27–52. ZAS, Berlin.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dowty, David: 1991, ‘Thematic Proto–Roles and Argument Selection’, Language 67(3), 547–619.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ernst, Thomas: 1998, ‘Scope Based Adjunct Licensing’, in P. Tamanji and K. Kusumoto (eds.), Proceedings of NELS 28. GLSA, Amherst.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ernst, Thomas: 1999, ‘Adjuncts, the Universal Base, and Word Order Typology’, in P. Tamanji, M. Hirotami, and N. Hall (eds.), Proceedings of NELS 29. GLSA, Amherst.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ernst, Thomas: 2001, The Syntax of Adjuncts. Cambridge University Press, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Féry, Caroline: 1993, German Intonational Patterns. Niemeyer, Tübingen.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fintel, Kai von: 1994, Restrictions on Quantifier Domains, PhD Dissertation, University of Massachusetts at Amherst.

    Google Scholar 

  • Frey, Werner: 1993, Syntaktische Bedingungen für die semantische Repräsentation: Ñber Bindung, implizite Argumente und Skopus. Akademie–Verlag, Berlin.

    Google Scholar 

  • Frey, Werner: 2000a, ‘Syntactic Requirements on Adjuncts’, in C. Fabricius–Hansen, E. Lang, and C. Maienborn (eds.), Approaching the Grammar of Adjuncts, ZAS Papers in Linguistics 17, pp. 107–134. ZAS, Berlin.

    Google Scholar 

  • Frey, Werner: 2000b, ‘Ñber die syntaktische Position der Satztopiks im Deutschen’, in K. Schwabe, A. Meinunger, and D. Gasde (eds.), Issues on Topics, ZAS Papers in Linguistics 20, pp. 137–172. ZAS, Berlin.

    Google Scholar 

  • Frey, Werner and Karin Pittner: 1998, ‘Zur Positionierung der Adverbiale im deutschen Mittelfeld’, Linguistische Berichte 176, 489–534.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gundel, Janet K.: 1976, The Role of Topic and Comment in Linguistic Theory. Indiana University Linguistics Club, Bloomington, Indiana.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gundel, Janet K.: 1988, ‘Universals of Topic–Comment Structure’, in M. Hammond, E. Moravcsik and P. Wirth (eds.), Studies in Syntactic Typology, pp. 209–244. Benjamins, Amsterdam.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gussenhoven, Carlos: 1983, ‘Focus, Mode, and the Nucleus’, Journal of Linguistics 19, 377–419.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gussenhoven, Carlos: 1992, ‘Sentence Accents and Argument Structure’, in I. M. Roca (ed.), Thematic Structure: Its Role in Grammar, pp. 79–106. Foris, Dordrecht.

    Google Scholar 

  • Haider, Hubert: 1993, Deutsche Syntax – generativ: Vorstudien zur Theorie einer projektiven Grammatik. Narr, Tübingen.

    Google Scholar 

  • Haider, Hubert: 1998, ‘Adverbials at the Syntax–Semantics Interface’, in H. Kamp and U. Reyle (eds.), Tense and Aspect Now, Perspectives on Problems in the Theory of Tense and Aspect, pp. 51–67. Niemeyer, Tübingen.

    Google Scholar 

  • Haider, Hubert: 2000, ‘Adverb Placement – Convergence of Structure and Licensing’, Theoretical Linguistics 26, 95–134.

    Google Scholar 

  • Heim, Irene and Angelika Kratzer: 1998, Semantics in Generative Grammar, Blackwell, Malden.

    Google Scholar 

  • Higginbotham, James: 1985, ‘On Semantics’, Linguistic Inquiry 16, 547–593.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hobbs, J., M. Stickel, D. Appelt, and P. Martin: 1993, ‘Interpretation as Abduction’, Artificial Intelligence 63, 69–142.

    Google Scholar 

  • Höhle, Tilman: 1982, ‘Explikation für “normale Betonung” und “normale Wortstellung”’, in W. Abraham (ed.), Satzglieder im Deutschen, pp. 75–154. Narr, Tübingen.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jacobs, Joachim: 1983, Fokus und Skalen, Zur Syntax und Semantik von Gradpartikeln im Deutschen. Niemeyer, Tübingen.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jacobs, Joachim: 1991, ‘Focus Ambiguities’, Journal of Semantics 8, 1–36.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jacobs, Joachim: 1993, ‘Integration’, in M. Reis (ed.), Wortstellung und Intonationsstruktur, pp. 64–116. Niemeyer, Tübingen.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jacobs, Joachim: 1999a, ‘Informational Autonomy’, in P. Bosch and R. van der Sandt (eds.), Focus: Linguistic, Cognitive, and Computational Perspectives, pp. 56–81. Cambridge University Press, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jacobs, Joachim: 1999b, ‘The Dimensions of Topic–Comment’, ms., University of Wuppertal.

  • Jäger, Gerhard: 2000, ‘Towards an Explanation of Copula Effects’, in ZAS Papers in Linguistics 16, pp. 1–29. ZAS, Berlin.

    Google Scholar 

  • Klein, Wolfgang: 1994, Time in Language, Routledge, London.

    Google Scholar 

  • Klein, Wolfgang and Arnim von Stechow: 1982, ‘Intonation und Bedeutung von Fokus’, Working Paper No. 77 of the SFB 99, University of Konstanz.

  • Kratzer, Angelika: 1995, ‘Stage–Level and Individual–Level Predicates’, in G. N. Carlson and F. J. Pelletier (eds.), The Generic Book, pp. 125–175. The University of Chicago Press, Chicago.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kratzer, Angelika: 1996, ‘Severing the External Argument from Its Verb’, in J. Rooryck and L. Zaring (eds.), Phrase Structure and the Lexicon: Studies in Natural Language and Linguistic Theory, pp. 109–137. Kluwer, Dordrecht.

    Google Scholar 

  • Krifka, Manfred: 1992, ‘A Compositional Semantics for Multiple Focus Constructions’, in J. Jacobs (ed.), Informationsstruktur und Grammatik, pp. 17–53. Westdeutscher Verlag, Opladen.

    Google Scholar 

  • Krifka, Manfred: 1998, ‘Scope Inversion under the Rise–Fall Contour in German’, Linguistic Inquiry 29(1), 75–112.

    Google Scholar 

  • Krifka, Manfred et al.: 1995, ‘Genericity: An Introduction’, in G. N. Carlson and F. J. Pelletier (eds.), The Generic Book, pp. 1–124. The University of Chicago Press, Chicago.

    Google Scholar 

  • Laenzlinger, Christopher: 1998, Comparative Studies in Word Order Variation: Adverbs, Pronouns and Clause Structure in Romance and Germanic. Benjamins, Amsterdam.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lambrecht, Knud: 1994, Information Structure and Sentence Form. Topic, Focus, and the Mental Representation of Discourse Referents, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Larson, Richard: 1988, ‘On the Double Object Construction’, Linguistic Inquiry 19(3), 335–391.

    Google Scholar 

  • Larson, Richard: 1990, ‘Double Objects Revisited: Reply to Jackendoff’, Linguistic Inquiry 21(4), 589–632.

    Google Scholar 

  • Maienborn, Claudia: 1996, Situation und Lokation: Die Bedeutung lokaler Adjunkte von Verbalprojektionen. Stauffenburg, Tübingen.

    Google Scholar 

  • Maienborn, Claudia: 2000a, ‘Zustände – Stadien – stative Ausdrücke: Zur Semantik und Pragmatik von Kopula–Prädikativ–Konstruktionen’, Linguistische Berichte 183, 273–309.

    Google Scholar 

  • Maienborn, Claudia: 2000b, ‘Modification and Underspecification: A Free Variable Account of Locative Modifiers’, in C. Fabricius–Hansen, E. Lang, and C. Maienborn (eds.), Approaching the Grammar of Adjuncts, ZAS Papers in Linguistics 17, pp. 153–176. ZAS, Berlin.

    Google Scholar 

  • McConnell–Ginet, Sally: 1982, ‘Adverbs and Logical Form: A Linguistically Realistic Theory’, Language 58(1), 144–184.

    Google Scholar 

  • Müller, Gereon: 1998, ‘German Word Order and Optimality Theory’, Arbeitspapiere des Sonderforschungsbereichs 340, Nr. 126. University of Stuttgart.

  • Neeleman, A.: 1994, ‘Scrambling as a D–Structure Phenomenon’, in N. Corver and H. van Riemsdijk (eds.), Studies on Scrambling: Movement and Non–Movement Approaches to Free Word–Order Phenomena, pp. 387–429. de Gruyter, Berlin.

    Google Scholar 

  • Parsons, Terence: 1990, Events in the Semantics of English: A Study in Subatomic Semantics. MIT Press, Cambridge, Mass.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pollock, Jean–Yves: 1989, ‘Verb Movement, Universal Grammar, and the Structure of IP’, Linguistic Inquiry 20(3), 365–424.

    Google Scholar 

  • Reichenbach, Hans: 1947, Elements of Symbolic Logic. The Free Press, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Reinhart, Tanya: 1981, ‘Pragmatics and Linguistics: An Analysis of Sentence Topics’, Philosophica 27, 53–93.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rizzi, Luigi: 1997, ‘The Fine Structure of the Left Periphery’, in L. Haegeman (ed.), Elements of Grammar. Handbook in Generative Syntax, pp. 281–337. Kluwer, Dordrecht.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ross, Jeff: 1997, The Semantics of Media. Kluwer, Dordrecht.

    Google Scholar 

  • Selkirk, Elisabeth: 1984, Phonology and Syntax: The Relation between Sound and Structure. MIT Press, Cambridge, Mass.

    Google Scholar 

  • Selkirk, Elisabeth: 1995, ‘Sentence Prosody: Intonation, Stress and Phrasing’, in J. Goldsmith (ed.), Handbook of Phonological Theory, pp. 550–569. Blackwell, London.

    Google Scholar 

  • Stechow, Arnim von and Susanne Uhmann: 1986, ‘Some Remarks on Focus Projection’, in W. Abraham and S. de Meij (eds.), Topic, Focus, and Configurationality. Papers from the 6th Groningen Grammar Talks 1984, pp. 295–320. Benjamins, Amsterdam.

    Google Scholar 

  • Thomason, Richmond H. and Robert C. Stalnaker: 1973, ‘A Semantic Theory of Adverbs’, Linguistic Inquiry 4(2), 195–220.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wunderlich, Dieter: 1991, ‘How Do Prepositional Phrases Fit into Compositional Syntax and Semantics?’, Linguistics 29, 591–621.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wunderlich, Dieter: 1997, ‘Argument Extension by Lexical Adjunction’, Journal of Semantics 14, 95–142.

    Google Scholar 

  • Zwart, C. J. W.: 1993, Dutch Syntax: A Minimalist Approach. PhD dissertation, University of Groningen.

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of German Language and Linguistics, Humboldt University Berlin, Schützenstr. 21, 10117, Berlin, Germany

    Claudia Maienborn

Authors
  1. Claudia Maienborn
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Maienborn, C. On the Position and Interpretation of Locative Modifiers. Natural Language Semantics 9, 191–240 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1012405607146

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1012405607146

Keywords

Search

Navigation