Aspectual classes and scales of change

Abstract

In this paper I outline a theory of aspectual classes based on theories of scalar change (Hay et al. 1999, Kennedy and Levin 2008). Standard models of aspectual classes focus on event decompositional or featural distinctions between predicates. However, such classifications often overor undergenerate, and also do not necessarily capture the temporal properties upon which aspectual classifications are usually based. I show that a predictive model of aspectual classes arises from two independently motivated properties of scale arguments: (a) how specific the predicate is about the final state of the patient on the scale (Beavers 2006), and (b) the mereological complexity of the scale (Beavers 2008). The resultant classification accommodates the standard Vendler dynamic classes, plus additional classes that have proved difficult for previous approaches, and also makes predictions about how argument realization and aspectual classes are related.