Kimian/Davidsonian, Individual/Stage and non-verbal predication: A Romance perspective

Abstract

The distinction between Kimian and Davidsonian States is conceived of as a different paradigm as compared to the Individual-Level/Stage-Level dichotomy, and under this theory, copular constructions are considered a uniform class of Kimian predications. These two main generalizations have widely been taken for granted by K/D theorists, both for English and for Romance languages. Based on Romance data (namely, Spanish, Portuguese, French and Italian), this paper provides evidence that, contrary to what has been suggested, copular constructions do split between the Kimian and Davidsonian classes, and that the Kimian/Davidsonian account is essentially equivalent to the Individual-Level/Stage-Level distinction. This contribution has two substantial advantages: first, it shows that the domains of verbal and non-verbal predication are aspectual-symmetric; second, it provides a unified understanding of the multiple aspectual notions under scrutiny.