Abstract
The temporal arguments of VPs and adverbs must be locally coindexed with the nearest time abstraction above them (Percus 2000). In contrast, nouns, which also have time arguments, have been noted to have multiple available evaluation times (Enç 1981), often coinciding with the topic time (e.g. Musan 1995, Tonhauser 2002, Keshet 2008) or utterance time (O’Leary 2017, O’Leary & Brasoveanu 2018). I argue that we can explain the possible temporal interpretations of nouns in a way that makes their behavior consistent with that of VPs and adverbs by positing an analogous locality constraint and making a simple appeal to quantifier raising. I additionally propose that the need for a locality constraint on the coindexing of temporal arguments extends to all predicates introducing novel referents.
Highlights
Nominal property times do not always overlap with the time at which the VP predicate of the same sentence holds (Enç 1981, 1986, 1987; Musan 1995, 1999; Tonhauser 2002, 2006, 2020; Keshet 2008)
(3) Temporal Locality Constraint (TLC) The time variables acting as input times to any predicates which introduce novel referents are bound by the nearest time abstraction
To avoid the complexities of nominal lexical aspect, this paper largely focuses on inflexible nouns going forward, as those are the only nominal predicates for which the time argument is guaranteed to be within the interval over which the property holds
Summary
Nominal property times do not always overlap with the time at which the VP predicate of the same sentence holds (Enç 1981, 1986, 1987; Musan 1995, 1999; Tonhauser 2002, 2006, 2020; Keshet 2008). I propose that the input times of nominals, like those of VPs and adverbs, are subject to a locality constraint, requiring coreference with the nearest c-commanding time abstraction: 3. As these differences are based largely on an appeal to novelty, as referenced in §2.2, they are outside the scope of this paper. In order to abide by the proposed Nominal Input Time Locality Constraint, the LF for such a reading merely needs the DP ‘a teenager’ to remain below time abstraction defined by the sentential tense. LF prohibited based on raising: λw0. λt0. ⟦a professor⟧g, w0, t0 [PASTt0 λt’. [there be ⟦a professor⟧ in kindergarten]]
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