Abstract
There are two main approaches to change of state verbs. One adopts an approach in terms of a total change (becomeP, for base predicate P), i.e., a change from not being in the extension of the base predicate to being in it. The other adopts an approach in terms of a relative change (becomemore P, for base predicate P), i.e., a change for a theme in which it increases in the extent to which it holds the property denoted by the base predicate. Different languages have been analyzed using one or the other approach. I argue that both proposals are actually appropriate for analyzing related but not (completely) overlapping phenomena in the domain of derived change of state verbs in the very same language. This proposal is based on the discussion of change of state verbs in Southern Aymara that are derived with the suffixes -pta and -ra. I show that verbs with -pta convey the meaning of total change and that verbs with -ra convey the meaning of relative change. I further discuss how expressions with -pta and -ra interact: expressions with -ra implicate that the theme does not change from not being in the extension of the base to being in it. I propose an account in terms of scalar implicatures in which -pta and -ra are lexical alternatives, thus extending the domain of linguistic phenomena for which the computation of scalar implicatures is relevant.
Highlights
Derived change of state verbs in English, as in (1), have been analyzed in one of two ways, broadly speaking: (i) in terms of a transition from not being in the extension of a base predicate to being in such an extension (Abusch 1986; Dowty 1979) or (ii) in terms of a theme increasing in the extent to which it holds the property indicated by the base predicate (Hay et al 1999; Kearns 2007; Kennedy 2012; Kennedy and Levin 2008; Martínez Vera 2020; Pedersen 2015; Winter 2006)
This paper provided evidence for the presence of change of state verbs that indicate total change (i.e., BECOME P for base predicate P) (Abusch 1986; Dowty 1979), and relative change (i.e., BECOME more P for base predicate P) (Hay et al 1999; Kearns 2007; Kennedy 2012; Kennedy and Levin 2008; Pedersen 2015; Winter 2006) in Southern Aymara
Previous literature has assumed in practice that, within a language, one of the two accounts holds across the board when morphologically derived forms are considered, the Aymara system provides evidence for the need for both kinds of analyses within the same language
Summary
Derived change of state verbs in English, as in (1), have been analyzed in one of two ways, broadly speaking: (i) in terms of a transition from not being in the extension of a base predicate to being in such an extension (i.e., total change or BECOME P, for base predicate P) (Abusch 1986; Dowty 1979) or (ii) in terms of a theme increasing in the extent to which it holds the property indicated by the base predicate (i.e., relative change or BECOME more P for base predicate P) (Hay et al 1999; Kearns 2007; Kennedy 2012; Kennedy and Levin 2008; Martínez Vera 2020; Pedersen 2015; Winter 2006). The discussion of English-derived change of state verbs suggests that one of the analyses is correct, namely, the relative change account that makes use of scales (if one is to accept the criticisms raised above) While this may well be the case for English (which is an issue that I will not address in this paper), the total change proposal has been claimed to account for derived verbs of change in other languages, the case where the theme changes in such a way that it ends up counting as a member of the extension of the verbal predicate in the context of utterance.
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