The dependency of the subjunctive revisited: Temporal semantics and polarity

Abstract

In this paper, I examine the syntax-semantics of subjunctive na clauses in (Modern) Greek. These clauses contain a dependent verbal form with no formal mood features: the perfective nonpast (PNP). I propose that the function of na is to introduce the variable now ( n) into the syntax, which is needed because the apparent present tense in the PNP cannot introduce n. The PNP contains a dependent time variable, i.e. a referentially deficient variable that cannot be identified with the utterance time of the context. This analysis suggests that there is a meaningful distinction between the category “non-past”—which does not make reference to the utterance time—and the category “present”—which does. The analysis relies on the pronominal theory of tense (Partee, 1973, 1984; Kratzer, 1998, and others), and the idea that at least some polarity dependencies emerge as referential ‘deficiency’ of what becomes the polarity item (Giannakidou, 1998, 2001, to appear). In the present work, I treat the Greek non-past as a non-deictic time, i.e. as a time that cannot get a value from the context alone, thus rendering the PNP an instance of a temporal polarity dependency. The analysis proposed here for the PNP can hopefully be useful also for the analysis verbal subjunctives in Romance languages, and infinitival forms in English, but investigation of these will have to be left for the future.