Individual-level Predicates Research Articles

Habituality Markers in Jordanian Arabic

Objectives: This study investigates the grammatical encoding of habituality within Jordanian Arabic. This linguistic phenomenon is expressed through specific markers for different tenses in the dialect. Methods: Our research employs a qualitative, theory-driven methodology rooted in truth-conditional semantics instead of a corpus-based approach. We base our findings on constructed utterances that are placed within specific contexts. Results: In the present tense, habituality is expressed using the copular verb bi-ku:n 'Pres-be'. The copula occurs within nominal sentences, serving as a marker that indicates the habitual nature of the action. The obligatory presence of the copula exclusively enforces a habitual interpretation. Conversely, the obligatory absence of the copula allows for two interpretations: episodic and habitual. Event plurality in the past tense, however, is constructed using the past auxiliary ka:n 'used to'. These constructions are known as periphrastic forms or retrospective habituals (Boneh and Doron, 2008). Conclusions: The periphrastic forms in Jordanian Arabic behave similarly to the perfective aspect, yet they are interpreted imperfectively. These periphrastic habituals are formed using both stage-level and individual-level predicates. However, the periphrastic forms incorporating stage-level predicates without an adverbial adjunct are ambiguous between a habitual and a non-habitual reading. The context serves to differentiate between the two readings.

Prepositional Verbs and the Individual-/Stage-Level distinction

Drawing on Catalan, we show how the aspectual classification of intransitive prepositional verbs is, partially, a predictor of their argument structure properties. Prepositional verbs qualifying as Stage-Level form a heterogeneous class, comprising both unergative and unaccusative verbs. By contrast, those prepositional verbs that qualify as Individual-Level predicates are homogenous as regards argument structure: their prepositional complement is robustly obligatory and their subject is not an external argument, suggesting that they involve a predicative configuration whose predicate is the prepositional complement. This result supports the more general Property Verbalization Constraint hypothesis (Acedo-Matellán 2019), which states that Individual-Level property predicates cannot be encoded as unergative verbs.

MANDARIN EXISTENTIAL CONSTRUCTIONS AND THE PREDICATE RESTRICTION

In this paper I raise questions about the predicate restriction, which claims that only stage-level predicates may appear in the coda of an existential sentence. I present novel data from Mandarin to show that the predicate restriction is not universal: It is systematically absent in Mandarin. I propose that the reason behind its absence is syntactic. Specifically, I show that the English existential coda cannot be as large as a TP, while the Mandarin existential coda contains a full TP. This, in combination with Diesing’s (1992) Mapping Hypothesis, which says individual-level predicates need to be in TPs, naturally derives the difference between existentials of the English-type and those of the Mandarin-type. Finally, I show that the Mandarin existential coda is not a relative clause, despite being a full clause. Thus, this paper seeks to attain two purposes: (i) to bring attention to the possibility of violations of the predicate restriction, which has largely been thought to be universal; and (ii) to make a first attempt at explaining why the predicate restriction is absent in Mandarin.

Events always take (place with) ser

Abstract The present study aims to throw light on the behavior of the Spanish copulas ser and estar in locative sentences, beyond their classical distinction in terms of Individual-Level (IL) versus Stage-Level (SL) predicates. The behavior of the Spanish copulas in locative contexts constitutes an oddity that we aim to probe here: events (concierto ‘concert’), despite their clear spatial and temporal anchorage, combine with ser (El concierto es en París ‘The concert is in Paris’), which is the copula typically associated with IL or permanent predicates. To do so, we discuss the behavior of copulas as locative verbs in a broader empirical context, where not just events and individuals are considered, but also other types of nominals, such as qualities and states. We argue that ser emerges with events because time and place constituents combine directly with events, without the intermediation of extra predicational structure. When carrying a marked value, that extra predicational structure triggers the insertion of estar; when there is no predication structure (such as with events) and when the predication structure is unmarked (IL predicates), ser appears as the default copula.

Bulgarian stative predicates

The paper offers a corpus-based analysis of stative verbs in Bulgarian depending on their representation of temporary or accidental properties and permanent or inherent properties. The terminology division is related to Carlson’s (1977) distinction between stage-level and individual-level predicates. We present a classification of verbal predicates based on event semantics (Davidsonian and Kimian predicates), the properties of the two main groups and the linguistic diagnostics for their differentiation (Maienborn 2005; 2007; 2019). We show that the morphological aspect in Bulgarian is also related to the distinction between the statives, on the one hand, and achievements and accomplishments, on the other hand, and statives can be only verbs in imperfective aspect. The study demonstrates that Davidsonian predicates and Kimian predicates can be effectively differentiated on the basis of a corpus study, which establishes the possibility or impossibility for the inclusion of such predicates in particular syntactic structures characterised by specific semantics: da-complements to perception verbs and compatibility with locative adverbial modifiers. The controversial results from the test with manner adverbial modifiers open questions for further investigation.

Revisiting -ej(ar) verbs in Catalan: Argument and event structure

We explore the properties of the Catalan verbalizing suffix -ej(ar), centering on intransitive verbs. After presenting the rich variety of outputs that this suffix allows, we focus on two generalizations. The first one has to do with the consistent eventive nature of verbs derived with this suffix, even from bases that count as individual-level predicates, like colour adjectives or proper names. Importantly, their eventivity is orthogonal to their dynamic/non-dynamic status. The second one is the robust unergative status of intransitive -ej(ar) vebs. We show that previous work on -ej(ar) has failed to capture these two properties. Adopting a Ramchandian, nanosyntactic perspective, we propose that this suffix is the spellout of the subeventive structure of a caused process, i.e., the heads Init and Proc. The (non-)dynamic interpretation of the verbs is claimed to emerge from interactions among the contents of the roots involved in the predicate, at the conceptual, non-grammatical level. We finally extend the proposed analysis to account for the behaviour of transitive -ej(ar) verbs.

Nomes simples sujeitos pré-verbais

Research on Bare Noun Phrases (BNs) is focused on English and have Carlson (1977) as its origin: the readings (generic or existential) of these nouns depend on the type of predicate they occur with (Kind-, Individual- or Stage-level).Most authors use the Determiner Phrase, including number information, as the key to the readings BNs may get. The D position contains non-checked features which, in European Portuguese (EP), are not checked by Noun-raising to D.According to Oliveira & Cunha (2003), Kind nouns in EP crucially depend on the presence of a definite determiner. Thus, BNs are not Kind Nouns and can never be assigned generic readings.Pre-verbal Subject BNs, though, may occur in EP with Kind- and Individual-level predicates and characterizing sentences – as categorical judgements – getting a non-existential reading by being marked topics. But they also occur, getting an existential reading, in sentences where they are discourse sub-topics in descriptive contexts, like ‘scripts’, in Fillmore’s (1985) sense.The survival of BNs in the pre-verbal position depends on the combination with both Aktionsart values and types of predicates with which they occur. The [+habitual] feature determines the possibility of movement of the subject BN to a pre-verbal (Spec, TP or, as I suggest, TopP) position. This position is non-argumental and thus escapes the government or asymmetric c-command by a verb or a preposition constraint, allowing for a non-existential reading of the noun. The non-checked features in the empty D position are legitimated by a feature in TopP, namely the ‘aboutness’ feature (Reinhart 1981). They are a part of ‘common ground management’ (Bianchi & Frascarelli 2010). They are ‘aboutness topics’ or ‘contrast topics’ (Büring 1999), and they occur in root-sentences or epistemic subordinates.The availability of a non-existential reading of pre-verbal Subject BNs of activity predicates also depends on a parallelism effect: BNs as Objects facilitate a non-existential reading of a Subject BN when occurring with a [+habitual] feature predicate. The topicalization construction, as described by Duarte (1987, 1996), corresponds to the syntactic behavior of BNs in pre-verbal position getting a non-existential reading.In descriptive contexts, BNs occur as sub-topics of a ‘script’ (Fillmore 1985), i.e., they are information resulting from a stereotype situation. According to Abbot et al. (1985), ‘scripts’ are structured in a hierarchy. Lower levels are in a partonomy relation with higher levels. Thus, an explicit or implicit situation allows for the inclusion of low-level explicit information which may not be inferred. They get existential readings and are reconstructed in a post-verbal position. The sentences are thetic judgements. The pre-verbal position makes them prominent and their position in Spec, TP is allowed by an accumulation of events or states or by a logical connection in which there is no lexical connector. The paratactic connection follows from the meaning hierarchic created by the ‘script’. In these cases, when BNs co-occur with the Indicative Present, it does not have a [+gnomic]/ [+habitual] feature.

Предикати за състояние: свойства и лингвистични тестове

The study presents linguistic tests for diagnosing Zeno Wendler’s verb classes, illustrated by selected Bulgarian verbs. The tests are divided into three groups, according to grammatical aspectuality, durativity and telicity, and agentivity. The research reveals that tests which rely on semantic compatibility at the lexical level (and not on semantic compatibility between lexical and grammatical level) are applicable for both English and Bulgarian. The research methodology is also based on Emmon Bach’s and David Dowty’s classifications of verb classes in which stage-level and individual-level predicates are distinguished, with a focus on agentivity in Dowty’s approach, as well as on Donald Davidson’s representation of action verbs as predicates with a hidden event argument, which has been refined by Claudia Maienborn to include a formal description of state predicates representing the ontological difference between two kinds of states: state verbs that denote true Davidsonian eventualities (Davidsonian states) and stative verbs that resist a Davidsonian analysis (Kimian states). These theoretical considerations allow to describe states as a heterogeneous class and provide reliable means for distinguishing different types of states.

Presupposed free choice and the theory of scalar implicatures

A disjunctive sentence like Olivia took Logic or Algebra conveys that Olivia didn’t take both classes (exclusivity) and that the speaker doesn’t know which of the two classes she took (ignorance). The corresponding sentence with a possibility modal, Olivia can take Logic or Algebra, conveys instead that she can take Logic and that she can take Algebra (free choice). These exclusivity, ignorance and free choice inferences are argued by many to be scalar implicatures. Recent work has looked at cases in which exclusivity and ignorance appear to be computed instead at the presupposition level, independently from the assertion. On the basis of those data, Spector and Sudo (Linguist Philos 40(5):473–517, 2017) have argued for a hybrid account relying on a pragmatic principle for deriving implicatures in the presupposition. In this paper, we observe that a sentence like Noah is unaware that Olivia can take Logic or Algebra has a reading on which free choice appears in the presupposition, but not in the assertion, and we show that deriving this reading is challenging on Spector and Sudo’s (2017) hybrid account. Following the dialectic in Fox (Presupposition and implicature in compositional semantics, Palgrave, London, pp 71–120, 2007), we argue against a pragmatic approach to presupposition-based implicatures on the ground that it is not able to account for presupposed free choice. In addition, we raise a novel challenge for Spector and Sudo’s (2017) account coming from the conflicting presupposed ignorance triggered by sentences like #Noah is unaware that I have a son or a daughter, which is infelicitous even if it’s not common knowledge whether the speaker has a son or a daughter. More generally, our data reveals a systematic parallelism between the assertion and presupposition levels in terms of exclusivity, ignorance, and free choice. We argue that such parallels call for a unified analysis and we sketch how a grammatical theory of implicatures where meaning strengthening operates in a similar way at both levels (Gajewski and Sharvit in Nat Lang Semant 20(1):31–57, 2012; Magri in A theory of individual-level predicates based on blind mandatory scalar implicatures, MIT dissertation, 2009; Marty in Implicatures in the DP domain, MIT dissertation, 2017) can account for such parallels.

Do bilinguals generalizeestarmore than monolinguals and what is the role of conceptual transfer?

Aims and objectives/purpose/research questions:Among the questions that remain open is whether bilingualism leads to simplification of alternatives in language in order to reduce cognitive load. This hypothesis has been supported by evidence showing that bilinguals generalize the Spanish copula estar ‘to be’ faster than monolinguals. Yet, other studies found no such clear trend. While conceptual transfer could account for the conflicting evidence in the literature, its role has not been demonstrated. Our study aims to fill this gap by testing simplification in Spanish copula choice among bilinguals and, in particular, the role of transfer.Design/methodology/approach:We used a contextualized copula choice task, comprising 28 sentences.Data and analysis:Sixty Romani–Spanish bilinguals from Mexico responded to the questionnaire in both Spanish and Romani. A control group of 62 Mexican Spanish monolinguals responded in Spanish. We constructed generalized linear mixed-effects models to analyse the results.Findings/conclusions:Analysis of the results reveals greater extension of estar among bilinguals for individual-level predicates as well as for traits not susceptible to change. Comparison of the responses of bilinguals (in Romani and in Spanish) and of Spanish monolinguals indicates that Romani could be reinforcing the generalization of estar in the Spanish responses of bilinguals.Originality:To our knowledge, this is the first study to examine copula choice in bilingual mode. In addition, it brings evidence from an under-researched community with little normative pressure.Significance/implications:Our study shows that conceptual transfer may be driving the extension of estar among bilinguals.

Causal inference or conventionalized meaning? A corpus study of the German connector nachdem ‘after’ in regional standard varieties

AbstractDrawing on a corpus study using German and Austrian parliamentary protocols, this paper shows that the originally temporal connectornachdem‘after’ may carry causal meaning in southern German standard varieties. In these varieties,nachdemclauses may occur with individual level predicates, cases which, I will argue, provide unambiguously causal contexts since a temporal succession of events is excluded with individual level predicates. Whilenachdemdisplays polysemy comparable to Englishsincein southern German standard varieties, it is a temporal marker in central and northern German varieties and a causal link may arise only due to a conversational implicature. The observed polysemy coincides with a higher token frequency ofnachdemas well as a higher incidence of present tense use in thenachdemclause in the respective southern German varieties. Remarkably, causalnachdemclauses show a clear tendency to be fronted to the matrix clause despite the overall tendency of causal clauses to be post-posed, both cross-linguistically and in German, which may be explained in terms of information structure and discourse-organizing functions.

Contradictory (forward) lifetime effects and the non-future tense in Mandarin Chinese

Lifetime effects refer to the inferences about the life/death of the individual in sentences with individual-level predicates like ‘Mary is/was blue-eyed’. In English, contradictory lifetime inferences arise when the subject denotes one living and one dead individual (e.g. Saussuredead and Chomskyliving #are/??were both linguists.), but no such inferences arises in Mandarin Chinese, a language that has been considered “tenseless” due to the lack of past tense morphemes. This paper investigates the online processing of contradictory lifetime effects and presents additional empirical observations about “forward lifetime effects”, which suggest that both covert past tense and tenseless accounts of Chinese are inadequate for capturing temporal interpretations in this language; instead, finite clauses in Chinese display a Future/Non-Future distinction and are likely to possess a tense node. We discuss our findings in relation to the typology of tense as well as implications for other superficially tenseless languages.

Constraints on the position and interpretation of bare singular indefinites in Russian

In this paper, I discuss the distribution of bare singular indefinite nominals in Russian. I argue that these nominal phrases are full-fledged indefinites and can have both specific and non-specific indefinite interpretations. However, their appearance in the preverbal subject position is not common. I argue in this paper that this restriction exists because a specific interpretation, or, in other words, a referential reading, required for this position cannot be unambiguously established with BSgs without any additional sentential specification. Additionally, I discuss some consequences of my proposal, such as BSg subjects of individual-level predicates, and BSg subjects in thetic judgments.

Embedded questions and quantificational variability effects in Korean

Hong, Minpyo. 2015. Embedded questions and quantificational variability effects in Korean. Linguistic Research 32(3), 607-630. This paper provides a few descriptive generalizations about the constructions that show the quantificational variability effects (QVEs) in Korean and an informal discussion on their theoretical implications. Specifically, it is noted that indirect yes/no questions as well as wh-questions embedded under factive verbs show the QVE when an entity-denoting individual variable, explicit or implicit, is available. That is, the QVE reading is allowed in any type of wh-questions regardless of the type of the wh-phrases or the nature of their embedded predicates (stativity, telicity, or durativity, etc.) while yes/no questions based on individual-level predicates or generic statements do not show the QVE even if they are embedded under factive verbs. The paper also argues for an approach to the QVE that does not rely on the factivity presupposition that arises from the matrix predicate. (Myongji University)

Definite article use with generic reference in German: an empirical study

Abstract This study is concerned with the distribution of the definite article in German with plural nominals that have a generic reading . In Standard German, genericity is typically expressed by bare nouns (Tiger sind gefährlich ‘Tigers are dangerous’). Many researchers have claimed that there is variation in article use in the expression of generic reference in German (e.g., Brugger 1993; Longobardi 1994; Krifka et al. 1995; Chierchia 1998; Dayal 2004; Oosterhof 2008), but very little empirical evidence has been provided to support this claim. Besides filling this research gap, we investigate which factors influence the use of articles in plural subjects with generic reference. In doing so, we include linguistic factors (kind-level vs. individual-level predicates) as well as sociolinguistic factors (age and regional background). Results show that with generic plural subjects definite articles are optional but bare subjects are preferred; definite subjects are accepted more often with kind-level predicates than with individual-level predicates.

Verbless predicative structures across Romance

This article develops an analysis of a verbless predicative structure attested throughout Romance: in this type of reduced clause the predicate linearly precedes the subject and is separated from it by a clear intonational break, while the missing verb is interpreted as a silent copula. I argue that this structure should be viewed as the result of three movement steps: the first step is to be identified with predicate inversion, that is, extraction of the predicate from the complement position of the predicative small clause to a higher specifier position thanks to phase extension, followed by raising of the predicate to the specifier of SubjP to check the EPP feature, and finally to the specifier of the left-peripheral projection FocusP in order to check a focus feature. The present analysis is based on the crucial, and independently motivated assumption, that the process of phase extension, produced by raising of the small clause internal relator R° to a higher functional head F°, is limited to small clauses associated with individual-level predicates. The verbless predicative structure is then compared to an analogous construction in which the preposed predicate is preceded by awh-item, arguing that, despite their apparent similarity, the two structures should be clearly distinguished.

Absolute vs. Relative Adjectives - Variance Within vs. Between Individuals

This paper investigates core semantic properties that distinguish between different types of gradable adjectives and the effect of context on their interpretation. We contend that all gradable adjectives are interpreted relative to a comparison class (van Rooij 2011), and that it is the nature of the comparison class that constitutes the main semantic difference between their subclasses: some adjectives select a class comprised of counterparts of the individual of which the adjective is predicated, while others – an extensional category of this individual. We propose, following Kennedy (2007), that the standard of membership is selected according to a principle of economy whereby an interpretation relative to a maximum or a minimum degree within a comparison class takes precedence over one relative to an arbitrary point. This proposal captures so-called “standard shift” effects, that is, the influence of context on the interpretation of gradable adjectives from all subclasses, whether in their positive form or when modified by degree adverbials. Additionally, this proposal captures cases of apparent lack of context sensitivity (e.g. intuitive inference patterns, unacceptability of for-phrases, etc.). Finally, we hypothesize that the type of comparison class is aligned with the well known distinction between stage-level and individual-level predicates.

Individual-level Predicates and VP Topics

Individual-level Predicates and VP Topics

Stage and Individual-level predicates whithin "if" and "when" clauses: what works and what doesn't

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 0cm; margin-right: 28.3pt; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: 1.0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;" lang="EN-US">Clauses headed by <em>if</em> and <em>when</em> are very often considered syntactically and semantically equivalent.  Nevertheless, in this paper we show that the type of predicate has an impact both on the grammaticality and the interpretation of the subordinate clause in Spanish. Theses clauses provide evidence for the proposal that stage-level predicates involve an extra-argument that individual-level predicates lack. Following Kratzer (1995), we assume that this is extra-argument is a spatio-temporal argument. While stage-level predicates in the subordinate clause are perfectly grammatical, individual-level predicates yield to ungrammatical sentences, unless an indefinite or a kind-referring NP is involved.  Kratzer´s Prohibition against vacuous quantification provides a sound account for the asymmetry between the two types of predicates.  In addition, a stative verb in the <em>when</em> clause is grammatical, but it forces an epistemic reading. When both predicates are individual-level predicates in the subordinate and the main clause, the <em>if</em> clause may can take a factual reading while the <em>when</em> clause is ungrammatical unless there is some kind of operator involved through a generic, a kind-referring NP or an indefinite pronoun.</span></p>

Binding, Genericity, and Predicates of Personal Taste

I argue for two major claims in this paper. First, I argue that the linguistic evidence best supports a certain form of contextualism about predicates of personal taste (PPTs) like ‘fun’ and ‘tasty’. In particular, I argue that these adjectives are both individual-level predicates (ILPs) and anaphoric implicit argument taking predicates (IATPs). As ILPs, these naturally form generics. As anaphoric IATPs, PPTs show the same dependencies on context and distributional behavior as more familiar anaphoric IATPs, for example, ‘local’ and ‘apply’. Moreover, they are subject to important binding-related phenomena, for example, various kinds of anaphora, binding arguments, and strict-sloppy ambiguities. The latter are particularly problematic for relativism, contextualism's major competitor. I argue that relativism cannot account for these binding facts in a non-ad hoc manner. Second, I argue that disagreement is a predictable feature of dialogues involving PPTs in conjunction with the contextualist semantics defended. Appealing to ‘off the shelf’ analyses of genericity, I show how disagreement arises in just the cases we would expect, licensing just the kinds of responses we would expect. They also suggest promising explanations, unavailable to relativists, of various otherwise puzzling features of disagreements involving PPTs.