An Alternative Semantics for English Aspectual Particles

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1 Aspectual Particles 1 of 27 An Alternative Semantics for English Aspectual Particles Alexander Klapheke Harvard University SNEWS November 15, 2014

2 Aspectual Particles Overview 2 of 27 Overview Previous Approaches Löbner (1989) Kri a (2000) Problems Properties of Aspectual Particles Continuity & verb licensing Expectations & positive inferences Negative polarity Non-temporal uses An Exhaustification-Based Account Topology Syntax & semantics Exhaustification What s Le

3 Aspectual Particles Overview 3 of 27 O Previous accounts of the aspectual particles already and still do not account for all their properties, particularly the negative polarity of their counterparts yet and anymore (respectively) Goals for today: Present the facts Sketch the beginnings of a solution

4 Aspectual Particles Previous Approaches 4 of 27 Overview Previous Approaches Löbner (1989) Kri a (2000) Problems Properties of Aspectual Particles Continuity & verb licensing Expectations & positive inferences Negative polarity Non-temporal uses An Exhaustification-Based Account Topology Syntax & semantics Exhaustification What s Le

5 Aspectual Particles Previous Approaches Löbner (1989) 5 of 27 L (1989) Löbner: already and still are logically dual operators on predicates over times Particle Assertion Presupposition already(t, ϕ) ϕ holds at t ϕ was true before t still(t, ϕ) ϕ holds at t ϕ was true before t not yet(t, ϕ) ϕ holds at t ϕ was true before t not anymore(t, ϕ) ϕ holds at t ϕ was true before t Table : Löbner (1989) semantics of aspectual particles (tabulated in Kri a (2000)) With yet and anymore, they form a logical square of opposition

6 Aspectual Particles Previous Approaches Kri a (2000) 6 of 27 K (2000) Kri a: aspectual particles are restrictors for scalar alternatives: Already restricts alternatives to those greater than the assertion, Still restricts alternatives to those lower Extending this account to non-temporal scales accounts for marginality still : (1) Marginality: Death Valley is still in California

7 Aspectual Particles Previous Approaches Problems 7 of 27 P Neither accounts for the negative polarity of yet/anymore On Löbner s account, particles have mutually exclusive presuppositions, but this is not the case: (2) a Does anyone still talk to John anymore? b We still haven t go en there yet c I haven t already bought the tickets yet (see Cinque, 1999) Many other properties are le unaccounted for

8 Aspectual Particles Properties of Aspectual Particles 8 of 27 Overview Previous Approaches Löbner (1989) Kri a (2000) Problems Properties of Aspectual Particles Continuity & verb licensing Expectations & positive inferences Negative polarity Non-temporal uses An Exhaustification-Based Account Topology Syntax & semantics Exhaustification What s Le

9 Aspectual Particles Properties of Aspectual Particles Continuity & verb licensing 9 of 27 C Still p presupposes that p holds continuously along some interval prior to the time of speech (3) # It s still raining (if it has just begun raining) Still, unlike already, is licensed only for particular event types (4) a It was still raining b # It (has) still rained (5) a It was already raining b It (has) already rained

10 Aspectual Particles Properties of Aspectual Particles Expectations & positive inferences 10 of 27 E Already/still express a speaker s expectations about the earliness/lateness of an event (6) a It s already raining I expected it to start raining later b It s still raining I expected it to have stopped raining sooner Yet/anymore are negative, but give rise to strong positive expectations (7) a It hasn t rained yet I expect it to rain later b It isn t raining anymore I believe that it was raining earlier

11 Aspectual Particles Properties of Aspectual Particles Negative polarity 11 of 27 N e negative particles are not licensed in certain NPI-licensing environments: (8) Antecedents of conditionals & universals a Everyone who s taken this class (already/ yet) may leave b If you talk to John (still/ anymore), give him my regards (9) Complements of emotive factives a I m sorry I found out the ending (already/ yet) b I m sorry the TV is broken (still/ anymore) (10) Scope of only a Only John has arrived (already/??yet) b Only John talks to Bill (still/anymore) (see Levinson, 2008)

12 Aspectual Particles Properties of Aspectual Particles Negative polarity 12 of 27 N Anymore (and, to a lesser extent, yet) give rise to negative bias in questions (11) Do you guys still hear from John? Yes (12) Do you guys hear from John anymore??# Yes (see Guerzoni, 2004)

13 Aspectual Particles Properties of Aspectual Particles Non-temporal uses 13 of 27 N Still has several related senses in addition to the temporal sense: (13) Marginality: Death Valley is still in California (14) Concessive: We told Bill not to come, but he still came (Michaelis, 1993)

14 Aspectual Particles An Exhaustification-Based Account 14 of 27 Overview Previous Approaches Löbner (1989) Kri a (2000) Problems Properties of Aspectual Particles Continuity & verb licensing Expectations & positive inferences Negative polarity Non-temporal uses An Exhaustification-Based Account Topology Syntax & semantics Exhaustification What s Le

15 Aspectual Particles An Exhaustification-Based Account Topology 15 of 27 T p holds still p Interval bounds t 4 t 3 t 2 t 1 t 0 t 1 t 2 t 3 t 4 Still picks out the right edge of an event (15) It s still raining In order to satisfy the continuity property, we can make the event maximal over the interval on which in holds

16 Aspectual Particles An Exhaustification-Based Account Topology 16 of 27 T still not p not yet p Interval bounds p holds t 4 t 3 t 2 t 1 t 0 t 1 t 2 t 3 t 4 (16) It s still not raining

17 Aspectual Particles An Exhaustification-Based Account Topology 17 of 27 T not still p not anymore p p holds Interval bounds t 4 t 3 t 2 t 1 t 0 t 1 t 2 t 3 t 4 (17) It s not still raining

18 Aspectual Particles An Exhaustification-Based Account Syntax & semantics 18 of 27 S Kratzer (1998): Aspect heads denote functions from properties of events to properties of times: l, s, t, i, s, t So aspectual adverbs might denote functions from properties of events to the edges of events: l, s, t, l, s, t A semantics for still might look like: still = λp l,st λe λw e [ P w (e) Max(e) RightEdge(e, e ) ]

19 Aspectual Particles An Exhaustification-Based Account Syntax & semantics 19 of 27 S T i TP s,t Asp l,st, i,st AspP i,st already/yet l,st, l,st AdvP l,st (Cinque, 1999; Hacquard, 2006; Kratzer, 1998) still/anymore l,st, l,st AdvP l,st VP l,st

20 Aspectual Particles An Exhaustification-Based Account Exhaustification 20 of 27 E I propose that already and still (and yet and anymore) have a presuppositional even exhaustification operator is accounts for the implications of earliness/lateness Crnič (2011): for some probability ordering relation C, even = q ALTS [p C q] is could be modified to account for negative polarity (Chierchia, 2013) and the negative bias the NPIs show in questions (Guerzoni, 2004)

21 Aspectual Particles An Exhaustification-Based Account Exhaustification 21 of 27 E I assume a monotone probability scale on the relevant interval: still p Interval bounds Probability t 4 t 3 t 2 t 1 t 0 t 1 t 2 t 3 t 4 alternatives (18) It s still raining p

22 Aspectual Particles An Exhaustification-Based Account Exhaustification 22 of 27 E e probability scale is reversed under negation still not p not yet p Interval bounds Probability t 4 t 3 t 2 t 1 t 0 t 1 t 2 t 3 t 4 alternatives (19) It s still not raining p

23 Aspectual Particles An Exhaustification-Based Account Exhaustification 23 of 27 E Less clear here even does not scope below negation not still p not anymore p Interval bounds Probability t 4 t 3 t 2 t 1 t 0 t 1 t 2 t 3 t 4 alternatives (20) It s not still raining p

24 Aspectual Particles What s Le 24 of 27 Overview Previous Approaches Löbner (1989) Kri a (2000) Problems Properties of Aspectual Particles Continuity & verb licensing Expectations & positive inferences Negative polarity Non-temporal uses An Exhaustification-Based Account Topology Syntax & semantics Exhaustification What s Le

25 Aspectual Particles What s Le 25 of 27 W L A semantics of still which picks out only the imperfective Extension to non-temporal uses of still A principled account of the positive inferences of yet and anymore

26 Aspectual Particles References 26 of 27 R Chierchia, G 2013 Logic in Grammar: Polarity, Free Choice, and Intervention, vol 2 of Oxford Studies in Semantics and Pragmatics Oxford University Press Cinque, G, ed 1999 Adverbs and Functional Heads: A Cross-Linguistic Perspective Oxford Studies in Comparative Syntax Oxford University Press Crnič, L September 2011 Ge ing even PhD thesis, Massachuse s Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA Guerzoni, E December 2004 Even-NPIs in yes/no questions Natural Language Semantics, 12(4): Hacquard, V September 2006 Aspects of modality PhD thesis, Massachuse s Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA Kratzer, A May 1998 More structural analogies between pronouns and tenses In Strolovitch, D and Lawson, A, eds, Proceedings of SALT, vol 8, pp Cornell Linguistics Circle, Ithaca, NY: CLC Publications Kri a, M 2000 Alternatives for aspectual particles: Semantics of still and already In Conathan, L J, Good, J, Kavitskaya, D, Wulf, A B, and Yu, A C L, eds, Proceedings of BLS, vol 26, pp Berkeley Linguistics Society Levinson, D July 2008 Licensing of negative polarity particles Yet, Anymore, Either and Neither: Combining downward monotonicity and assertivity PhD thesis, Stanford University Löbner, S April 1989 German Schon Erst Noch: An integrated analysis Linguistics and Philosophy, 12(2): Michaelis, L March 1993 Continuity within three scalar models: e polysemy of adverbial still Journal of Semantics, 10(3):

27 Aspectual Particles 27 of 27 ank you!

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