Meaning in Language: An Introduction to Semantics and Pragmatics (2011) ‹#› ENG350: Introduction to Semantics and Pragmatics VERBS AND ADJECTIVES Chapter 15 ‹#› ENG350: Introduction to Semantics and Pragmatics Three distinct areas of grammatical meaning typically associated with verbs: Tense Aspect modality Tense and modality operate is the proposition, rather than the verb or verb phrase. GRAMMATICAL MEANING ‹#› ENG350: Introduction to Semantics and Pragmatics Serves primarily to locate the event referred to in the sentence with reference to the time at which the utterance was produced. Primary (or absolute) tenses: encode event time directly relative to the time of speaking Secondary (or relative) tenses: encode event time relative to a secondary reference time Vectorial: tense systems of most languages grammatical terms indicate merely the direction along the timeline from speaking time to event time TENSE ‹#› ENG350: Introduction to Semantics and Pragmatics Past-event occurs before time of speaking Present-event occurs concurrently with speaking time or includes it Future- event is projected to occur after the time of speaking THREE BASIC PRIMARY TENSES ‹#› ENG350: Introduction to Semantics and Pragmatics Grammatically encodes degrees of remoteness as well as direction along the time line Hodiernal: most frequent metrical system distinguishes "today" and "not today" METRICAL SYSTEM ‹#› ENG350: Introduction to Semantics and Pragmatics Normally regarded as a property or characteristic of events and states Says nothing about when an event occurred (except by implication Either encodes a particular way of conceptualizing an event Conveys information about the way the event unrolls through time A lexical verb may encode aspectual information as part of lexical meaning ASPECT ‹#› ENG350: Introduction to Semantics and Pragmatics Change: A state of affairs can be construed as changing or as remaining constant. Homogeneous: if it is construed as unchanging Heterogeneous: if it is construed as changing ASPECTUAL FEATURE: CHANGE ‹#› ENG350: Introduction to Semantics and Pragmatics Some events are construed as having one or more inherent boundaries. A boundary may be at the beginning or the end of an event The final boundary is generally regarded as the most significant. Telic: An event with a final boundary Atelic: a event with no final boundary is described as atelic ASPECTUAL FEATURE: BOUNDEDNESS ‹#› ENG350: Introduction to Semantics and Pragmatics Duration: the time it takes for an event to unfold Punctual: an event thought of as instantaneous Durative: an event that is spread over time ASPECTUAL FEATURE: DURATION ‹#› ENG350: Introduction to Semantics and Pragmatics Homogeneous-no change is involved Unbounded-no inherent beginning or end Durative-persistence through time is of the essence. May be expressed in English by adjectival expressions, prepositional phrases, or stative verbs STATES ‹#› ENG350: Introduction to Semantics and Pragmatics Differ in respect of the non-aspectual feature of agentivity Resemble states in being unbounded and durative but they are heterogeneous Something is `going on&apos, but this is not construed as a movement towards an inherent point of completion ACTIVITIES AND PROCESSES ‹#› ENG350: Introduction to Semantics and Pragmatics Share the feature of durativity and heterogeneity with activities and processes Distinguished by being telic inherently completable The inference of incompleteness is a generalized conversational implicature ACCOMPLISHMENTS ‹#› ENG350: Introduction to Semantics and Pragmatics Events in which there is a transition from one state to another Transition construed as being instantaneous Heterogeneous, naturally bounded (by the point of transition), and punctual ACHIEVEMENTS ‹#› ENG350: Introduction to Semantics and Pragmatics Cannot be neatly distinguished from the other aspectual classes in terms of features Have the same features of heterogeneity, boundedness, and punctuality as achievements. They do not involve a transition between two states SEMELFACTIVES ‹#› ENG350: Introduction to Semantics and Pragmatics One of the most widespread aspectual distinctions In many languages there is a formal distinction of some sort whose prototypical semantic function is to signal the perfective/imperfective contrast There is no regular way of indicating the distinction in English IMPERFECTIVE AND PERFECTIVE ‹#› ENG350: Introduction to Semantics and Pragmatics Iterative: a series of events with a relatively short time interval between them Habitual: also a repetition, but over a longer period, and with (potentially) longer intervals between occurrences ITERATIVE/HABITUAL ‹#› ENG350: Introduction to Semantics and Pragmatics Signal a particular attitude or opinion on the part of the speaker to the proposition expressed or the situation described Can also indicate the degree of desirability (or otherwise) of a proposition becoming true In English this involves the modal verbs such as- may, might, should, ought, can, and so on MODAL EXPRESSIONS ‹#› ENG350: Introduction to Semantics and Pragmatics Three main conceptual domains: Epistemic concerned with the degree to which a speaker is willing to commit him/herself to the truth of a proposition being expressed Deontic covers notions of obligation and permission Dynamic is concerned with ability and inability TYPES OF MODALITY ‹#› ENG350: Introduction to Semantics and Pragmatics Principal function of adjectives The combination of Adj. + Noun prototypically restricts the domain designated by the noun alone to a subpart, and designates a subset of the entities denoted by the noun alone There are two main positions for adjectives in English: Attributive Predicative MODIFICATION ‹#› ENG350: Introduction to Semantics and Pragmatics