10 research outputs found
The semantics of habituality as an argument for event-mediated quantification
No full textThe goals of this paper are two-fold. On the one hand, it has as its aim an analysis of the semantics of habituality in the framework of event semantics. In particular, it will be argued that a proper treatment of habituality must minimally meet the following desiderata: (a) allow a unified analysis of the habitual and the progressive as different subtypes of the imperfective, (b) work both for bare habituals and for habituals that contain certain kinds of quantificational elements, and (c) be able to model the scope behavior of indefinites in habituals of both types. Based on various existing proposals, an analysis along these lines will be put forward and formalized. On the other hand, the paper also seeks to show that a habitual semantics that meets these desiderata cannot be implemented in combination with a classical GQ analysis of quantificational DPs, but follows without any additional stipulations if an event-based approach to quantification is adopted. Thus, habituals provide a further argument in favor of modeling distributive quantification with the mediation of events
Quantification in event semantics: Generalized quantifiers vs. sub-events
No full textThe goal of this paper is to evaluate two approaches to quantification in event semantics, namely the analysis of quantificational DPs in terms of generalized quantifiers and the analysis proposed in Schein (1993) according to which quantifiers over individuals contain an existential quantifier over sub-events in their scope. Both analyses capture the fact that the event quantifier always takes scope under quantifiers over individuals (the Event Type Principle in Landman (2000)), but the sub-events analysis has also been argued to be able to account for some further data, namely for adverbs qualifying ‘ensemble’ events and for mixed cumulative/distributive readings. This paper shows that the sub-events analysis also provides a better account of the Event Type Principle if a broader range of data is considered, including cases with non-existential quantifiers over events: unlike the generalized quantifiers analysis, it can successfully account for the interpretation of indefinites in bare habituals and sentences that contain overt adverbs of quantification
Quantification in event semantics: generalized quantifiers vs. sub-events
No full textThe goal of this paper is to evaluate two approaches to quantification in event semantics, namely the analysis of quantificational DPs in terms of generalized quantifiers and the analysis proposed in Schein (1993) according to which quantifiers over individuals contain an existential quantifier over sub-events in their scope. Both analyses capture the fact that the event quantifier always takes scope under quantifiers over individuals (the Event Type Principle in Landman (2000)), but the sub-events analysis has also been argued to be able to account for some further data, namely for adverbs qualifying ‘ensemble’ events and for mixed cumulative/ distributive readings. This paper shows that the sub-events analysis also provides a better account of the Event Type Principle if a broader range of data is considered, including cases with non-existential quantifiers over events: unlike the generalized quantifiers analysis, it can successfully account for the interpretation of indefinites in bare habituals and sentences that contain overt adverbs of quantification
On the Categorial Status of Adverbs
No full textThis paper is concerned with the question of what adverbs in English are as a category. It argues that English adverbs are not positional variants of a single category together with adjectives but also do not constitute a separate lexical category on their own, as is commonly assumed. Instead, this paper advocates the position that adverbs can and should be assimilated with PPs and offers a comprehensive presentation of this view. In particular, it provides evidence that the morpheme -ly is not a suffix but a nominal root, which forms the basis of the analysis of adverbs as PPs. Furthermore, it shows that the PP analysis of adverbs is able to account for a variety of facts, including those that have been previously used as arguments for alternative analyses. Finally, this paper demonstrates that the PP analysis allows for a straightforward compositional semantics, using manner and degree adverbs as case studies, and provides an outlook into the cross-linguistic situation in the domain of adverbs from the perspective of their morphological structure
Degree Modification in Russian Morphology: The Case of the Suffix \u27-ovat\u27
No full textIn this paper, we investigate the semantics of the adjectival suffix -ovat in Russian. We argue that this suffix constitutes a morphological degree modifier and propose for it a formal analysis formulated within the framework of degree semantics. The suffix specifies that the degree to which a property holds of an object is slightly higher than the standard of comparison. A detailed consideration of different types of adjectives and standards of comparison available for these adjectives, in combination with the proposed analysis, allows us to account for the distribution of the suffix and for the range of arising interpretations
High-throughput in vivo analysis of gene expression in Caenorhabditis elegans
No full textUsing DNA sequences 59 to open reading frames, we have constructed green fluorescent protein (GFP) fusions and generated spatial and temporal tissue expression profiles for 1,886 specific genes in the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans. This effort encompasses about 10% of all genes identified in this organism. GFP-expressing wild-type animals were analyzed at each stage of development from embryo to adult. We have identified 59 DNA regions regulating expression at all developmental stages and in 38 different cell and tissue types in this organism. Among the regulatory regions identified are sequences that regulate expression in all cells, in specific tissues, in combinations of tissues, and in single cells. Most of the genes we have examined in C. elegans have human orthologs. All the images and expression pattern data generated by this project are available at WormAtlas (http://gfpweb.aecom.yu.edu/index) and through WormBase (http://www.wormbase.org).Peer reviewedfinal article publishe
Definite reference is not always based on salience
No full textQITL-4 - Proceedings of Quantitative Investigations in Theoretical Linguistics 4, 29.03.2011 - 31.03.2011, Berlin, Humboldt-Universität, pp 21-2
