Tense, Aspect, Modality, and Attitudes Lecture 6 - 25 July 2017 - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Tense, Aspect, Modality, and Attitudes

Lecture 6 - 25 July 2017

Introduction
 Reminders:

• Meanings of sentences express propositions: truth

conditions on a (located, described) situation.

• Meanings are essentially indexical, with parameters set in

the context of use.

Introduction
 Reminders:

• Entities: the most general notion of thing, including the

notion of individuation. (Topology)

• Mass vs. count
• Parts of a whole
• Eventualities: a second sort of entity. Many propositions

can be construed as descriptions (presentations) of eventualities.

Introduction
 Reminders:

• Quantification:
• Conditions stated on a contextually restricted set of

entities—the base of the quantification.

• Conditions distinguished by force (e.g. universal vs.

existential) Basketball players are all tall.

Introduction
 Generalizations:

• Eventualities have a topology too.
• They can and must be individuated and have parts.
• Possible situations/worlds can be quantified over.

Tense and Aspect

(Sentence aspect and Aktionsart)

The Reichenbach Framework

• Tense marking on verbs understood as a system for

locating described situation (event time)…

• With respect to the context of use (speech time)…
• Potentially relative to a perspective location (reference

time).

Reference to Times

In English

Structure of Eventualities

• Aspectual classifications
• Of verbs?
• Of eventuality types?
• Of sentences?
• Sentence aspectual perspective vs. eventuality class

Aspectual Dimensions of Eventualities

• States vs. Events
• Static holds: uniform, without bounding, internal point
• f reference.
• Dynamic Happenings: involve change, bounded, point
• f reference may be internal or external.

Aspectual Dimensions of Durative Events

• Durative: last for a period of time, internal point of

reference

• Homogenous, extensible with no inherent endpoint


ATELIC Activities. (Running, eating, singing)

• Process with a natural culmination


TELIC Accomplishments 
 (running a mile, eating an apple, singing a song)

Aspectual Dimensions of Punctual Events

• Punctual: presented as instantaneous wholes from an

external point of reference

• Repeatable, to create an activity. (Hopping)


Semelfactives

• Transitions to a resultant state. (Arriving)


Achievements

Diagnostic Tests

• English simple present tense (stative vs. habitual)
• In an hour vs. For an hour
• X is Ving entails that X has Ved

Modality as Quantification
 Over Possible Worlds

• Existential vs. Universal force
• The restriction/base of the modal quantification
• A general restriction on the relevant worlds:


epistemic, deontic, …

• More detailed conditions on how worlds are compared


(ordering and accessibility relations)

• Analysis involves fixing type of modal base and force first,

then getting into the weeds

Cross category modality

• possible, necessary, probable, likely, required, optional
• Possibly, necessarily, probably, likely, perhaps
• Can, could, may, might, should, shall, must

Propositional Attitudes

• Relations between individuals and propositions
• The holder of the attitude is central to establishing the

modal base Believe, hope, want, suspect, find out, fear, doubt, regret

Mood/Mode

• Presumptions anchored by the context of use 


(“the real world”)

• Realis vs. Irrealis
• Indicative vs. Subjunctive and Conditional
• Counterfactual
• The future is inherently modal


(A cautionary tale)

Questions and Discussion