aspect in time · five hours] three quarters]]]. à valecian catalan. variation between romance...

AspectinTimeAnnaMariaDiSciullo

Université duQuébecaMontréal

Societas Linguisticae EuropaeaNaples, Italy

31st August-3rd September2016

ThisworkwassupportedinpartbyfundingfromtheSocialSciencesandHumanitiesResearchCouncil ofCanadatotheMajorCollaborativeResearchonInterfaceAsymmetries,grantnumber214-2003-1003, andbyfundingfromtheFQRSConDynamicInterfaces,grant

number137253.www.interfaceasymmetry.uqam.ca.www.biolinguistics.uqam

PurposePPsmaydelimitaspectinVPs(Tenny1987,Ramchand 2008,a.o.);whereastheirboundingpropertiesinDPsareopentoinquiry.

WepresentargumentsthatPPshaveboundingpropertiesinDPsreferringtotime,henceforth“time-countingexpressions”.TheevidencecomesfromtemporalanddirectionalPPs,timespanvs.durativeadverbialmodificationandpointofviewintimecountingexpressions.

Wedrawconsequencesfortheunderstandingofaspectintimecountingexpressionsatthesyntax-semanticinterface.

Questionsandhypothesis

Whataretheproperties oftime countingexpressions?onethirty,aquartertoone,onetwentyfive,…

Whatistheroleofcardinalnumbers?thirtyone,onehundred,onehundredtwentyfive,…

Whatistheroleofthepronounced/silent time PP?twoo’clock,onethirtya.m.,onetwentyfivep.m.,…

Outline

1. Cardinalnumbersandtime countingexpressions2. PPsintime-counting expressions3.Augmentedfunctional projectionandthespatial locationoftime4. Consequences forthesyntax/semantic interfaces andtheCI/SMasymmetry

andthedomainspecificity oflanguage

1.Cardinalnumeralsandtimecountingexpressions

Wecomparethesyntacticandsemanticpropertiesoftime-countingexpressionstothoseofbetterstudiedcountingsystems,suchascomplexcardinalnumerals(Kayne2005,2016;Ionin &Matushansky 2006;Stavrou &Terzi2008;DiSciullo2012,2015,a.o.).Fromatypologicalpointofview,wewillfocusonRomancelanguages.

Ionin &Matushansky (2006,2016)Stavrou &Terzi (2008)DiSciullo(2014,2015)

Ionin & Matushansky 2004, 2006

X-bar structure and type theoretical semantics

Complexcardinalsinvolvingmultiplication(twohundred)areanalyzedascomplementation,whereascomplexcardinalsinvolvingaddition(onehundredandtwo)aretwosimplexcardinalscombinedintooneviacoordination.

Stavrou & Terzi 2008

In Greek, simplex and complex cardinals are generated in the Specifier of NUMP.

Additive and multiplicative structures Di Sciullo 2014, 2015

Numerals (NUM) merge with functional projections with interpretable features (ADD, MULT) and uninterpretable features (uNUM). Uninterpretable features are checked and eliminated; interpretable features are legible by the external systems.

Operatorsincardinalnumeralsandtime-countingexpressions

Time-counting expressionsusuallyinvolve thesameoperatorsfound incomplexnumericalexpressions, i.e.ADD(ition), MULT(iplication), aswellasSUBSTR(action),andshown inthefollowing examples:

(1) a. duecentocinque (It) c.vingt etun(Fr)“twohundred five” “twentyone”

b. [two MULT hundred] ADD five] d.[twentyADD one]

(2) a. leduemeno cinque (It) c.dosquartsicinc denou (Ca)thetwominus five twoquartersandfiveofnine“fivetotwo” “eightthirty-five”

b. [two MINUS five]… d.[[two MULT quarter]ADD five]…

2.PPsintime-countingexpressions

1. 1InEnglish,nouns,suchasyears,hourand time,canbesilent,e.g.itissix:CLOCKTIMEi Fo [sixHOUR]ti.(Kayne2003,2005). AgreementrelationsprovideevidencethatthisisalsothecaseinmorphologicallyrichlanguagessuchasItalian,(3).

(3)a.È/*Sono l’una. b.*È/Sono ledue.(It)is/aretheone is/arethetwo‘Itisoneo’clock.’ ‘Itistwoo’clock.’

Silent/pronouncedadverbialPPsarealsopartoftime-countingexpression,whetherornottheyincludeadditiveorsubstractivemorphology,(4).

(4)a.È l’una eezza (dimattina).b.Sono leduemeno unquarto (dipomeriggio).(It)is/aretheoneandahalfofmorning is/arethetwominusaquarterofmorning‘Itisoneinthemorning.’ ‘Itisaquartertotwointhemorning.’

Pronounced/silentadverbialPPsprovidearegionboundarytotimecountingexpressions.

Time-countingexpressionsandintervals

2.Hourscanbedividedinparts,suchasquarters,whichareintervalsthatcannotbeinterpretedwithoutatemporalendpointbroughtaboutbyPPs,(5a).Timespanvs.durativePPmodification,(5b),providefurthersupporttothetelicityofthe DPs.

(5)a.È unquarto*(alle due).(It)Isaquarter*(totwo)‘Itwill be aquarter*(totwo).’

b.Sarà unquartoalle due(tra pochi minuti/*perpochi minuti).(It)willbeaquarterattwo(inafewminutes/*forafewminutes)‘Itwill be aquartertotwo (inafewminutes/*forafewminutes).

Time-countingexpressionsandrelativeview

3.Differences inthe linearizationoftheDPs,asin(6)fromRomanian, indicatethatnaturallanguages articulate time inaprospective orretrospective pointofview.

(6)a.Estedoi și jumătate.(Ro) b.Este jumătate latrei.(Ro)istwoandhalfishalftothree‘Itistwothirty.’‘Itistwothirty.’

SalientreferencetimeTime-counting expressions involvea“salient” referencetime,henceforthSRT,asshownintheItalianandSpanishexamples in(7)-(8):

(7) a.letre e cinque (It) b.?le quattro menocinquanta cinque (It)c.Las tresycinco(Sp) d.?las cuatromenos cincuenta ycinco(Sp)

thethreeandfive the fourminus fiftyandfive“fivepastthree” “fivepastthree”

(8) a.?letre ecinquanta cinque(It) b.lequattro menocinque (It)c.?lastresycincuenta ycinco(Sp)d.las cuatro menos cinco (Sp)

thethreeandfiftyandfive thefour minus five“fivetofour” “fivetofour”

These examples showthattime-points, i.e.3:05in(7a,c)or3:55in(8b,d),tendtobeexpressedmakingreferencetoanSRTintheirvicinity;thepreceding hourtime in(7a,c)andthefollowinghourtimein(8b,d).

Time-point/time-interval

STRmaydenote eitheratime-point oratime-interval cross-linguistically.

Thetime-point interpretation oftheSRTgivesrisetotelicconstruals inthecases in(9a)-(10a).The lackofSRTmakes(9b)-(10b)notinterpretable astimedenotingexpressions.

(9)a. unquarto alle cinque b.#unquarto(It)a quarter to-thefiveaquarter“aquartertofive” “aquarter”

(10)a.vinte para as cincob.#vinte (Port)twenty for the five twenty“twentytofive” “twenty”

In(10a),forinstance,vinte “twenty”givesthemeasureofthetime-span between thetime-point [4:40]andtheSRT[5:00].Thesetelic construals usually involvelocativeorgoalprepositions, cf.a“to”inItalian,para “for”inPortugueseorto inEnglish.

Time-intervalsandatelicSTR

Ontheotherhand,time-interval interpretations ofSRTaretypicaloftime-countingexpressions involvingpseudo-partitives inlanguages likeCatalanorRussian,asin(11):

(11)un quart i cinc de nou (Ca)aquarter and five of nine “twentypasteight”

In(11),theconstituentunquarti cinc “lit.aquarterandfive”measures thetime-spanalreadypastoftheninthhour.

Weclaimthatpseudo-partitive time-counting expressions, asopposedtothecases in(9a)-(10a),involveanatelicsalient reference-time, inthesense thatthereference-timeisnotviewedastheendpointofatelic interval.

Pseudo-partitive time-countingexpressionsandateliccases

Theateliccharacterofpseudo-partitive time-counting expressions isevidenced bythefactthattheyaremarginal indenotingtime-points closetothefullhour,asshownin(12):

(12)a.??un quart menys deu de nou (Ca)a quarter minus ten of nine “fivepasteight”

b.?/?? tres quarts i deu de nouthree quarters and ten of nine “fivetonine”

Pseudo-partitivetime-countingexpressionsandateliccases

Telic cases inwhichthe[quarter+minutes]constituents receivean interpretationsimilartotheoneinpseudo-partitives. Consider forinstance (13):

(13)tres quarts perlescinc (Valencian Catalan) threequartersforthefive“aquartertofive”

(13)denotes thesametime-point astheonedenotedby(9).However,thistime-pointisdenoted bymeasuring thetimealreadypastofthesecondhourandbyincorporatingthistime intoatelicconstrual (cf.preposition per « for »anddefiniteunpronouncedHOUR).

3.Augmentedfunctionalprojectionandthespatiallocationoftime

Weanalyzetime-counting expressions intermsofextendedprepositional projectionsincluding PlaceandRelView categories,discussed inCinque (2010) forthesyntax-semanticsoflocative/directional prepositions, inordertoformalize thespatiallocationof time.

[PPdir [PPstatAT[DPplace [DegP [ModeDirP [AbsViewP [RelViewPsource/goal/pathstativeATmeasurediagonally north/southup/down[RelViewP [DeicticP [AxPartP [PPP[NPplace [PLACE]]]]]]]]]]]]]in/ourhere/there under/over/behindGround(Cinque2010)

Weargueforaunified prepositional accountfor(9a)-(10a)unqualto alle cinque(It) “aquartertofive” ontheonehand,and(13) tres quartperlescinc (Valencian Catalan) “aquartertofive”on theother, asfollows:

(14)a.aquarter[RELVIEW aquarter UP[RELVIEW aquarter to/for[PLACE/GOAL [the five HOURS]aquarter]]].à Italian,Portuguese

b. threequarters[RELVIEWthree quarters DOWN[RELVIEW threequarters to/for[PLACE/GOAL [thefiveHOURS]threequarters]]].à Valecian Catalan

VariationbetweenRomancelanguages

Thecontrastbetweenthetwotelicconstruals residesinthetwodifferentheadsunderRelView.ItalianandPortuguesefeatureaUP headunderRelView,andaquarter in(14a) isinterpretedasthetimelackingtowardstheendpointdenotedbythedefinitethefiveHOURS.

Ontheotherhand, in(14b),theValencianCatalanhostsaDOWN headunderRelView,andthreequartersisinterpretedasthetimepastwithrespecttotheendpoint;thePATHselectedbytheDOWN headisaseriesofincreasingnumberofquartersleadingtothefull-hourendpoint,whereasthePATH selectedbytheUPheadisaseriesofdecreasing numberofquarterstowardstheendpoint,i.e.theSTR.

4.ConsequencesOuranalysis hasconsequences fortheunderstandingofAspect intimeatthe syntax-semantic interface.

• Functionalstructure, including silentPPs,providesfurthersupporttothephonetic-semantic interfacesasymmetry(Chomsky2008,DiSciullo2008)andthesyntax-semantic transparencyhypothesis (Chierchia 2013,Jacobson2013).

Ouranalysisbringsfurthersupporttotheintervention ofThirdFactorPrinciples(Chomsky2005etseq.),includingthePrinciplesofMinimizeExternalizationandMinimizeSymmetry(DiSciullo2015).

InterfaceAsymmetries :silent delimiting PPsarenotlegible attheSMinterface,asa consequence ofMinimizeExternalization.

Syntax-semantic transparency:silent delimiting PPsarelegible attheCIinterface, asaconsequence ofMinimizeSymmetry.

Thearrowoftimeandtime-countingexpressions

Accordingtothearrowoftime(theasymmetryoftime):Time isonewaydirectional. (Eddington 1927)

Temporalasymmetries areduetotheasymmetric behaviorofphysicalprocesses inourworld.

Timecountingexpressions areasymmetricalwithrespecttoaSRT.Thetemporalasymmetries intime-counting expressions couldbeattributed tothedomainspecificity ofhumanlanguage, andinparticulartothedelimitingproperties ofPPs,andtheroleofRelative viewinthesyntax-semantics oftime-countingexpressions.

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