Full Description
The goal of this book is to investigate the semantics of absolute constructions in English; specifically, my object is to provide an explanation for the semantic variability of such constructions. As has been widely noted in traditional grammatical studies of English, free adjuncts and absolute phrases have the ability to playa number of specific logical roles in the sentences in which they appear; yet, paradoxically, they lack any overt indication of their logical connection to the clause which they modify. How, then, is the logical function of an absolute construction determined? In attempting to answer this question, one must inevitably address a number of more general issues: Is the meaning assigned to a linguistic expression necessarily determined by linguistic rules, or can the grammar of a language in some cases simply underdetermine the interpretation of expressions? Are the truthconditions of a sentence ever sensitive to the inferences of language users? If so, then is it possible to maintain the validity of any really substantive version of the Compositionality Principle? These are, of course, issues of great inherent interest to anyone concerned with the formal syntax and semantics of natural language, with the philosophy of language, or with language processing. The descriptive framework assumed throughout is the semantic theory developed by Richard Montague (1970a, 1970b, 1973) and his followers. (For a very thorough introduction to Montague semantics, the reader may refer to Dowty, Wall and Peters (1981 ).
Contents
I. The Semantic Variability of Free Adjuncts and Absolutes.- 1. Introduction to Free Adjuncts and Absolutes in English.- 2. Traditional Thoughts on the Semantic Variability of Free Adjuncts and Absolutes.- 3. Plan of Discussion.- 4. Some Syntactic Conventions.- Footnotes.- II. Modality and the Interpretation of Free Adjuncts.- 1. The Semantic Bifurcation of Free Adjuncts in Modal Contexts.- 2. Explaining the Entailment Properties of Strong and Weak Adjuncts in Modal Contexts.- 3. A Semantic Correlate of the Distinction between Strong and Weak Adjuncts.- 4. Chapter Summary.- Footnotes.- III. Tense and the Interpretation of Free Adjuncts.- 1. Preliminaries.- 2. The Temporal Reference of Free Adjuncts.- 3. Frequency Adverbs and the Distinction between Strong and Weak Adjuncts.- 4. A Generalization Operator.- 5. Chapter Summary.- Footnotes.- IV. Aspect and the Interpretation of Free Adjuncts.- 1. The Perfect Tense and the Interpretation of Free Adjuncts.- 2. An Argument for Free Adjuncts as Main Tense Adverbs.- 3. The Progressive Aspect and the Interpretation of Free Adjuncts.- 4. Chapter Summary.- Footnotes.- V. The Formal Semantics of Absolutes.- 1. Modality and the Interpretation of Absolutes.- 2. Tense and the Interpretation of Absolutes.- 3. Absolutes as Main Tense Adverbs.- 4. Chapter Summary.- Footnotes.- VI. Inference and the Logical Role of Free Adjuncts and Absolutes.- 1. Summary of the Proposed Semantic Analysis of Free Adjuncts and Absolutes.- 2. The Role of Inference in the Interpretation of Free Adjuncts and Absolutes.- 3. On the Possibility of Deriving Absolute Constructions from Adverbial Subordinate Clauses.- 4. On the Possibility that the Logical Role of an Absolute Construction is Always Inferred.- 5. Theoretical Implications.- Footnotes.- Appendix - A Formal Fragment for Free Adjuncts and Absolutes.- 1. Intensional Logic.- 2. Syntax and Translation Rules for a Fragment of English.- 2.1. Syntax.- 2.2. Translation.- References.- Index of Names.- General Index.
