Identifying and computing temporal locating adverbials Telmo Móia

392 Pages·2004·1.99 MB·English

Identifying and computing
temporal locating adverbials

with a particular focus on
Portuguese and English
______________
Telmo Móia

Lisboa, 2000 (February)

Identifying and computing
temporal locating adverbials

with a particular focus on
Portuguese and English
______________
Telmo Móia

Apresentado à Universidade de Lisboa para obtenção do grau de
Doutor em Letras (Linguística Portuguesa).
Submitted to the Universidade de Lisboa in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree
Doutor em Letras (Linguística Portuguesa).
Orientador / Supervisor: Doutor João Andrade Peres,
Professor Associado da Faculdade de Letras da Universidade de Lisboa.

Lisboa, 2000 (February)
The author of this dissertation received a grant from the Fundação para a Ciência e
Tecnologia (BOLSA PRAXIS XXI / BD / 9607 / 96), which financially supported his stay
at the Institut für Maschinelle Sprachverarbeitung, of the University of Stuttgart, Germany,
from October 1996 to September 1997, in November 1998 and from April to June 1999.
On various occasions, this work was also supported by the Fundação para a Ciência e
Tecnologia through the research project PCSH/C/LIN/936/95. The reproduction of this text
was subsidised by the same foundation.
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Table of Contents
Acknowledgements.........................................................................................................ix
Abstract ...........................................................................................................................xi
Resumo .........................................................................................................................xiii
Foreword ......................................................................................................................xvii
PART I: Introduction ...................................................................................................1
Chapter 1
Time in natural languages: general basic aspects .............................................................3
1.1. Representing time and temporal relations in natural languages:
instants, intervals and events....................................................................................3
1.2. Temporal domains of natural language (and the focus of this dissertation)............4
1.2.1. Temporal relations: location, frequency, number and duration.....................4
1.2.1.1. Temporal location.............................................................................7
1.2.1.2. Frequency.........................................................................................9
1.2.1.3. Number ..........................................................................................14
1.2.1.4. Time measurement (duration)........................................................15
1.2.2. Temporal reference.....................................................................................17
1.2.3. Temporal structure of complex entities......................................................18
1.3. Temporal subsystems of natural language (and the focus of this dissertation)......18
1.3.1. Markers of aktionsart values........................................................................19
1.3.2. Markers of temporal reference.....................................................................19
1.3.3. Markers of temporal location.......................................................................21
1.3.3.1. Temporal location expressed by adverbial means..........................21
1.3.3.2. Temporal location expressed by tense............................................25
1.3.3.3. Temporal location associated with
(morphologically unmarked) discourse relations...........................26
1.3.4. Markers of frequency, number and duration................................................28
Chapter 2
Aktionsart and tense: two fundamental subsystems for
the analysis of adverbial temporal location.....................................................................29
2.1. Aktionsart ..............................................................................................................30
2.1.1. Introduction..................................................................................................30
2.1.2. Some basic questions about aktionsart........................................................32
2.1.2.1. On the criteria to define aktionsart categories................................32
2.1.2.2. Aktionsart shift...............................................................................34
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2.1.3. The aktionsart typology adopted in this dissertation...................................36
2.1.3.1. Atelic eventualities (states and activities)......................................37
2.1.3.2. Telic eventualities (accomplishments and achievements)..............38
2.2. Tense .................................................................................................................40
2.2.1. Reichenbach and the two-dimensional theory of tense...............................40
2.2.2. The English tense system (as described in Kamp and Reyle 1993)............42
2.2.3. The Portuguese tense system (as described in Peres 1993).........................45
Chapter 3
Discourse Representation Theory: a formal framework for analysis..............................51
3.1. Some basic general aspects ...................................................................................51
3.2. Basic ingredients of the DRT temporal analysis
(in the version of Kamp and Reyle 1993)..............................................................56
PART II: Defining the concept of temporal locating adverbial ...............................69
Chapter 4
Introduction .................................................................................................................73
4.1. Some conflicting classifications of time adverbials...............................................73
4.2. Some basic notions and assumptions about
temporal location, temporal measurement and time denotation............................78
4.2.1. Temporal location vs. temporal measurement ............................................78
4.2.1.1. General aspects...............................................................................78
4.2.1.2. Modes of temporal location and
the distinction between duration and durative location..................80
4.2.2. Temporal location........................................................................................84
4.2.2.1. Source(s) of the information about the location relation................84
4.2.2.2. Building location times out of
the times of the complements of temporal locating operators........89
4.2.2.3. Location times associated with temporal locating adverbials
are unaffected by tense...................................................................92
4.2.2.4. Temporal locating adverbials
are predicates of eventualities and times........................................99
4.2.2.5. Simplified DRS-construction rules for
temporal locating adverbials........................................................103
4.2.3. Temporal location vs. time denotation......................................................110
4.2.3.1. General aspects.............................................................................110
4.2.3.2. Some notes on the semantic diversity of
time-denoting expressions............................................................111
4.2.3.3. Temporal locating adverbials and
non-strictly temporal (rhetorical) relations...................................115
4.2.3.4. Proper vs. common time-denoting expressions ...........................128
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Chapter 5
The dividing line between temporal locating adverbials and
temporal measure adverbials...............................................................................................
135
5.1. The categorisation of adverbials containing predicates of amounts of time........137
5.1.1. A two-class typology: (strict) temporal measure adverbials vs.
temporal locating adverbials......................................................................138
5.1.2. Temporal locating adverbials and inferred duration of eventualities........142
5.1.3. Advantages of the two-class typology.......................................................144
5.2. Ambiguous temporal measure / temporal locating adverbials.............................150
5.3. Conclusion ........................................................................................................154
Chapter 6
The dividing line between temporal locating adverbials and
time-denoting expressions ..........................................................................................155
6.1. Apparently ambivalent time-denoting / temporal locating expressions...............155
6.1.1. Introduction................................................................................................155
6.1.2 Subtypes of apparently ambivalent
time-denoting / temporal locating expressions..........................................159
6.2. The categorisation of antes / before and depois / after phrases...........................164
6.2.1. Alternative analyses of before and after phrases ......................................165
6.2.2. A uniform analysis (as mere time-denoting expressions) of
before and after phrases in different syntactic configurations...................171
6.2.3. Further motivation for an analysis of before and after phrases
as mere time-denoting expressions in adverbial contexts..........................178
6.2.3.1. Association of a time discourse referent with
before and after phrases in adverbial contexts.............................179
6.2.3.2. The presence of an empty locating operator in sentences with
before and after phrases in adverbial contexts.............................186
6.2.4. On some asymmetries between before and after........................................187
6.2.5. Some observations on the semantic diversity of the temporal
operators before and after: before and after in combination with
predicates of amounts of time....................................................................198
6.2.5.1. Temporal location of intervals involving
before and after phrases................................................................200
6.2.5.2. Before and after modified by predicates of amounts of time.......204
6.2.6. Conclusions................................................................................................206
6.3. The categorisation of adverbials with entre / between, of adverbials with
quando / when, and of adverbials that measure and count from anchor points...206
6.4. Conclusions ......................................................................................................217
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Chapter 7
Measuring, counting and locating:
observations on a subclass of time-denoting expressions.............................................219
7.1. Defining intervals contiguous to an anchor point................................................226
7.1.1. Defining intervals contiguous to an anchor point by measuring...............226
7.1.2. Defining intervals contiguous to an anchor point by counting..................232
7.2. Defining intervals non-contiguous to an anchor point.........................................240
7.2.1. Defining intervals non-contiguous to an anchor point by measuring........240
7.2.1.1. On the punctuality of the expressions that define intervals
non-contiguous to an anchor point by measuring.........................245
7.2.2. Defining intervals non-contiguous to an anchor point by counting..........248
7.3. On the ambiguity of Portuguese haver-expressions............................................253
Conclusions to Part II ................................................................................................265
PART III: Modes of temporal location ....................................................................269
Chapter 8
Modes of temporal location: general overview.............................................................271
8.1. Sketch of a typology of temporal location relations............................................273
8.1.1. Temporal location of atelic eventualities..................................................274
8.1.2. Temporal location of telic eventualities
associated with consequent states..............................................................276
8.1.3. Temporal location of telic eventualities....................................................281
8.2. Interaction between causality and (adverbial) temporal location.........................283
8.2.1. Semi-durative location of eventualities.....................................................285
8.2.2. Derived semi-durative location of eventualities
(by Portuguese desde-adverbials)..............................................................287
8.3. (In)exactness in temporal location.......................................................................292
Chapter 9
Interaction between quantification and (adverbial) temporal location..........................295
9.1. Simple vs. full-scanning inclusive location of events..........................................295
9.1.1. General characterisation............................................................................295
9.1.2. Full-scanning and the distribution of time adverbials...............................299
9.2. On the semantic contribution of desde and since adverbials...............................301
9.2.1. Definition of a location time by desde and since adverbials ....................302
9.2.2. Definition of a location relation by desde and since adverbials................303
9.2.2.1. Location of atelic eventualities by desde and since adverbials....305
9.2.2.2. Location of telic eventualities by desde and since adverbials......311
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9.3. Portuguese desde-adverbials and the full-scanning inclusive location...................313
9.3.1. Portuguese desde-adverbials not included in nominal modifiers .............315
9.3.1.1. Triggers of full-scanning...............................................................315
9.3.1.2. Formal analysis of an illustrative context:
structures with cardinal quantifiers...............................................337
9.3.2. Portuguese desde-adverbials included in nominal modifiers....................346
CONCLUSIONS..........................................................................................................353
REFERENCES ...........................................................................................................365
List of tables ................................................................................................................371
List of figures ................................................................................................................371
List of DRS-constructions rules....................................................................................372

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