Topic
Absolute construction
About: Absolute construction is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 35 publications have been published within this topic receiving 443 citations.
Papers
Book•
31 Dec 1984
TL;DR: In this article, the authors introduce the concept of Free Adjuncts and Absolutes in English and present a plan of discussion on the semantics of free adjunct construction.
Abstract: I. The Semantic Variability of Free Adjuncts and Absolutes.- 1. Introduction to Free Adjuncts and Absolutes in English.- 1.1. The Free Adjunct Construction.- 1.2. The Nominative and Augmented Absolute Constructions.- 2. Traditional Thoughts on the Semantic Variability of Free Adjuncts and Absolutes.- 3. Plan of Discussion.- 4. Some Syntactic Conventions.- 4.1. Binary Features.- 4.2. Morphological Functions.- 4.3. Main Verb Marking.- 4.4. Subject Marking.- 4.5. Syntactic Subroutines.- 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.- 2.1. Kratzer's Theory of Conditional Modality.- 2.2. The Roles of Strong and Weak Adjuncts in Modal Sentences.- 2.2.1. Weak Adjuncts in Modal Contexts.- 2.2.2. Strong Adjuncts in Modal Contexts.- 3. A Semantic Correlate of the Distinction between Strong and Weak Adjuncts.- 3.1. Carlson's Ontology of Stages and Individuals.- 3.2. A Categorial Distinction between Stage-level and Individual-level Predicates.- 3.2.1 Be1 ? PIV i/PREDs.- 3.2.2 Be2 ? PIV i/PREDi.- 3.2.3 Be3 ? PIV s/PREDi.- 3.2.4 Be4 ? PIV s/PREDs.- 3.3. The Stage/Individual Distinction as a Semantic Correlate of the Weak/Strong Distinction.- 3.4. Adjuncts with As and With.- 4. Chapter Summary.- Footnotes.- III. Tense and the Interpretation of Free Adjuncts.- 1. Preliminaries.- 1.1. Interval Semantics.- 1.2. Temporal Abstracts.- 1.2.1. Rules of Tense.- 1.2.2. Shifting and Nonshifting Tenses.- 1.3. Two Categories of Time Adverbs.- 1.3.1. Time Adverbs of Category TA.- 1.3.2. Time Adverbs of Category MTA.- 1.4. The Semantics of Temporal Adverbial Clauses.- 1.4.1. The Analysis of Tense in Temporal Adverbial Clauses.- 1.4.2. Unbounded Dependencies in Temporal Adverbial Clauses.- 1.4.3. Temporal Adverbial Clauses with Main Tense Adverbs.- 1.4.4. Remarks on Some Unacceptable Temporal Adverbials.- 1.4.5. Remarks on the Assumed Truthconditions for Temporal Adverbial Clauses.- 1.4.5.1. When.- 1.4.5.2. While.- 1.4.5.3. Before.- 1.4.5.4. After.- 1.5. Summary of Tense and Time Adverb System.- 2. The Temporal Reference of Free Adjuncts.- 2.1. A-Abstracts.- 2.2. Deriving Conditional Adjuncts.- 2.3. Deriving Adsentential Adjuncts.- 3. Frequency Adverbs and the Distinction between Strong and Weak Adjuncts.- 3.1. The Semantics of Relative Frequency Adverbs.- 3.2. Adjuncts Restricting the Interpretation of Relative Frequency Adverbs.- 4. A Generalization Operator.- 4.1. Two Sorts of Interpretations for Temporal Adverbial Clauses.- 4.2. Generalization Operators.- 4.3. Adjuncts Restricting the Generalization Operator G".- 5. Chapter Summary.- Footnotes.- IV. Aspect and the Interpretation of Free Adjuncts.- 1. The Perfect Tense and the Interpretation of Free Adjuncts.- 1.1. The Semantic Unspecificity of the Perfect.- 1.2. The Formal Semantics of the Perfect in Finite Clauses.- 1.3. The Formal Semantics of the Perfect in Free Adjuncts.- 2. An Argument for Free Adjuncts as Main Tense Adverbs.- 3. The Progressive Aspect and the Interpretation of Free Adjuncts.- 3.1. The Semantics of Present Participial Phrases.- 3.2. The Formal Semantics of Present Participial Adjuncts.- 4. Chapter Summary.- Footnotes.- V. The Formal Semantics of Absolutes.- 1. Modality and the Interpretation of Absolutes.- 1.1. Weak and Strong Absolutes.- 1.2. Formalizing the Distinction Between Strong and Weak Absolutes.- 1.3. Deriving Conditional Absolutes.- 2. Tense and the Interpretation of Absolutes.- 2.1. Absolutes and Relative Frequency Adverbs.- 2.2. Absolutes and the Generalization Operator G".- 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.- 2.1. Two Kinds of Inferences.- 2.2. Inferences, Adjuncts, and Absolutes.- 2.2.1. Carlson's Ontology.- 2.2.2. Instantaneousness.- 2.2.3. Word Order.- 2.2.4. Knowledge of the World.- 2.2.5. Connective Adverbs.- 2.3. Pragmatically Admissible Values for L and M.- 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.
273 citations
TL;DR: The authors discuss two sets of passages where Plato uses the verb rIvcu (and its nominal forms ov and ovcaia) in a philosophically loaded way, in connection with the notion of truth.
Abstract: I here discuss two sets of passages where Plato uses the verb rIvcu (and its nominal forms ov and ovcaia) in a philosophically loaded way, in connection with the notion of truth. I suggest that the systematic nature of this connection has not been recognized and hence its philosophical significance has not been properly understood. Syntactically, the passages in question are a mixed bag. In a few cases we have what I call the veridical construction with a subject of sentential rather than nominal form: the verb is construed absolutely (no further predicate is expressed or understood), and it is syntactically linked to a clause of thinking or saying.' In other cases where the subject (or implied subject) is a noun phrase, an absolute construction of the verb may bear an existential sense. Most often, however, EIvaL will function as copula with predicate adjective, noun, or prepositional phrase. In cases where no predicate is expressed, there has been a tendency of late to describe the use of the verb as "incomplete" and to construe it as an elliptical copula, i.e. to interpret an expression of the form X is as elliptical for X is Y, where the value of Y is either specified by the context or left quite general.2 I do not want to deny the appropriateness of such an interpretation in many cases, perhaps in most. But I want to insist that the uses of EdVaL in Plato (as in Greek generally) are often overdetermined: several grammatical readings of a single occurrence are not only possible but sometimes required for the full understanding of the text. (Whether or not fallacy arises from such ambiguity is a question that must be considered separately for each case.) Even where the syntax is unambiguous, a copula use of the verb may bear a veridical value, that is to say, it may serve to call attention to the truth claim that is implicit in every declarative sentence. This function of the verb, which I have elsewhere called the veridical nuance or veridical lexical value, is not so clearly defined a notion as the veridical construction. It is unmistakable in those cases where a use of ErvaL is naturally translated as "is true", "is so", or "is the case"; but these are typically not copula constructions. In the copula use a veridical nuance emerges whenever there is any contrast between being so and seeming so, between being really such-and-such and being only called such-and-such or believed to be such-
107 citations
Dissertation•
1 Jan 1996
TL;DR: In this paper, it is shown that a number of problems of the syntax of ancient, literary Italian lend themselves readily to an analysis in terms of the Theory of Principles and Parameters, and the Italian data, supported by comparative remarks on modern Romance and Germanic, confirm the essential correctness of one particular version of the above theory.
Abstract: The purpose of this thesis is double. First, it will be shown that a number of problems of the syntax of ancient, literary Italian lend themselves readily to an analysis in terms of the Theory of Principles and Parameters. Second, the Italian data, supported by comparative remarks on modern Romance and Germanic, confirm the essential correctness of one particular version of the above theory namely the Antisymmetry framework of Kayne (1994). The issue is predicative past participles in two contexts: A. The past participle in periphrastic constructions with the verb avere 'have', for example, ho chiuso la finestra 'I have closed the window' as opposed to ho la finestra chiusa 'I have the window closed'. B. The past participle in the absolute construction chiuse le finestre, me ne sono andato 'closed the windows, I went out'. The theoretical and empirical problems that will be discussed can be summarized in four general points: functional structure of the participle, word order, agreement patterns, and interpretation especially with regard to Aktionsart or verbal aspect; the analysis will focus on the Affectedness Constraint. It will be argued that the participle clause hosts an agreement projection (AgrOP) and an aspect projection (AspP), but there will also be reason to consider the relevance of Tense and Comp for participial syntax. The discussion of word order will concentrate on the question of how the arguments are placed in relation to the predicate, that is, the placement of S, V, and O. The analysis takes a synchronic perspective, and compares three stages of Italian: the period that runs from the late 13th century to 1400, the first half of the 16th century, and present day standard Italian. These periods of time will be referred to as Medieval Italian and Renaissance Italian, as opposed to Contemporary Italian. It is not the purpose of this thesis to analyze the mechanisms of language change. (Less)
37 citations
[...]
TL;DR: The absolute construction exemplified by with the bus drivers on strike consists of with plus a constituent that possesses all the characteristics typical of embedded S's, except for having to contain a verb as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: The absolute construction exemplified by with the bus drivers on strike consists of with plus a constituent that possesses all the characteristics typical of embedded S's, except for having to contain a verb: it serves as a domain for cyclic application of transformations, it serves as a scope for quantifiers and negatives, and its elements do not command elements of the main clause. An analysis of these constituents as underlying S's, subject to optional deletion of be (or of possessional have and its subject) explains why this construction allows adverbs as adjuncts to constituents that normally do not support adverbs. Peculiarities of the distribution of adverbs in the construction support the contention that the NP in with NP PP is an underlying subject of be in some cases, an underlying object of have in others.
27 citations
1 Jan 2012
TL;DR: In this article, the origin of the Germanic absolute construction in Old English (OE) has been investigated, with a special focus on its origin from Indo-European through Germanic.
Abstract: This paper addresses the absolute construction in Old English (OE), with special focus on its origin. Earlier research on this topic provides two opposite views: either the construction is considered Latin in origin and is treated as a syntactic loan or a lexical loan, or it is regarded as a native, Germanic construction. The goal of this article is to try and find a way to reconcile those earlier explanations while at the same time doing away with their respective shortcomings. As the proposed solution find itself on the border between copy and cognate, it may form an interesting contribution to this particular book even though the main focus is on an entire construction instead of on morphology. The participle structures of any kind abound in Old English, and because the construction handed down from Indo-European through Germanic, as observed from the reconstruction of the Germanic absolute. Keywords:cognate; Germanic construction; Indo-European; Old English (OE); origin; participle
19 citations
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