By now: change of state, epistemic modality and evidential inference
We examine the constellation of factors – lexical, aspectual, temporal and conversational – that give rise to evidential implications from assertions. We target intensional and inferential meanings associated with a certain class of present-tense state sentences: those containing a temporal adverb h...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Conference item |
| Language: | English |
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Cambridge University Press
2020
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| _version_ | 1826309951349325824 |
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| author | Altshuler, D Michaelis, LA |
| author_facet | Altshuler, D Michaelis, LA |
| author_sort | Altshuler, D |
| collection | OXFORD |
| description | We examine the constellation of factors – lexical, aspectual, temporal and conversational – that give rise to evidential implications from assertions. We target intensional and inferential meanings associated with a certain class of present-tense state sentences: those containing a temporal adverb headed by <i>by</i>, e.g. <i>The American traveling public is pretty mature by now</i>. We ask why present-tense sentences containing by temporal adverbs (BTAs) are improved by, and sometimes appear to require, an epistemic modal, e.g. <i>They</i> ??(<i>must</i>) <i>live in a mansion by now</i>. Key to our analysis is the idea that BTA sentences require the onset of a resultant state described by the complement of <i>by now</i> to overlap some unspecified time that precedes the time described by the adverb. The indefiniteness of the unspecified time described by BTAs leads interpreters to pragmatically construe present-tense BTA reports as conjectures, guesses or suppositions. We show how our analysis can be extended to incorporate the contribution of epistemic modals. Adopting insights from von Fintel & Gillies (2010) and Mandelkern (2016), we hypothesize the manner in which the BTA change schema is instantiated in intensional contexts and discuss the relationship between intensional and evidential contexts. We see the merging of aspectual and epistemic features in BTA sentences, and in particular present-tense sentences, as the result of a semantic reconciliation procedure: the use of an epistemic modal in a BTA predication evokes an observation or act of reasoning, prior to speech time, which permits the speaker to make her assertion, and this inference trigger is identified with the ‘onset event’ in the BTA schema. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-07T07:44:53Z |
| format | Conference item |
| id | oxford-uuid:0c42205f-2617-4bbb-9a0d-384657abc683 |
| institution | University of Oxford |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-07T07:44:53Z |
| publishDate | 2020 |
| publisher | Cambridge University Press |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | oxford-uuid:0c42205f-2617-4bbb-9a0d-384657abc6832023-06-01T10:28:40ZBy now: change of state, epistemic modality and evidential inferenceConference itemhttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_5794uuid:0c42205f-2617-4bbb-9a0d-384657abc683EnglishSymplectic ElementsCambridge University Press2020Altshuler, DMichaelis, LAWe examine the constellation of factors – lexical, aspectual, temporal and conversational – that give rise to evidential implications from assertions. We target intensional and inferential meanings associated with a certain class of present-tense state sentences: those containing a temporal adverb headed by <i>by</i>, e.g. <i>The American traveling public is pretty mature by now</i>. We ask why present-tense sentences containing by temporal adverbs (BTAs) are improved by, and sometimes appear to require, an epistemic modal, e.g. <i>They</i> ??(<i>must</i>) <i>live in a mansion by now</i>. Key to our analysis is the idea that BTA sentences require the onset of a resultant state described by the complement of <i>by now</i> to overlap some unspecified time that precedes the time described by the adverb. The indefiniteness of the unspecified time described by BTAs leads interpreters to pragmatically construe present-tense BTA reports as conjectures, guesses or suppositions. We show how our analysis can be extended to incorporate the contribution of epistemic modals. Adopting insights from von Fintel & Gillies (2010) and Mandelkern (2016), we hypothesize the manner in which the BTA change schema is instantiated in intensional contexts and discuss the relationship between intensional and evidential contexts. We see the merging of aspectual and epistemic features in BTA sentences, and in particular present-tense sentences, as the result of a semantic reconciliation procedure: the use of an epistemic modal in a BTA predication evokes an observation or act of reasoning, prior to speech time, which permits the speaker to make her assertion, and this inference trigger is identified with the ‘onset event’ in the BTA schema. |
| spellingShingle | Altshuler, D Michaelis, LA By now: change of state, epistemic modality and evidential inference |
| title | By now: change of state, epistemic modality and evidential inference |
| title_full | By now: change of state, epistemic modality and evidential inference |
| title_fullStr | By now: change of state, epistemic modality and evidential inference |
| title_full_unstemmed | By now: change of state, epistemic modality and evidential inference |
| title_short | By now: change of state, epistemic modality and evidential inference |
| title_sort | by now change of state epistemic modality and evidential inference |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT altshulerd bynowchangeofstateepistemicmodalityandevidentialinference AT michaelisla bynowchangeofstateepistemicmodalityandevidentialinference |