If you can show the future, I know what you are made of: aspect + modal-temporal domain in Serbian

Vol.65,No.2(2017)

Neda Todorović

Stable URL (handle):
http://hdl.handle.net/11222.digilib/137683

PDF
Abstract
This paper illustrates restrictions on perfective forms under future interpretation in Serbian. It is argued that such restrictions can be captured under an account based on the syntax-semantics interplay. Regarding semantics, the restrictions arise when the reference time interval is very short (Todorović 2015, 2016). Such an analysis predicts the perfective to be restricted with semantic present, but not in past and future contexts. Interestingly, future interpretation in Serbian can, a.o., be obtained with morphological present – in some of those cases, the perfective is felicitous. It is argued that, in those instances, possibility of the perfective is an indication that the structure contains a covert modal/future component which provides the longer reference time interval needed for the perfective to be felicitous. Regarding syntax, it is proposed that this covert future component requires syntactic licensing. Thus, (im)possibility of the perfective reflects the presence/absence of a covert modal/future element in the structure. More generally, it indicates the composition of the temporal-modal clausal domain.

Keywords:
perfective aspect; tense; future; modals; Serbian

Pages:
87–101
References

Abusch, Dorit. 1985. On Verbs and Time. Ph.D. thesis, University of Massachusetts.

Bošković, Željko. 1997. The Syntax of Nonfinite Complementation: An Economy Approach. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

Condoravdi, Cleo. 2002. Temporal Interpretations of Modals: Modals for the Present and for the Past. In Beaver, D. et al., eds. The Construction of Meaning. Stanford: CSLI, pp. 59–88.

Copley, Bridget. 2002. The Semantics of the Future. Ph.D. thesis, MIT.

Dowty, David. 1979. Word Meaning and Montague Grammar. Dordrecht: Reidel.

Giorgi, Alessandra – Pianesi, Fabio. 1997. Tense and Aspect: From Semantics to Morphosyntax. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Givon, Talmy. 1995. Functionalism and Grammar. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.

Grohmann, Kleanthes, K. 2003. Prolific Domains: On the Anti-Locality of Movement Dependencies. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins.

Klein, Wolfgang. 1994. Time in Language. London/New York: Routledge.

Kratzer, Angelika. 1998. More Structural Analogies Between Pronouns and Tenses. In: Proceedings from SALT VIII. CLC Publications, pp. 92–110.

Landman, Fred. 1992. The Progressive. Natural Language Semantics 1, pp. 1–32. | DOI 10.1007/BF02342615

Pancheva, Roumyana – Von Stechow, Arnim. 2004. On the Present Perfect Puzzle. In: Moulton, K., ed. Proceedings of NELS 34. Amherst: GLSA, pp. 469–484.

Progovac, Ljiljana. 1993. Locality and Subjunctive-Like Complements in Serbo-Croatian. Journal of Slavic Linguistics 1, pp. 116–144.

Rizzi, Luigi. 1997. The Fine Structure of the Left Periphery. In Haegeman, L., ed. Elements of Grammar: Handbook of Generative Syntax. Dordrecht: Kluwer, pp. 281–337.

Smith, Carlota. 1991. The Parameter of Aspect. Dordrecht: Kluwer.

Stjepanović, Sandra. 2004. Clitic Climbing and Restructuring with "Finite Clause" and Infinitive Complements. Journal of Slavic Linguistics 12(1), pp. 173–212.

Todorović, Neda. 2015. Tense and Aspect (In)compatibility in Serbian Matrix and Subordinate Clauses. Lingua 167, pp. 82‒111.

Todorović, Neda. 2016. On the Presence/Absence of TP Cross-Linguistically: Syntactic Properties and Temporal Interpretations. Ph.D. thesis, University of Connecticut.

Todorović, Neda - Wurmbrand, Susanne. 2015. (In)Finite Possibilities of 'da'-Restructuring the Tense and Aspect Domains. Talk at the Workshop on Aspect in Embedded Clauses. ZAS, Berlin, May 2015.

Todorović, Neda - Wurmbrand, Susanne. To appear. Finiteness across domains. In Kosta, P. et al., eds. Current Developments in Slavic Linguistics: Twenty Years After. Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lamg.

Von Stechow, Arnim. 1999. Eine Erweiterte Extended-Now Theorie für Perfekt und Futur. In: Zeitschrift für Literaturwissenschaft und Linguistik 113, pp. 86-118.

Vrzić, Zvjezdana. 1996. Categorial Status of the Serbo-Croatian "Modal" da. In: Toman, J., ed. Annual Workshop on Formal Approaches to Slavic Linguistics: The College Park Meeting 1994. Ann Arbor: Michigan Slavic Publications, pp. 291-312.

Wurmbrand, Susanne. 2001. Infinitives: Restructuring and Clause Structure. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.

Metrics

22

Views

0

PDF views

PDF