The Semantics of VP - understanding talk about situations

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The Semantics of VP- understanding talk about
situations

• English Grammar
• BA 2nd semester
• Lecture 9

Torben Thrane
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We are in an utterance situation
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An utterance situation is a real situation
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I am talking to you here and now
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You mean that an utternance situation is defined
by some- one saying something?
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Precisely - and it always serves as a reference
point for understanding talk about other
situations
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How do you mean?
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Think of it as a system of coordinates. We are in
the utterance situation where the two lines
cross ...
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and every situation we want to talk about is
iden- tified relative to that. We are at the
Deictic Centre.
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What does deictic mean?
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It comes from Greek, and it means
pointing. Pronouns like I, you, she, it may be
deictic ...
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because they point to something in a
situation, and although their meaning is al-
ways the same, their reference changes all the
time.
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Yes thats right. When you say I, it refers to
you, but when I say I it refers to me
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But that was pronouns. What does it have to do
with verbs? Are there deicitic verbs?
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No, not verbs as such - but some of the
secondary verbal categories have deictic
functions, like Tense.
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So Tense is a secondary verbal category? Are
there any others?
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Yes, there is Aspect, Voice and Mood, which is
also some- times called Modality.
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But what do they do? What do they mean?
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They help you as a listener to understand what
situation is being talked about.
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Take an example If I say I am crumbling this
piece of paper, then you know that I am talking
about this situation we are in right here.
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You know that because I refers to me am
crumbling refers to a factual situation which
overlaps in time with the utterance situation ...
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and this piece of paper refers to an object
with me at the deic- tic centre.
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Now, if I say, I also crumbled a piece of paper
yesterday, you know that I am not talking
about this situation, but about a similar one,
only occurring yesterday.
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Now, I am going to shrink us, because I want to
show you how the coordinate system may be used.
Remember, we are still inside US . Ready...
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Situations that we want to talk about may be
either factual or potential. Ill indicate that
in this way
US
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P O T E N T I A L
F A C T U A L
US
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- or they may be hypothetical or necessary.
Ill indicate that like this...
P O T E N T I A L
F A C T U A L
US
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HYPOTHETICAL
P O T E N T I A L
F A C T U A L
US
NECESSARY
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HYPOTHETICAL
Facts and potential siuations differ
from hypothetical and nec- essary situations
in that they are inside TIME.
P O T E N T I A L
F A C T U A L
US
NECESSARY
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HYPOTHETICAL
Time
Time
P O T E N T I A L
F A C T U A L
US
Time
Time
NECESSARY
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HYPOTHETICAL
Now, this is a grid that we use in
interpreting sentences with respect to where the
described situa- tion is located. Let us look
at some examples.
P O T E N T I A L
F A C T U A L
US
NECESSARY
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HYPOTHETICAL
The situation of John arriving in New York
a. John arrived in New York on Monday
P O T E N T I A L
b. John has arrived in New York
F A C T U A L
US
NECESSARY
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The situation of John arriving in New York is
here being presented for interpretation as a
factual situation of the past. Nevertheless,
they present it in slightly different
ways a. focusses on the temporality of the
situation at some specific point in the past
(cf. on Monday) b. focusses on the
sequentiality of the situation relative to
other situations, particularly US. Since it is
factual it must necessarily be prior to US, and
hence in the past.
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HYPOTHETICAL
The situation of John arriving in New York
John was (just) arriv- ing in New York
when his plane returned
P O T E N T I A L
F A C T U A L
US
The situation of Johns plane returning.
NECESSARY
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HYPOTHETICAL
The situation of John arriving in New York
P O T E N T I A L
F A C T U A L
US
John had (just) arrived in New York when
his plane returned.
The situation of Johns plane returning.
NECESSARY
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The Sequentiality of Situations...
Situations have a beginning, a middle and an
end. Seen from the outside, a situation may
be regarded as closed, and as existing or
occurring, relative to some other situation.
With the Present Perfect, the Reference
Situation is US With the Past Perfect, the
Reference Situations must be identified from
the context. If the DS is presented as factual,
it follows that it must also be in the past, for
only situations in the past (up to and including
now) can be truly factual.
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John had eaten dinner when his wife came home
DS Johns eating dinner RS The
coming home of Johns wife
1. John had proceeded to eat dinner when his
wife came home When his wife came home,
John had proceeded to eat dinner
Factual
Potential
RS DS
US
Factual
Potential
2. John had already eaten dinner when his
wife came home When his wife came home,
John had already eaten dinner
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Kinds of situation
situation
static dynamic state
agent-control not agent-controlled action
extended punctual extended
punctual activity act
process event
(there are many other proposals)
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Open and closed dynamic situations
Situations are either static or dynamic Static
situations simply exist (or not), whereas dynamic
situations occur (or not). Now - if a dynamic
situation is seen as being in progress, it is
said to be open. There is no focus on either its
beginning or end, only on its middle. This is the
true dynamic view of a dynamic situation. The
grammatical term is progressive. If on the other
hand a dynamic situation is seen as a whole, with
focus either on its beginning or - especially -
end or both, it is said to be closed. This is
the static view of a dynamic situation. The
grammatical term is perfect, or perfective.
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Closed Open
Described Situation Reference Situation
Utterance Situation
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Aspect in English
The progressive be ing (sometimes also
called the expanded tenses)
Ex. John is smiling - present
progressive John was smiling - past
progressive John has been smiling - present
perfect progr. John had been smiling - past
perfect progr. John will be smiling - future
progressive John may be smiling - epistemic
progressive The votes are being counted -
present passive progr. The votes were being
counted - past passive progr. .
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Aspect in English Simple vs. expanded tenses...
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Aspect in English Simple vs. expanded tenses...
The simple tenses invite you to interpret a
described dynamic situation as closed - as a
situation with a beginning and an end relative
to some other situation The expanded tenses
invite you to interpret a described dynamic
situation as open - as being in progress
relative to some other situation (this is
clearest in the past)
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The situation of him driving carefully
He drove carefully
P O T E N T I A L
F A C T U A L
US
The sentence does not establish a Reference
Situation but there is one implicitly on that
occasion
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The situation of him driving carefully
P O T E N T I A L
He was driving carefully
F A C T U A L
US
The sentence does not establish a Reference
Situation but there is one implicitly on that
occasion
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DS The situation of the children appearing
He drove carefully when the children appeared
P O T E N T I A L
F A C T U A L
US
RS The situation of him driving carefully
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DS The situation of him driving carefully
He was driving care- fully when the child- ren
appeared
P O T E N T I A L
F A C T U A L
US
RS The situation of the children appearing
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Aspect in English
The perfect have en (also sometimes called the
perfect tenses)
Ex. John has broken the windows - present
perfect John had broken the windows - past
perfect John has been breaking the windows -
pres. prf. progr. John had been breaking the
windows - past prf. progr. John will have
broken the windows - future perfect John may
have broken the windows - epistemic
perfect The windows have been broken - present
prf. passive The windows had been broken -
past prf. passsive ...
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Aspect in English the Perfect vs. simple
present...
Returning officer Lucy empties the ballot boxes
and John counts the votes
Returning officer Lucy has emptied the ballot
boxes and John has counted the votes
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Aspect in English the Perfect vs. simple
present...
Both tenses present the described situation as
closed. The simple present focusses on the
beginning - and is therefore sometimes said to be
future (and it only occurs - like here - as
descriptions of a list of dynamic
situations) The perfect focusses on the end -
and is therefore often said to be past (but in
fact it only presents a dynamic situation as a
factual whole, as we have seen)
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Aspect in English the habitual
The simple present is understood as describing
individual dynamic situations in a list of
situations. What, then, about -
- I smoke (ltgt I am smoking) - she plays handball
(ltgt she is playing handball)
The simple verb forms are understood as
describing a list of individual dynamic
situations of the same type, occurring at
different times therefore the simple present is
often said to express habitual aspect.
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The situation of me smoking
P O T E N T I A L
I smoke
F A C T U A L
US