On the interaction of aspect and modal auxiliaries

Linguistics and Philosophy 32 (3):279-315 (2009)
  Copy   BIBTEX

Abstract

This paper discusses the interaction of aspect and modality, and focuses on the puzzling implicative effect that arises when perfective aspect appears on certain modals: perfective somehow seems to force the proposition expressed by the complement of the modal to hold in the actual world, and not merely in some possible world. I show that this puzzling behavior, originally discussed in Bhatt (1999, Covert modality in non-finite contexts) for the ability modal, extends to all modal auxiliaries with a circumstantial modal base (i.e., root modals ), while epistemic interpretations of the same modals are immune to the effect. I propose that implicative readings are contingent on the relative position of the modal w.r.t. aspect: when aspect scopes over the modal (as I argue is the case for root modals), it forces an actual event, thereby yielding an implicative reading. When a modal element scopes over aspect, no actual event is forced. This happens (i) with epistemics, which structurally appear above tense and aspect; (ii) with imperfective on a root modal: imperfective brings in an additional layer of modality, itself responsible for removing the necessity for an actual event. This proposal enables us to solve the puzzle while maintaining a standardized semantics for aspects and modals.

Other Versions

No versions found

Links

PhilArchive



    Upload a copy of this work     Papers currently archived: 98,219

External links

Setup an account with your affiliations in order to access resources via your University's proxy server

Through your library

Similar books and articles

On the event relativity of modal auxiliaries.Valentine Hacquard - 2010 - Natural Language Semantics 18 (1):79-114.
Content in a Dynamic Context.Una Stojnić - 2017 - Noûs 53 (2):394-432.
Actuality Entailments: When the Modality is in the Presupposition.Alda Mari - 2016 - In Maxime Amblard, Philippe de Groote, Sylvain Pogodalla & Christian Rétoré (eds.), Logical Aspects of Computational Linguistics. Celebrating 20 Years of LACL (1996–2016). Berlin, Germany: Springer. pp. 191-210.
Generics and Weak Necessity.Ravi Thakral - 2018 - Inquiry: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Philosophy:1-28.
The indexical character of epistemic modality.Craige Roberts - 2023 - Linguistics and Philosophy 46 (5):1219-1267.
When aspect matters: the case of would-conditionals. [REVIEW]Ana Arregui - 2007 - Natural Language Semantics 15 (3):221-264.
Circumstantial and temporal dependence in counterfactual modals.Dorit Abusch - 2012 - Natural Language Semantics 20 (3):273-297.
Modals without scales.Amy Rose Deal - 2011 - Language 87 (3):559-585.

Analytics

Added to PP
2009-09-21

Downloads
307 (#79,292)

6 months
31 (#112,523)

Historical graph of downloads
How can I increase my downloads?

Citations of this work

Williamsonian modal epistemology, possibility-based.Barbara Vetter - 2016 - Canadian Journal of Philosophy 46 (4-5):766-795.
Counterpossibles (not only) for dispositionalists.Barbara Vetter - 2016 - Philosophical Studies 173 (10):2681-2700.
On the event relativity of modal auxiliaries.Valentine Hacquard - 2010 - Natural Language Semantics 18 (1):79-114.
Semantics with Assignment Variables.Alex Silk - 2021 - Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

View all 12 citations / Add more citations

References found in this work

On the Plurality of Worlds.David K. Lewis - 1986 - Malden, Mass.: Wiley-Blackwell.
Counterfactuals.David K. Lewis - 1973 - Malden, Mass.: Blackwell.
Knowledge and belief.Jaakko Hintikka - 1962 - Ithaca, N.Y.,: Cornell University Press.
Philosophical papers.David Kellogg Lewis - 1983 - New York: Oxford University Press.
Semantics in generative grammar.Irene Heim & Angelika Kratzer - 1998 - Malden, MA: Blackwell. Edited by Angelika Kratzer.

View all 46 references / Add more references