Abstract
@e paper sets out to challenge the claim that the distribution of FCany in bare generic sentences giving rise to dispositional readings
constitutes empirical evidence for the Possibility Hypothesis, assuming that dispositional sentences feature a covert existential modal
quantiLer equivalent to can or might. More generally, the paper attempts to suggest that dispositional and habitual readings, which
arise in bare characterizing sentences, are not due to the same underlying covert modal operator. What enables suggesting such a
view is the fact that bare characterizing sentences present diCerent
properties from those characterizing sentences that feature overt
(temporal) quantiLcation. It is shown that bare characterizing sentences pa5ern alike aspectually, irrespective of whether they give
rise to a habitual or a dispositional reading. Following work by
Boneh & Doron (2010, 2013), it is suggested that whereas quantiLed
characterizing sentences feature the quasi-universal Gen, bare ones
feature a VP-level operator Hab, built on the availability of sums of
events in all relevant accessible worlds once a disposition for this
type of event iteration is manifested in the actual world.
constitutes empirical evidence for the Possibility Hypothesis, assuming that dispositional sentences feature a covert existential modal
quantiLer equivalent to can or might. More generally, the paper attempts to suggest that dispositional and habitual readings, which
arise in bare characterizing sentences, are not due to the same underlying covert modal operator. What enables suggesting such a
view is the fact that bare characterizing sentences present diCerent
properties from those characterizing sentences that feature overt
(temporal) quantiLcation. It is shown that bare characterizing sentences pa5ern alike aspectually, irrespective of whether they give
rise to a habitual or a dispositional reading. Following work by
Boneh & Doron (2010, 2013), it is suggested that whereas quantiLed
characterizing sentences feature the quasi-universal Gen, bare ones
feature a VP-level operator Hab, built on the availability of sums of
events in all relevant accessible worlds once a disposition for this
type of event iteration is manifested in the actual world.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Title of host publication | Morphological, syntactic and semantic aspects of dispositions |
| Editors | Fabienne Martin, Marcel Pitteroff, Tillmann Pross |
| Publisher | Universitätsbibliothek der Universität Stuttgart |
| Pages | 16-29 |
| Number of pages | 14 |
| State | Published - 2016 |
Publication series
| Name | SinSpeC - Working Papers of the SFB 732 "Incremental Specification in Context" |
|---|---|
| Volume | 13 |