(156K)
This paper is a reaction to Malink's paper, for which see below.
In this paper, Malink's (2008) account of right boundary achievements under conative negation is critically reviewed. Two potential problems are described for it, one concerning the question whether presuppositions are modifiable, and another concerning the usefulness of the kind of presupposition that Malink assumes for right boundary achievements. Finally, an alternative account is proposed that succeeds in avoiding these two potential issues.
I presented the original version of this paper on 25 Jun. 2005 at Workshop Satz und Kontext, Universität Leipzig, 25–26 Jun. 2005.
In The Discourse Potential of Underspecified Structures, Anita Steube (ed.), pp. 163–175. Walter de Gruyter, 2008.
Paper, prepublication version
(156K)
For my paper, which is a reaction to Malink's, see above.
Right boundary achievements such as 'find' and 'win' denote an instantaneous end point of an activity aiming at this end point. When being negated, right boundary achievements tend to imply that an activity of trying to achieve the end point is going on at the reference time. For example, when Peter does not find his key, it is implied that he is searching for it. The present paper is to describe the aspectual properties of this kind of conative negation, and the circumstances under which it occurs in German, Czech and Ancient Greek. It will be suggested that conative negation takes narrow scope with respect to viewpoint aspect and that it is located below the aspect phrase in the semantic composition of sentences. A proposal will be made how conative negation can be treated within event semantics.
Malink presented the original version of this paper on 25 Jun. 2005 at Workshop Satz und Kontext, Universität Leipzig, 25–26 Jun. 2005.
In The Discourse Potential of Underspecified Structures, Anita Steube (ed.), pp. 145–162. Walter de Gruyter, 2008.
Paper, prepublication version
(186K)
http://pinon.sdf-eu.org/covers/nrbacm.html