The semantics of temporal adjuncts: an analysis proposal within vector space semantics

• Grant number: 16/20984-3
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Master
• Start date: April 01, 2017
• End date: February 28, 2019
• Field of knowledge: Linguistics, Literature and Arts - Linguistics - Linguistic Theory and Analysis
• Agreement: Coordination of Improvement of Higher Education Personnel (CAPES)
• Principal Investigator: Dirceu Cleber Conde
• Grantee: João Francisco Bergamini-Perez
• Host Institution: Centro de Educação e Ciências Humanas (CECH). Universidade Federal de São Carlos (UFSCAR). São Carlos , SP, Brazil

Abstract

The semantic study of temporal-aspectual phenomena, which includes temporal reference, aspect and ationality, is an important area in Event Semantics. One of the objectives in this area is to define the different types of events that can be denoted by structures of natural languages, such as the events that belong to the "Vendlerian classes".Since Vendler (1957), temporal adjuncts are used as tools to make actional and aspectual distinctions. However, even if it is possible to find in the literature several analysis for the adjuncts 'in X time' and 'for X time', other adjuncts such as 'during X time', 'untill X time', 'from X to Y time', etc., ar yet to be investigated, as well as the combination of these adjuncts with different aspects. Thus, this project, which is a continuation of a previous scientific research (FAPESP process number 2014/10894-1) whose object of investigation was the semantics and pragmatics of some temporal adjuncts, aims to provide to temporal adjuncts a description under the formal semantics of natural language, analyzing data from Brazilian Portuguese.Our object is the study of adjuncts combinations with different types of events, entailed in different aspects through logical-mathematical formalism. Our analysis will be based on "Vector Space Semantics" theory (cf., Zwarts, 1997; Winter and Zwarts, 2000; Bergamini-Perez and Basso, 2016), proposing unified analysis for its several possibilities of interpretation and its role as a actional features delimiter of events. (AU)