Relative pronominal tense : evidence from Gitksan, Japanese, and English ...
This thesis investigates properties of tenses in English, Japanese, and Gitksan (Tsimshianic) with regards to the two major dimensions along which tense denotations can differ: 1) pronominal (Partee 1973; Enç 1987; Heim 1994) vs. existential (Ogihara 1989; von Stechow 2009) and 2) relative (Smith 19...
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| Format: | Text |
| Language: | English |
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University of British Columbia
2021
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| Online Access: | https://dx.doi.org/10.14288/1.0401813 https://doi.library.ubc.ca/10.14288/1.0401813 |
| Summary: | This thesis investigates properties of tenses in English, Japanese, and Gitksan (Tsimshianic) with regards to the two major dimensions along which tense denotations can differ: 1) pronominal (Partee 1973; Enç 1987; Heim 1994) vs. existential (Ogihara 1989; von Stechow 2009) and 2) relative (Smith 1991; Ogihara 1989; Kusumoto 1999) vs. absolute (Comrie 1976; Dowty 1982). The past tense in English, the past and non-past tenses in Japanese, and the covert non-future tense in Gitksan will all receive relative pronominal denotations. An alternative analysis of Gitksan without a tense operator is also developed but eventually discarded in light of novel data before/after clauses. Taking this investigation of the three languages as a case study, this thesis also tackles a larger theoretical question: what is the empirical evidence for pronominal vs. existential and relative vs. absolute tenses? Teasing apart these two dimensions from each other as well as from the sequence of tense (SOT) issue, this thesis ... |
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