Talks

We are happy to announce a talk by Roumyana Pancheva (USC) at the Semantics Colloquium. Please register beforehand (s.walter@em.uni-frankfurt.de) to receive the access data to zoom on Thursday shortly before the talk starts. Title:Temporal reference without tense Date: February 4 Time: 4 pm – 6 pm ct Abstract: Some languages do not have to mark tense explicitly: they either do not have overt tense morphemes or the overt tense morphemes are optional. The question arises: is tense universal? The answer, within formal semantics, has so far been "yes". The formally explicit semantic analyses that have been proposed for languages without obligatory overt tense morphemes all posit tense in one form or another. We aim to develop a different type of account altogether that does not rely on tense to derive temporal reference. We propose that evaluation time shift, a mechanism independently attested in the narrative present in languages with tense, can be more widely used for encoding temporal meaning in the absence of tense. We illustrate this account...

We are happy to announce a talk by Jan Köpping (GU) and Sarah Zobel (University of Oslo) at the Semantics Colloquium. Please register beforehand (s.walter@em.uni-frankfurt.de) to receive the access data to zoom on Thursday shortly before the talk starts. Title:Two types of existential quantification Date: January 28 Time: 4 pm – 6 pm ct Abstract: We argue that natural language distinguishes between two types of existential quantification. This is observable in the contrasting semantic behavior of indefinite expressions, which allow for anaphoric relationships, on the one hand, and existentially used dedicated impersonal pronouns and implicit agents of episodic short passives, which do not, on the other. We present a formal system that blends existing static and dynamic accounts, which allows us to model both types of existential quantification by distinguishing two existential quantifiers: a “dynamic” existential quantifier that introduces a new discourse referent and thus allows for anaphoric relationships and a “static” one that does not. The second quantifier is argued to capture the observed discourse inertness of...