Michaelis (2004): Type Shifting in Construction Grammar #
This file formalizes the account of aspectual coercion without interpolated coercion
operators in [Mic04]. Constructions denote semantic types, and the override
principle resolves a mismatch between a lexical item and its morphosyntactic context in
favour of the construction: concord constructions denote the type they select, shift
constructions a different one, both shifting implicitly through the override and only shift
constructions shifting explicitly. The reconciliation operators, inchoative addition, onset
selection, and conformity to an activity (inchoativeAddition, onsetSelection,
conformToActivity), the frame adverbial as a concord construction and the progressive as a
shift construction, the two readings of an activity under a frame adverbial
(frame_adverbial_activity_ambiguity), and the stativity of progressive predications
whatever the complement's Aktionsart (progressive_stativizes) are stated.
TODO #
The paper is not on file; example, figure, and table locators are transcribed from an earlier version of this file and are UNVERIFIED.
References #
Reconciliation operators #
The override principle repairs a type mismatch by one of the paper's reconciliation operations on the input's aspectual representation.
The addition operator under inchoative construal (§5.1.2): a change is added to the causal representation, so a state yields the achievement of its onset — "They were bored in a minute" denotes the onset of boredom — and an activity a bounded accomplishment. Other types are left as they are.
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The selection operator (§5.1.2): the onset phase of a durative situation is selected, an achievement — ex. (41)'s reading on which the frame measures the delay before the program began to air.
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- Michaelis2004.onsetSelection p = if p.duration = Aspect.Duration.durative then Aspect.VendlerClass.achievement else p
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The reconciliation operators available to the frame adverbial.
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The progressive's complement is inherently processual (§5.2.1): the
override conforms any input to the activity type — states via the
addition of hold and an effector to their causal representation, telic
events via their processual construal.
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The frame adverbial construction (Figure 5, concord) #
The frame adverbial's composition rule: the within frame demands a
telic event and the construct denotes that same type.
Equations
- Michaelis2004.frameAdverbialRule [p] = if p.telicity = Aspect.Telicity.telic then some p else none
- Michaelis2004.frameAdverbialRule x✝ = none
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The frame adverbial construction (Figure 5): an in-headed adjunct added to the verbal valence.
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The progressive construction (Figure 6, shift) #
The progressive's composition rule: an activity complement yields the state holding during the activity's interval, by selection of an intermediate rest in its temporal representation.
Equations
- Michaelis2004.progressiveRule [p] = if p = Aspect.VendlerClass.activity then some Aspect.VendlerClass.state else none
- Michaelis2004.progressiveRule x✝ = none
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The progressive construction (Figure 6): auxiliary be with a participial complement whose subject requirement unifies with the auxiliary's subject, an instance of [KF99]'s coinstantiation construction.
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Figure 6's raising property: the subject of be and the complement's subject requirement bear one index, the coinstantiation pattern.
Concord vs. shift ((27), (28)) #
A unary rule preserves type when its output type is its input's — (27)'s concord constructions; (28)'s shift constructions fail it.
Equations
- Michaelis2004.PreservesType r = ∀ (p q : Aspect.VendlerClass), r [p] = some q → q = p
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The frame adverbial is a concord construction: it denotes the telic event type it selects.
The progressive is a shift construction: it selects activities but denotes states.
Frame-adverbial predictions (§5.1.2) #
"She solved the problem in ten minutes" (Figure 5's instantiation): a telic complement composes directly, with no coercion ambiguity.
Ex. (30), "They were bored in a minute": the stative input conforms by inchoative construal — the onset of boredom, an achievement.
Ex. (41), "My radio program ran in less than four minutes": an activity input is genuinely ambiguous — inchoative addition yields the accomplishment reading (the frame measures the running time), onset selection the achievement reading (the frame measures the delay before airing) — [dS98]'s observation, derived from the operator inventory.
Progressive predictions (§5.2.1) #
"We were playing cards" (Figure 6's explicit shift): an activity complement yields a state directly.
Exx. (31), (42)–(44), "We were living in Boulder": a stative complement conforms to the activity type and the predication is again a state — the "temporary state" reading.
"They were baking a cake": a telic complement is construed as its process, so the culmination is not entailed.
Progressive predications denote states whatever the Aktionsart of the complement (§5.2.1): the apparent paradox of a stativizing construction accepting stative input dissolves under the override.