The Time Window of Language
The Interaction between Linguistic and Non-Linguistic Knowledge in the Temporal Interpretation of German and English Texts
1st Edition
Published on 22. December 2011
XX, 387 pages
978-3-11-091952-3 (ISBN)
Description
Focusing on English and German examples, the study deals with the temporal interpretation of texts in non-aspect languages. The author presumes that a coherent interpretation of a text results from a complex interaction between linguistic and extra-linguistic information. The study presents a unified account of the semantics of temporality which treats the varying grammatical factors (aspectual classes, tense, and discourse structure) in a systematic way.
Reviews / Votes
"[...] eine Studie auf hohem theoretischem Niveau [...]."Michael Schreiber in: Germanistik 3-4/2007More details
Series
Thesis
Doctoral thesis
2002
Universität Leipzig
Language
English
Place of publication
Berlin/Boston
Germany
Target group
Professional and scholarly
US School Grade: College Graduate Student
Illustrations
60 Abbildungen, 10 s/w Tabellen
60 ill., 10 tbl.
File size
65,67 MB
ISBN-13
978-3-11-091952-3 (9783110919523)
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Martin Trautwein
The Time Window of Language
The Interaction between Linguistic and Non-Linguistic Knowledge in the Temporal Interpretation of German and English Texts
Book
11/2005
1st Edition
De Gruyter
€159.95
Shipment within 7-9 days
Martin Trautwein
The Time Window of Language
The Interaction between Linguistic and Non-Linguistic Knowledge in the Temporal Interpretation of German and English Texts
Book
01/2005
1st Edition
De Gruyter
€229.00
Article exhausted; check different version
Person
Martin Trautwein is a researcher at the
Institute for Formal Ontology and Medical Information Science of the University
of Leipzig, Germany.
Content
- Intro
- Introduction
- Acknowledgements
- I. Temporality in Language: From Lexical Meaning to Text
- Interpretation
- 1. The Association and Dissociation of Semantic Meaning and (Con)Textual Interpretation
- 2. The Ambiguity of Temporal Information in Texts
- II. Time and Temporal Structure: a Conceptual Analysis
- 1. The Origins of Temporal Structure
- 1.1 General Remarks on Time and Temporal Structure
- 1.2 Natural Situations
- 1.3 The Pragmatic View: Natural Situations as Ontological Commitments
- 2. Temporal Interpretation in Interval Semantics
- 2.1 Evaluation Relative to Intervals of Time
- 2.2 Some Conclusions from Interval Semantics, Concerning Temporal Interpretation and the Sequencing of Situations
- 3. Objections to Interval-Based Theories
- 3.1 Natural Situations as Contexts: From Natural Situations to Possible Propositions
- 3.2 Natural Situations as Truth-makers: From Propositions to Possible Referents
- 4. Establishing Times
- 4.1 Indeterminate Structures in the Domain of Physical Objects: a Parallelism
- 4.2 Consequences for the Informativeness of Sortal Concepts
- 4.3 Establishing Features
- 4.4 The Underspecification of Verbal Semantics
- 5. Summary and Conclusions: Establishing Features, Temporal Relations, and Temporal Sequencing
- III. A Methodological Framework Combining Formal Semantics and Formal Knowledge Representation
- 1. Introduction
- 2. Two-Level Semantics
- 3. Knowledge Representation and Natural Language Semantics
- 4. The Five-Level Approach: a Unified Framework for the Representation of Linguistic and Non-Linguistic Knowledge
- 4.1 The Five-Level Approach to Knowledge Representation
- 4.2 A Five-Level Representation of Temporal Interpretation
- 5. Extemalism - Internalism, Pragmatism - Realism: Some Remarks On the Role of Ontology
- IV. Ontological and Epistemological Conditions on Temporal Reference
- 1. Epistemological Presumptions
- 1.1 Epistemology vs. Ontology
- 1.2 Partiality
- 1.3 Heuristics
- 2. A Formal Ontology of Time and Temporal Structure
- 2.1 The Ontologically Basic Assumptions of GOL
- 2.2 Mereology
- 2.3 Chronology
- 3. Ontological and Epistemological Extensions
- 3.1 Partial Structures, Representative Partial Structures, and Establishing Parts and Times
- 3.2 Chronological Relations Applying to Partial Structures and Their Elements
- 4. Partial Temporal Relations: Reasoning with Partial Structures
- 4.1 Approaches to Temporal Reasoning With Incomplete Knowledge
- 4.2 Translating Boundedness and Sequence of Partial Structures into Partial Interval Relations
- 4.3 Definitions and Relation Hierarchies for Partial Temporal Relations
- 5. Conclusions
- V. Information about Establishing Times in Grammar: a Fragment of German Verbal Semantics
- 1. Establishing Features in Grammar: Formal Prerequisites
- 1.1 Syntax, Scope, and Semantic Composition of Aspectuality
- 1.2 Structured Eventive Predications: Which Part of a Sentence Meaning Encodes Establishing Features?
- 1.3 Decomposition
- 1.4 Two Alternative Strategies
- 2. Aspectual Composition (I): Direct Predicate Modifications ('Attributive Strategy')
- 2.1 The Systematic Problem to Access Predicative Information Compositionally
- 2.2 The Aspectual Quality Predicate Q
- 3. Aspectual Composition (II): Multiple Layers of Eventive Predications ('Predicative Strategy')
- 3.1 The Problem With Multiple Modifications
- 3.2 Multiple Layers of Eventive Predications
- 3.3 Unique Eventives, Sentence Mood, and Some Aspects of Object Topicalization
- 3.4 An Interpretation of Partial Superposition
- 3.5 Semantic Economy Contra Conceptual Adequacy: Weighing Up Both Strategies
- 4. Domains of Aspectual Composition
- 4.1 Aspectual Composition above VP (I): Temporal Modification
- 4.2 Aspectual Composition above VP (II): Sentence Negation
- 4.3 Aspectual Composition below VP: Inner Aspectuality and the Telicity/Atelicity Dichotomy
- 4.4 Aspectual Composition below V°: Productive Derivations of Lexical Adjustments
- 5. Preliminary Conclusions
- VI. Tense, Discourse Structure, and the Sequencing of Eventives
- 1. A Dynamic Interpretation of Tense
- 1.1 The Anaphoric Character of Tense
- 1.2 Reference Times and Chains of Reference Times
- 1.3 Some Conclusions from Partee's Account
- 2. A Dynamic-Semantic Account of the German Tense System
- 2.1 The Dynamic and Compositional Approach of Dynamic Montague Grammar
- 2.2 Time and Sequence: The Two-Part Anaphora of Tense
- 3. Further Anaphoric Temporal Expressions: Adverbs and Conjunctions
- 4. Discourse Relations, the Parameter S, and the Reconstruction of Temporal Sequences
- 5. A Sample Text
- VII. Conclusion
- Appendix to chapter VI: Step-by-Step Composition of the Bäuerlein Text
- References
- Text Sources
- Index of Figures
- Index of Symbols and Abbreviations
- Word Index
