This paper contains a cross-linguistic investigation of epistemic comparatives that reveals two novel observations: i) some languages allow these constructions with the indicative present, while others require overt modal morphology; ii) the split seems to correlate with the presence of indexical present, as detected by Sequence Of Tense phenomena (SOT). More specifically, epistemic comparatives with indicative present tend to occur in non-SOT languages. We account for these observations by combining recent formalizations of anchoring to the Speaker's Perspective (e.g., Wiltschko 2014) with Giorgi's 2010 analysis of SOT phenomena. The findings reported in the paper contribute to uncovering a deeper connection between two apparently distinct phenomena: SOT and epistemic comparatives.
Epistemic comparatives: a cross-linguistic investigation / Goncharov, Julie; Irimia, Monica Alexandrina. - (2018), pp. 169-176. (Intervento presentato al convegno West Coast Conference on Formal Linguistics 35 (2017) tenutosi a Calgary, AB, Canada nel 20 aprile - 30 aprile 2017).
Epistemic comparatives: a cross-linguistic investigation
Monica Alexandrina IRIMIA
2018
Abstract
This paper contains a cross-linguistic investigation of epistemic comparatives that reveals two novel observations: i) some languages allow these constructions with the indicative present, while others require overt modal morphology; ii) the split seems to correlate with the presence of indexical present, as detected by Sequence Of Tense phenomena (SOT). More specifically, epistemic comparatives with indicative present tend to occur in non-SOT languages. We account for these observations by combining recent formalizations of anchoring to the Speaker's Perspective (e.g., Wiltschko 2014) with Giorgi's 2010 analysis of SOT phenomena. The findings reported in the paper contribute to uncovering a deeper connection between two apparently distinct phenomena: SOT and epistemic comparatives.File | Dimensione | Formato | |
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