Skip to main content
Log in

Approximating the limit: the interaction between quasi ‘almost’ and some temporal connectives in Italian

  • Research Article
  • Published:
Linguistics and Philosophy Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

This paper focuses on the interpretation of the Italian approximative adverb quasi ‘almost’ by primarily looking at cases in which it modifies temporal connectives, a domain which, to our knowledge, has been largely unexplored thus far. Consideration of this domain supports the need for a scalar account of the semantics of quasi (close in spirit to Hitzeman’s semantic analysis of almost, in: Canakis et al. (eds) Papers from the 28th regional meeting of the Chicago Linguistic Society, 1992). When paired with suitable analyses of temporal connectives, such an account can provide a simple explanation of the patterns of implication that are observed when quasi modifies locational (e.g. quando ‘when’), directional (e.g. fino ‘until’ and da ‘since’), and event-sequencing temporal connectives (e.g. prima ‘before’ and dopo ‘after’). A challenging empirical phenomenon that is observed is a contrast between the modification of fino and da by quasi, on the one hand, and the modification of prima and dopo by the same adverb, on the other. While quasi fino and quasi da behave symmetrically, a puzzling asymmetry is observed between quasi prima and quasi dopo. To explain the asymmetry, we propose an analysis of prima and dopo on which the former has the meaning of the temporal comparative più presto ‘earlier’, while the latter is seen as an atomic predicate denoting temporal succession between events (Del Prete, Nat Lang Semantics 16:157–203, 2008). We show that the same pattern of implication observed for quasi prima is attested when quasi modifies overt comparatives, and propose a pragmatic analysis of this pattern that uniformly applies to both cases, thus providing new evidence for the claim that prima is underlyingly a comparative. A major point of this paper is a discussion of the notion of scale which is relevant for the semantics of quasi; in particular, we show that the notion of Horn (entailment-based) scale is not well-suited for handling modification of temporal connectives, and that a more general notion of scale is required in order to provide a uniform analysis of quasi as a cross-categorial modifier.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Amaral, P. (2006). On the semantics of almost. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the Linguistics Society of America, University of New Mexico.

  • Amaral, P. (2007). The meaning of approximative adverbs: Evidence from European Portuguese. Ph.D. dissertation, Ohio State University.

  • Beaver D., Clark B. (2003) Always and only: Why not all focus sensitive operators are equal. Natural Language Semantics 11: 323–362

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Caudal P., Nicolas D. (2005) Types of degrees and types of event structures. In: Maienborn C., Wöllstein A. (eds) Event arguments: Foundations and applications. Tübingen, Niemeyer, pp 277–300

    Google Scholar 

  • Davidson D. (1967) The logical form of action sentences. In: Rescher N. (ed.) The logic of decision and action. University of Pittsburgh Press, Pittsburgh, pp 81–120

    Google Scholar 

  • Del Prete F. (2008) A non-uniform semantic analysis of the Italian temporal connectives Prima and Dopo. Natural Language Semantics 16: 157–203

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • García-Medall J. (1993) Sobre casi y otros aproximativos. Dicenda. Cuadernos de Filologia Hispanica 11: 153–170

    Google Scholar 

  • Heim I., Kratzer A. (1998) Semantics in generative grammar. Blackwell, Malden & Oxford

    Google Scholar 

  • Hirschberg, J. (1985). A theory of scalar implicature. Ph.D. dissertation, University of Pennsylvania.

  • Hitzeman J. (1992) The selectional properties and entailments of “Almost”. In: Canakis C.P., Chan G.P., Marshall Denton J. (eds) Papers from the 28th regional meeting of the CLS. CLS, Chicago, pp 225–238

    Google Scholar 

  • Horn, L. R. (1972). On the semantic properties of logical operators in English. Ph.D. dissertation, UCLA.

  • Horn L.R. (1996) Exclusive company: Only and the dynamics of vertical inference. Journal of Semantics 13: 10–40

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Horn, L. R. (2002). Assertoric inertia and NPI-licensing. In Papers from the 38th annual meeting of the Chicago Linguistic Society, Parasession on polarity and negation, pp. 55–82.

  • Horn, L. R. (2008). Almost et al.: Scalar adverbs revisited. Ms., Yale University.

  • Huddleston, R., & Pullum, G. K. (2002). The Cambridge grammar of the english language. Cambridge University Press.

  • Kennedy C. (1999) Projecting the adjective. The syntax and semantics of gradability and comparison. Garland, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Kennedy C., McNally L. (2005) Scale structure, degree modification, and the semantics of gradable predicates. Language 81: 345–381

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Landman F. (1991) Structures for semantics. Kluwer, Dordrecht

    Google Scholar 

  • Landman F. (2000) Events and plurality. Kluwer, Dordrecht

    Google Scholar 

  • Lasersohn P. (1999) Pragmatic halos. Language 75: 522–551

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lewis D. (1979) Scorekeeping in a language game. Journal of Philosophical Logic 8: 339–359

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Morzycki, M. (2001). Almost and its kin, across categories. In Proceedings from semantics and linguistic theory, XI (pp. 306–325). Ithaca: CLC Publications.

  • Nouwen R. (2006) On the polar orientation of almost. In: Weijer J., Los B. (eds) Linguistics in the Netherlands 2006. Amisterdam, Benjamins

    Google Scholar 

  • Parsons T. (1985) Underlying events in the logical analysis of English. In: LePore E., McLaughlin B. (eds) Actions and events: Perspectives on the philosophy of Donald Davidson. Basil Blackwell, Oxford, pp 235–267

    Google Scholar 

  • Parsons T. (1990) Events in the semantics of English: A study in subatomic semantics. MIT Press, Cambridge, MA

    Google Scholar 

  • Penka, D. (2006). Almost there: The meaning of almost. In C. Ebert & C. Endriss (Eds.), Proceedings of Sinn und Bedeutung, (Vol. 10, pp. 275–286). Berlin: ZAS Papers in Linguistics 44.

  • Rapp I., von Stechow A. (1999) Fast ‘almost’ and the visibility parameter for functional adverbs. Journal of Semantics 16: 149–204

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rooth, M. (1985). Association with focus. Ph.D. dissertation, UMass Amherst.

  • Rooth M. (1992) A theory of focus interpretation. Natural Language Semantics 1: 65–116

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rothstein S. (2004) Structuring events: A study in the semantics of lexical aspect. Blackwell, Oxford

    Google Scholar 

  • Sadock J.M. (1981) Almost. In: Cole P. (ed.) Radical pragmatics. Academic Press, New York, pp 257–271

    Google Scholar 

  • Sevi, A. (1998). A semantics for almost and barely. M.A. thesis, Tel-Aviv University.

  • Winter, Y. (2006). Closure and telicity across categories. extended version of the SALT 16 paper, http://www.cs.technion.ac.il/.winter.

  • Zwicky A. (1982) Stranded to and phonological phrasing in English. Linguistics 20: 3–57

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Patrícia Amaral.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Amaral, P., Del Prete, F. Approximating the limit: the interaction between quasi ‘almost’ and some temporal connectives in Italian. Linguist and Philos 33, 51–115 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10988-010-9075-0

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10988-010-9075-0

Keywords

Navigation