Abstract
The goal of this paper is to re-examine some aspects of the nature of specificational copular constructions by looking at the ways in which the semantics of tense interacts with the semantics of the copula in English. I propose that Tense Harmony (restrictions on the tense of a relative clause in the subject position of specificational copular constructions) is imposed by the interaction between the matrix and embedded tenses.
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Sharvit, Y. Tense and Identity in Copular Constructions. Natural Language Semantics 11, 363–393 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1025528225951
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1025528225951