Abstract
In this article I present an outline of a theory of phrase structure that incorporates a series of functional projections forming the basis for the interpretation of tense. Most previous theories of tense have relied on an idiosyncratic set of semantic rules to account for the distribution and interpretation of particular tense forms. The theory that I develop here seeks to derive most of the semantics of tense from independently motivated principles of syntactic theory. To this end, I introduce a minimum of new theoretical machinery, though a more complex syntactic structure is required, involving an additional functional projection dominating the verb phrase and various phonetically null elements. In this respect, the theory is in the spirit of work in the Principles and Parameters framework associated with the interpretation of argument structure, thematic roles, and pronominal reference.
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Stowell, T. (1996). The Phrase Structure of Tense. In: Rooryck, J., Zaring, L. (eds) Phrase Structure and the Lexicon. Studies in Natural Language and Linguistic Theory, vol 33. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-015-8617-7_10
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-015-8617-7_10
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
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