Temporal interpretation and cross-linguistic variation

This thesis investigates temporal and aspectual reference in the typologically unrelated African languages Hausa (Chadic, Afro–Asiatic) and Medumba (Grassfields Bantu). It argues that Hausa is a genuinely tenseless language and compares the interpretation of temporally unmarked sentences in Hausa to that of morphologically tenseless sentences in Medumba, where tense marking is optional and graded. The empirical behavior of the optional temporal morphemes in Medumba motivates an analysis as existential quantifiers over times and thus provides new evidence suggesting that languages vary in whether their (past) tense is pronominal or quantificational (see also Sharvit 2014). The thesis proposes for both Hausa and Medumba that the alleged future tense marker is a modal element that obligatorily combines with a prospective future shifter (which is covert in Medumba). Cross-linguistic variation in whether or not a future marker is compatible with non-future interpretation is proposed to be predictable from the aspectual architecture of the given language.

Level thesis:degree_level

thesis.doctoral

Grantor dc:publisher

Universität Potsdam

Year

2015

Author dc:creator

• Mucha, Anne

Contributors dc:contributor

• Zimmermann, Malte
• Matthewson, Lisa

• formal semantics
• tense
• aspect
• Chadic
• Grassfields Bantu
• Tempus
• Aspekt
• Formale Semantik
• Tschadisch

Statement dc:rights

• CC-BY-NC-ND - Namensnennung, nicht kommerziell, keine Bearbeitungen 4.0 International

Repository record source_url

https://publishup.uni-potsdam.de/frontdoor/index/index/docId/8593

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:kobv.de-opus4-uni-potsdam:8593