The German Perfect: Its semantic composition and its interactions with temporal adverbials

by R. Musan

Overview

1. OUTLINE German has the three main perfect constructions which are illustrated in (1. 1). 1 In each of these constructions, the verb appears in the past participial form and is combined with an auxiliary - in this case, haben ('have'); other verbs form their perfect constructions with the auxiliary sein ('be'). 2 The auxiliary can then be com­ bined with a tense -Le. the present tense as in (Ua), the past tense as in (b), or the future tense as in (c). 3 (1. 1) a. PRESENT PERFECT: Die Eule hat die Schule verlassen. the owl has the school left b. PAST PERFECT: Die Eule hatte die Schule verlassen. the owl had the school left c. FUTURE PERFECT: Die Eule wird die Schule verlassen haben. the owl will the school left have As will shortly become clear, the present perfect is the most intricate of the perfect constructions in German. It has been investigated intensely in the past, with the result that today there is little doubt about what the core problems concerning its semantics are.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9789401005524
Publisher:	Springer-Verlag New York, LLC
Publication date:	12/06/2012
Series:	Studies in Linguistics and Philosophy , #78
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
File size:	8 MB

Table of Contents

1: Introduction.- 1. Outline.- 2. Tense and aspect.- 3. Contexts and temporal specifications.- 4. The tenses in German.- 5. Temporal interpretation and individuals.- 6. A formal semantic implementation of tense and aspect.- 7. Conclusion.- 2: The Semantics Of The Present Perfect.- 1. Perfectly compositional.- 2. The morphosyntactic source of the anteriority component.- 3. The stativity of perfect constructions.- 4. Identifying the synchronic anteriority component: an optimality approach to focus effects.- 5. Conclusion, formal semantic account, and refinements.- 3: The Meaning Effects Of The Present Perfect.- 1. The problem.- 2. The effects of the present perfect.- 3. Previous accounts.- 4. How pragmatic principles operate on the semantics.- 5. Why past tense and present perfect often can be substituted by each other.- 6. Completedness effects.- 7. Indefiniteness effects.- 8. Present relevance.- 9. Stage-level-to-individual-level switches: Mozart’s lung disease.- 10. Individual-level-to-stage-level switches: temporary intelligence.- 11. English vs. German: Einstein and Princeton.- 12. Conclusion.- 4: Types Of Temporal Adverbials.- 1. Introduction.- 2. Quantificational adverbials, position adverbials, and duration adverbials.- 3. Duration adverbials and situation types.- 4. Distinguishing position and duration adverbials.- 5. The interpretation of nonquantificational temporal adverbials.- 5: Interactions With Temporal Adverbials.- 1. Introduction.- 2. The formal integration of temporal adverbials in semantic representations.- 3. Temporal adverbials on the tense level, aspect level, and participle level.- 4. Temporal adverbials as frame-setting modifiers.- 5. Temporal adverbials as restrictors of nontemporal quantifiers.- 6. Temporal adverbials below the participlelevel.- 7. Temporal adverbials with quantificational and nonquantificational components.- 8. Iteration of adverbials on a single level.- 9. On universal perfect readings.- 10. Remarks concerning negation.- 11. Summary.- 6: The Contribution Of Particular Adverbials.- 1. Introduction.- 2. Seit-adverbials: ‘up-to-TT’ interpretations.- 3. Extended now theories of perfect constructions: apparent evidence by up-to-TT-adverbials and why it is misleading.- 4. Existential and universal perfect readings.- 5. Temporal bis-adverbials: ‘TT-independent’ interpretations.- 6. Temporal in-adverbials.- 7. Adverbials of the type x-lang.- 8. Conclusion.- 7: Temporal Subordinate Clauses, Conjunctions, And Matrix Clauses.- 1. Introduction.- 2.’ simultaneity’ between main clause and subclause.- 3. Time parameters of the main clause before time parameters of the subclause.- 4. Time parameters of the main clause after time parameters of the subclause.- 5. Durational subclauses: solange (‘as long as’).- 6. Conclusion.- 8: On The Syntax Of Temporal Adverbials.- 1. Introduction.- 2. The unmarked surface order of temporal adverbials of a single level.- 3. Preposing of temporal adverbials in English.- 4. ‘Topicalization’ of temporal adverbials in German.- 5. Scrambling of temporal adverbials.- 6. Summary: base positions and surface positions of temporal adverbials.- 9: Conclusion.- References.

Editorial Reviews

From the reviews:

"This book provides an in-depth overview of perfect constructions in German and offers an extensive account of their uses from the perspective of a formal semantic framework. It also considers many pragmatic factors as well as particular characteristics of German Syntax…A thorough conclusion, list of references, and index make this work a useful manual for (advanced) students and scholars."(Linde Roels, LANGUAGE, volume 81, issue 3, page 784, 2005)

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