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4 - Naive Physics and Aspectual Composition

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 October 2021

Henk J. Verkuyl
Henk J. Verkuyl
Affiliation:
Utrecht University
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Summary

Chapter 4 sketches how the contribution of ordinary language philosophers like Ryle, Kenny and Vendler to linguistic semantics has added to persistent terminological confusion. Their delivery of the Aristotelian legacy to linguistics consists of a sort of naive physical ontology at the cost of the principle of compositionality. The misleading translation of Greek verb forms occurring in the crucial passus of Metaphysics 1048b into the English Progressive Form will be argued to have been decisive for what natural (language) philosophy handed to linguists: an outdated vision on motion. The chapter also sketches the heavy work of a verb in taking all sorts of different arguments and argues that features are insufficient for the semantics of tense and aspect: they should be used as abbreviatory and for convenience only.

Keywords

actio infectaactio perfectaactualizationaspectual classenergeiaexchangeability of tensefiniskinesisprogressive prototyping
Type
Chapter
Information
The Compositional Nature of Tense, Mood and Aspect , pp. 93 - 130
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2021

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