LINGUIST List 3.709

Mon 21 Sep 1992

FYI: ASL and Handedness; Indiana Lecture Series

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Message 1: ASL and Handedness

Date: Thu, 17 Sep 92 13:32:49 PDASL and Handedness
From: David Corina <corinagizmo.usc.edu>
Subject: ASL and Handedness

A useful article can be found in:

Vaid, Bellugi, & Poizner Hand Dominance for Signing: Clues to Brain Lateralization of Language Neuropsychologia (1989) Vol 27[7] 949-960

D.Corina U.S.C.

Message 2: announcement Indiana lecture series

Date: Sat, 19 Sep 92 12:56:28 ESannouncement Indiana lecture series
From: <JROORYCKucs.indiana.edu>
Subject: announcement Indiana lecture series

The Syntax Reading Group at Indiana University presents the second lecture in its Multidisciplinary Seminar:

The Indiana Lecture Series in Formal Syntax: Phrase structure and the Lexicon

sponsored by the Office of Academic Affairs and Dean of the Faculties

Tim Stowell (UCLA) 'THE STRUCTURE OF TENSE'

Wednesday, September 23, 1992 Ballantine Hall 005, at 7.30 p.m.

ABSTRACT

In this talk I construct a theory of tense and temporal refer- ence utilizing the GB subtheories of X-bar phrase structure, predicate-argument structure, binding, control, and quantification. The theory is based on a synthesis of Zagona's (1990) theory of tense and the theory of DP structure developed by Abney (1986) as amended in Stowell (1989). Tense is a dyadic predicate of temporal ordering, taking time- denoting phrases as arguments; thus a tense expresses a relation such as "Time X is before/after/simultaneous with Time Y". Like a verbal predicate, Tense projects a TP with its internal argument as its complement and its external argument as its subject. The internal argument of Tense denotes the time of the event or situation associated with the VP predicate; this argument is a time-denoting category called ZP ("Zeit-phrase"), analogous to the individual- denoting category DP. Z is the temporal analog of the definite or indefinite article, and it binds the temporal argument of VP, analogous to D binding the external "R" argument of NP. The external argument of Tense is a ZP analogue of PRO, denoting the reference time; in a matrix clause PRO-ZP lacks any c-commanding possible antecedent, and denotes Utterance Time; in an embedded clause, PRO- ZP is controlled by the temporal argument of the matrix VP. Within this framework, I sketch out a new approach to various theoretical issues involving tense, ranging from the phenomenon of "sequence of tense" (SOT) effects to the ordering of events in com- plex sentences. The account of SOT is based on the idea that in SOT languages such as English, "tense" morphology is not a realization of the category Tense, but rather a cliticized time-denoting phrase. The distinction between morphological past and present (in see/sees vs. saw) is analogous to the distinction between the negative polarity item any and its counterpart some; just as any signals the presence of a higher Negation, so morphological past signals the presence of a c-commanding Past Tense head, while not itself being an instance of Past. Thus morphological past is really a "Past Polarity Item" (PPI), whereas morphological present signals the absence of a c-commanding Past, analogous to some in relation to Negation. The relevant c-command relations hold at LF, reflecting de dicto/de re distinctions (cf. Abusch 1988).