2022
A mereotopological account of the event-external/internal distinction
WĄGIEL, MarcinBasic information
Original name
A mereotopological account of the event-external/internal distinction
Authors
WĄGIEL, Marcin (616 Poland, guarantor, belonging to the institution)
Edition
15th Conference on Syntax, Phonology, and Language Analysis (SinFonIJA 15), 22/09/2022, University of Udine, 2022
Other information
Language
English
Type of outcome
Presentations at conferences
Field of Study
60203 Linguistics
Country of publisher
Italy
Confidentiality degree
is not subject to a state or trade secret
References:
RIV identification code
RIV/00216224:14210/22:00129370
Organization unit
Faculty of Arts
Keywords in English
event-internal quantification; event-external quantification; events; acts; occasions; multiplicatives; mereology; mereotopology; part-whole structures
Tags
Tags
International impact, Reviewed
Changed: 7/3/2023 15:19, Mgr. Marcin Wągiel, Ph.D.
Abstract
In the original language
A sentence such as *The salesman rang the doorbell three times* is ambiguous between an event-external interpretation (quantification over so-called `occasions') and an event-internal interpretation (quantification over so-called `acts' within a single occasion) (e.g., Cinque 1999). In this talk, I argue that the event-external/internal distinction in English receives a straightforward explanation once mereotopological notions are extended to the domain of events. Mereotopology assumes parthood (the mereological component) as well as connectedness (the topological component) (Casati & Varzi 1999) and allows for distinguishing between units and structured configurations thereof. Building on the mereotopological theory of time by Mazzola (2019), I propose that event-internal interpretations concern quantification over simplex singular eventualities, whereas event-external readings concern counting clusters thereof (see also Landman 2004, Henderson 2017).
Links
| GA20-16107S, research and development project |
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