Knowledge, causality, and temporal representation

ALEX LASCARIDES
1992 Linguistics  
In this paper, a formal semantic account of the simple past tense in text is offered. The contributions to the interpretation of text made by the text's syntactic structure, semantic content, aspectual classification, world knowledge of the causal relations between events, and Gricean pragmatic maxims are all represented within a single logical framework. This feature of the theory gives rise to solutions to several puzzles concerning the relation between the descriptive order of events in text
more » ... and their temporal relations in interpretation. (3) The council built the bridge. The architect drew up the plans. Max fell. John pushed him. Linguistics 30 (1992), 941-973 0024-3949/92/0030-0941 $2.00 © Walter de Gruyter Brought to you by | University of Edinburgh Authenticated | 129.215.224.45 Download Date | 5/21/13 12:26 PM Brought to you by | University of Edinburgh Authenticated | 129.215.224.45 Download Date | 5/21/13 12:26 PM Brought to you by | University of Edinburgh Authenticated | 129.215.224.45 Notes * This paper is a rewritten version of an HCRC research report published in June 1990. I would like to thank Nicholas Asher, Mimo Caenepeel, Lex Holt, Marc Moens, Jon Brought to you by | University of Edinburgh Authenticated | 129.215.224.45 Download Date | 5/21/13 12:26 PM
doi:10.1515/ling.1992.30.5.941 fatcat:o2tv6522fvbijb3lvllco6ix6y