A Delineation solution to the puzzles of absolute adjectives

Unlikely Imperfectives

“…4 Kennedy & McNally (2005); Kennedy (2007) develop an analysis of this distinction in terms of scale structure, arguing that the abstract scales of measurement for the properties encoded by absolute adjectives have different structures than the scales for properties encoded by relative adjectives. Other analyses conceive of this distinction as dependent on the type of context-sensitivity encoded by the adjectival semantics (Burnett 2014;van Rooij 2011). Further discussion is provided in section 4.…”

“…15 Nor do other theories of the relative/absolute distinction in gradable adjectives provide purchase on an analysis of the difference between (14a) and (14b). Burnett (2014), for example, explains the difference between relative and absolute adjectives in terms of their comparison classes, but there is no evidence that (14a) and (14b) are interpreted with respect to something like a comparison class. 16 Portner (1998) considers and rejects an account in which (24a) and (24b) describe different events, and I concur.…”

“…Indeed, the sorites premise is often formulated in terms of the Tolerance Principle, as in (30) (Cobreros, Egré, Ripley & van Rooij 2012;Burnett 2014).…”

Um rascunho para a semântica de muito: explorando a Semântica de Delineação

“…Essa proposta estende a Semântica de Delineação (KLEIN, 1980;BURNETT, 2014;2015) para o domínio dos eventos. A expressão muito P, em suas várias manifestações (modificando verbos, adjetivos ou nomes), é uma função que denota o conjunto contextualmente dado dos indivíduos ou eventos que estão na extensão positiva do predicado.…”

“…O artigo apresenta o esboço de uma proposta para a semântica de muito adverbial no Português Brasileiro (PB) contemporâneo dentro do quadro de uma Semântica de Delineação (KLEIN, 1980;BURNETT, 2014;2015).…”