The Phrase Structure of Tense

Time and the event: The semantics of Russian prefixes

“…A somewhat different implementation of the intuitive separation I am pursuing can be found in Stowell (1996). Here, a phrase structural node, ZP (Zeit Phrase) is embedded under the T projection to give two temporal variables that are related by the Tense head.…”

“…Here, a phrase structural node, ZP (Zeit Phrase) is embedded under the T projection to give two temporal variables that are related by the Tense head. (15) TP Stowell (1996) calls ZP here is equivalent to my AspP. For him, this is the projection that denotes the event time; it is one of the arguments of the tense head T (whose other argument-the speech time in matrix clauses-is the other ZP in the specifier of T).…”

"Be Going To" as a Case of High Aspect

“…However, the existence of high aspect in com bination with low aspect (e.g., (6» means that this view, which would exclude such a case, is too restrictive. Either we must invent more Reichenbachian primitives to account for all the temporal variables in such a sentence, or give up on the idea that they are primitives, as has been independently suggested by Stowell (1996). The evidence that there can be more than two tense-aspect elements in a sentence is complemented by evidence that there can be fewer than two, for which see, e.g., Kratzer (1998), Dechaine (1991), and En� (1996).…”

Existentials, A-chains and reconstruction

“…Lasnik (1992) notes that accusative objects must be adjacent to the verbs that check their accusative Case. Since Stowell (1981), this has been regularly diagnosed as a fact about Case, viz. in licensing accusative Case, the licensor and licensee must be linearly adjacent.…”

“…in licensing accusative Case, the licensor and licensee must be linearly adjacent. Stowell (1981) proposes that accusative Case be assigned under government plus adjacency. Lasnik (1992) is less specific as his point does not rely on the details of Case licensing.…”