The Structure of Predication

Author: Lenci A.

Source: Synthese, Volume 114, Number 2, February 1998 , pp. 233-276(44)

Publisher: Springer

Abstract:

The paper discusses the structure of non-verbal predication, with particular reference to the role of the copula. Differently from the main tenets of contemporary logico-philosophical and linguistic theories, a model of predication is proposed where the verbal component (specifically, tense information) is regarded as central in establishing the syntactic and semantic relation between a predicate and its subject. It is thus possible to recover some of the insights of the pre-Fregean analysis of predication. The proposed solution has a number of significant consequences for the structure to be assigned to non-verbal predication, in particular for the semantics of `small clause' constituents, where the predication is established without the copula.

Language: English

Document Type: Regular paper

Affiliations: 1: Dipartimento di Filosofia, Universitá degli Studi di Pisa, Piazza Torricelli, 3/a, 56100 Pisa (Italy), E-mail: lenci@alphalinguistica.sns.it, Web: http://alphalinguistica.sns.it/lencilenci">

Publication date: 1998-02-01

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