Sentence Semantics 1: Situations

Sentence Semantics 1: Situations

1. classifying a situation: SITUATION TYPE, TENSE, and ASPECT

   • SITUATION YIPE:
     • DESCRIBING STATE the speaker gives NO information about the internal structure of the state.(
     • STATIVE VERBS: be, have, remain, know, love
     • DYNAMIC SITUATION (verbs are typically used for dynamic situations)

2. LANGUAGES commonly allow speakers to describe a situation as static or unchanging.

3. There are two important semantic distinctions in verbs

   • The first distinction is between DURATIVE and PUNCTUAL
   • The second distinction is between TELIC and ATELIC

4. TENSE allows a speaker to locate a situation relative to some reference point in time

   • ASPECT: is a grammatical system relating to time, but here the speaker may choose how to describe the internal temporal nature of a situation.

5. CONDITIONAL SENTENCES: if-clause/condition, other clause/consequent