The magic of the moment - what it means to be a punctual verb

Konferenzbeitrag

Lexical-semantic theories often suffer from the imprecision of the concepts they employ in their representations. This leads to a considerable decrease in empirical strength by inviting circular argumentation. A demonstration of how to go about overcoming such shortcomings will be carried out, using the lexical semantic concept of "punctuality" as an example. Firstly, I will argue that the distinction between punctuality and durativity plays a crucial role for the explanation of a wide range of syntactic and semantic phenomena. Secondly, I will discuss methodological issues involved in arriving at a more precise definition of punctuality and, finally, the notion of "punctuality" will be given an interpretation on the basis of extensive consultation of research on cognitive time concepts.

Object Details

• Language: Englisch

Classification and Topics

• Subject: Deutsch ; Englisch ; Verb ; Germanische Sprachen; Deutsch

Contributors, Places and Time

• Event: Geistige Schöpfung
• (who): Engelberg, Stefan
• (when): 1999
• Event: Veröffentlichung
• (who): Berkeley : Berkeley Linguistics Society

Further information

• URN: urn:nbn:de:bsz:mh39-10762
• Last update: 06.03.2025, 9:00 AM CET