Degree Achievements of Color

doi:10.1017/9781108674195.006

4 - Degree Achievements of Color

from I - Syntax–Lexicon Interface

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 03 August 2019

Mythili Menon and

Roumyana Pancheva

Edited by

Mónica Cabrera and

José Camacho

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Mónica Cabrera: Affiliation:
Loyola Marymount University, California
José Camacho: Affiliation:
Rutgers University, New Jersey

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Summary

Degree achievement verbs (increase, fall, grow, age) present challenges for theories of argument structure based on aspectual characterizations (Abusch, 1986; Dowty, 1979, 1991; among others). These verbs show variable behavior with respect to telicity, and, furthermore, the (a)telic interpretation is not straightforwardly affected by properties of the verbs’ arguments, unlike the case of incremental theme verbs (eat an apple vs. eat apples) or directed motion verbs (descend vs. descend the stairs).

A subclass of degree achievement verbs is morphologically related to gradable adjectives (widen, cool, dry, lengthen) and they too exhibit the peculiar telicity properties of the wider class of degree achievements. It is now standardly believed that the aspectual properties of deadjectival degree achievements can be attributed to the scalar structure of the base adjective (Deo et al., 2013; Hay et al., 1999; Kennedy & Levin, 2008; Winter, 2006).

Type: Chapter
Information: Exploring Interfaces , pp. 85 - 108

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108674195.006 [Opens in a new window]

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Print publication year: 2019

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