[PLing] Talk by Boban Arsenijevic, Mon 25

[Viola Schmitt]

Dear all,

on Monday, March 25, Boban Arsenijevic (Universität Graz) will give give 
talk with the title `Deriving implication, causation, concession and 
counterfactuality, a view from Serbo-Croatian' (see below for abstract). 
The talk will start at 3 pm, at the linguistics department, Seminarraum 
6 (Sensengasse 3a). It is jointly organized by the linguistics 
department and the project `Conjunction and disjunction from a 
typological perspective'. Everyone is cordially invited.

In the name of all the organizers,

Viola Schmitt


Title: Deriving implication, causation, concession and 
counterfactuality, a view from Serbo-Croatian
Abstract: Building on the previous work in the area of syntax and 
semantic of subordinate clauses, Arsenijević (2006) argues that all 
subordinate clauses are derived by a generalized pattern of 
relativization. One argument in the clause is abstracted, turning the 
clause into a predicate over the respective type. The traditional 
taxonomy of subordinate clauses neatly maps onto the taxonomy of 
arguments - from the arguments selected by the verb to the temporal 
argument, or the argument of comparison. One striking anomaly is that 
four traditional clause-types: conditional, counterfactual, concessive 
and purpose clauses are best analyzed as involving abstraction over the 
situation argument (the one that restricts the domain of situations 
described by the proposition in the subordinate clause). In this paper, 
relying mostly on Serbo-Croatian data, I provide arguments that support 
the situation-analysis for all four types, and explain why 
situation-relatives come exactly in these four flavors.