A Grammar of Italian Sequence of Tense - Lear

More documents

Recommendations

Info

128 A Grammar of Italian Sequence of Tense (39) Gianni ha ipotizzato che Maria fosse incinta Gianni hypothesized that Maria is (PRES SUBJ) pregnant In sentence (39), a past subjunctive is embedded under a past indicative, as illustrated in the previous section. However, independence of this predicate the following sentence is also possible: (40) Gianni ha ipotizzato che Maria sia incinta Gianni hypothesized that Maria was(PAST SUBJ) pregnant. The observation relevant for the present discussion is that in (40) the temporal interpretation of the embedded verbal form is analogous to the one illustrated above for the indicative clauses, in that the DAR is enforced. The following example is therefore odd, for the same reasons I gave above for example (3): 15 (41) #Due anni fa, Gianni ha ipotizzato che Maria sia incinta Two years ago, Gianni hypothesized that Maria is(PRES SUBJ) pregnant Sentence (40) (obligatorily) means that Maria’s pregnancy holds at the time of the hypothesizing and at the time of the utterance. This piece of evidence therefore parallels the phenomena discussed in section 2.1.1 above. On the basis of this piece of evidence, it can be concluded that in most cases subjunctive verbal forms do not enter in the establishing of temporal relations. They seem to be transparent, being only an instantiation of temporal agreement with a superordinate verbal form. At a closer look, however, the subjunctive morphology turns out to be in some cases endowed with temporal content, undergoing the same SOT rules which govern the indicative. 15 . Consider also that the following sentence: (i) *Gianni credeva che Maria sia incinta Gianni believed that Maria is(PRES SUBJ) pregnant Even if ungrammatical, is interpreted. Interestingly, it has the DAR interpretation. This fact shows that the DAR is a property of a general syntactic configuration, given that in this case it seems independent both from the nature of the superordinate predicate and from the nature of the embedded verb – in this case a subjunctive, typically not exhibiting the DAR.
Alessandra Giorgi The question at this point is for what reason the DAR is obligatory in this structure and why a present subjunctive under a past is allowed in the case of ipotizzare (hypothesize), in example (40), but not with credere (believe) in example (32). This question can be immediately answered in a somewhat informal way. The verb hypothesize in Italian can be used in two different situations. The speaker can be talking about Gianni’s mental processes –in which case, the sentence concerns a particular thought that appeared in Gianni’s mind in a hypothetical form– or she can be describing Gianni’s behavior. If so, the speaker is reporting a communication –i.e., a speech act– made by Gianni in a hypothetical way. 16 In sentence (40) only the latter possibility is available, whereas in sentence (39) both are possible. The verbs of communication in Italian in general select the indicative and exhibit the DAR, whereas mental states (mostly) select the subjunctive. Hence, ipotizzare (hypothesize) has an intermediate status: It selects the subjunctive, like mental state predicates, but when endorsed with a communicative meaning it permits a non-agreeing subjunctive and requires the DAR. 17 In what follows, I’ll address the following question: haw can the ipotizzare examples be explained? And, more generally, what triggers indicative/ subjunctive morphology and DAR/ non-DAR interpretation? The answers to these questions will prove to be relevant not only to achieve a better characterization of the subjunctive in itself, but also to clarify what exactly determines the indicative/ subjunctive distinction. 16 . J. Higginbotham pointed out to me that the verb guess in English seems to exhibit the same double meaning. 17 . The fact that a verb such as credere (believe) selects the subjunctive is not a universal property, given that in many languages –as French and Spanish, among the others– verbs of believing select the indicative as well. Portuguese, on the contrary, is like Italian. However, the distinction between verb referring to speech act and those referring to mental states is relevant in Italian. Giorgi and Pianesi (1997) hypothesized a semantic parameter to account for this fact: Some languages, as Italian, are sensitive to the speech act/ mental state distinction, whereas other ones might be sensitive to peculiar modal properties of the contexts. See also Quer (to appear). 129
Page 1 and 2: 1. Introduction A Grammar of Italia
Page 3 and 4: (1) Gianni ha detto che Maria è in
Page 5 and 6: Alessandra Giorgi are languages tha
Page 7 and 8: Alessandra Giorgi unjustified. In K
Page 9 and 10: Alessandra Giorgi been further elab
Page 11 and 12: Alessandra Giorgi what interpretati
Page 13 and 14: Alessandra Giorgi Analogously to th
Page 15 and 16: Alessandra Giorgi (29) Gianni crede
Page 17: Alessandra Giorgi relations. Conseq
Page 21 and 22: Alessandra Giorgi according to the
Page 23 and 24: Alessandra Giorgi Moreover, in many
Page 25 and 26: Alessandra Giorgi The embedded past
Page 27 and 28: Alessandra Giorgi The hypothesis di
Page 29 and 30: Alessandra Giorgi Even if it is int
Page 31 and 32: Alessandra Giorgi interpretation is
Page 33 and 34: Alessandra Giorgi In other words, i
Page 35 and 36: Alessandra Giorgi A past such as è
Page 37 and 38: Alessandra Giorgi 6.2. Sequence of
Page 39 and 40: Alessandra Giorgi The interpretatio
Page 41 and 42: Alessandra Giorgi (107) *Gianni avr
Page 43 and 44: Alessandra Giorgi for all complemen
Page 45 and 46: Alessandra Giorgi Giorgi, Alessandr

A Grammar of Italian Sequence of Tense - Lear

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?