Perception verb complements in Akatek, a Mayan language

4 1. INTRODUCTION
consequence of the fact that it lacks positive belief content.
Dretske (1969), 30
Seeingn is open to events as well as objects. Events exist in time,
objects in space. `Events are given dates; objects (in contrast to the
things which happen to the objects) are not. Events do not have shape
and color; they have no precisely de ned spatial perimeter which segregates
them from neighboring objects and events' (Dretske (1969),
31). Events are happenings or occurrences, they involve amovement
or change of some sort. The occasions on which we see an event take
place without a change of some sort being involved are exceptional. To
describe the perception of an event as opposed to the perception of an
object D, Dretske suggests the following modi cation to (7):
(8) Sseesn an event = the event is visually di erentiated from its
immediate temporal environment by S
With regards to perception expressions, there is a potential for confusion
to arise from not carefully separating truth implication, i.e. what
we see, from utterance implication, i.e. what we saywe see. Truth
and utterance implication are de ned in the following way (Dretske
(1969), 35):
(9) Truth implication
Q is a truth implication of S's statementifS's statementwould
not be true unless Q were true.
(10) Utterance implication
Q is an utterance implication of S's statement ifS would not,
normally, have made the statement unless Q were true.
First person singular, present tense, indicative active perceptual reports
imply that the speaker believes what she has seen. In other words,
when saying (11-a), the speaker has (or at least believes herself to
have) identi ed what she claims to see, i.e. the bus. The utterance
implication of (11-a), `I believe that that is a bus', must be kept apart
from the truth implication. The reason is that it is the speaker's saying
she sees a bus and not her seeing the bus that implies that she believes
that whatever is approaching her is a bus. Therefore, it would be
paradoxical for her to utter (11-b).
(11) a. I see the bus approaching. Dretske (1969), 36
b. ?I see a bus approaching, but I do not believe a bus is
approaching. Dretske (1969), 37