Aspect in Ancient Greek - Nijmegen Centre for Semantics

4.7 Imperfective and coercion: the habitual interpretation 101(126) HAB = λPλet ′′′t ′′′ ⊂ tC(t ′′′ )→ [t t ′ t ′′τ(e) = te ′τ(e ′ ) = t ′′′ ⊕P(e ′ )]¬ [ ⊕P(e)]t ′ ⊂ tt ′′ ⊂ tC(t ′ )C(t ′′ )t ′ ≠ t ′′HAB(P) is true of an eventualitye if every contextually relevant (this is indicatedby the C) subset t ′′′ of the runtime t of e is the runtime of a P eventuality e.John has the habit of snoring, for example, if he snores at all relevant times,i.e. all times during which he sleeps. Moreover, it is required that e itselfbe a non-P eventuality (this addition is needed for unbounded predicates),and that there be at least two different contextually relevant subsets of t (toexclude that there may be a habit without there being a single occurrence ofthe relevant eventuality).HAB has the same problem as INGR that it’s only the time of the eventualitythat determines whether an eventuality counts as a habit, contrary to ourintuitions. Moreover, this C is of course a black box, the choice for at leasttwo contextually relevant times is arbitrary, and it may be better to relaxthe universal quantification to most. But crucially for our purposes, the timeassociated with HAB(P) is longer than the time associated with P, which isexactly what we want.The habitual interpretation of imperfective aspect emerges from the insertionof the habituality operator that avoids an impending clash in duration.Let me illustrate this with (127) (=(16)) (see also (222) in Appendix B):(127) ΕπEpiγρ Λέοντο̋ βασιλεοντο̋gar Leontos basileuontosduring prt Leon.gen be.king.ipfv.ptcp.genν Σπάρτηen Spartēiin Sparta.datτο̋tousthe.accλλου̋allousother.accετυχέοντε̋eutucheontesbe.successful.ipfv.ptcp.nomπολέµου̋polemouswars.accοhoithe.nomκα Ηγησικλέο̋kai Hēgēsikleosand Hegesicles.genΛακεδαιµνιοιLakedaimonioiLacedaemonians.nom