The Role of Verb Meaning in the Calculation of Aspectual Interpretations

A compositional approach to semantic interpretation bases itself on the contribution of each individual lexical and morphological item contained in a sentence. This paper focuses on the role of the dictionary meaning of verbs in the compositional approach to aspect. Lexicography can benefit from the analysis proposed as it makes it possible to better distinguish the semantics intrinsic to a particular verb from the semantics of its syntactic context. This paper shows that the meaning of individual verbs plays an important role in aspectual interpretations of sentences. The study of the interplay between a verb and the aspectual context in which it may occur can serve as the basis for determining a verb's meaning more precisely. One of the most marked outcomes of the proposed analysis is that many properties of verbs, usually associated with their dictionary meaning, may have to be attributed to their syntactic context. The presents analysis ventures into an area of research in lexical semantics that has received relatively little attention (Bondarko 1991). Using a compositional approach, the semantic interpretation of a sentence depends on the contribution of each individual lexical and morphological unit contained in that sentence. The contribution of a specific unit can only be determined when we differentiate aspects of meaning intrinsic to it from aspects of meaning that are inherent to its syntactic or morphological context. Taking into account the subtle interplay between an individual lexical or morphological unit and its context prevents an analysis that puts too much semantic content into a single unit and makes it possible to better understand the meaning of this unit. Following Verkuyl (1972) and (1993), I assume that aspectual interpretations are calculated compositionally and are based on the elements of meaning contributed by each lexical and morphological unit contained in a sentence. Aspectual classifications of verbs, like those of Vendler (1967) and Dowty (1979), are largely noncompositional and do not establish a relationship between the semantics of individual verbs and the various aspectual contexts in which they may occur. For instance, many verbs can occur in a syntactic context having an agentive interpretation and in one having a nonagentive achievement interpretation (Voorst 1993). It is