Dr. Neda Todorovic: What is needed to obtain future interpretation?

Dr. Neda Todorovic, a post-doctoral fellow in the Department of Linguistics, will be giving a talk about her research at this time as part of the UBC Department of Linguistics Colloquia.

What is needed to obtain future interpretation?

Abstract
This talk aims to show the peculiarity of future reading cross-linguistically. For instance, in languages lacking temporal morphology, such as Lillooet Salish and Washo, verbal forms are (to some extent) ambiguous between present and past interpretation, but they do not receive future reading. In order to obtain this reading, an overt future/modal component is required. However, restrictions on future can be more fine-grained: a) some temporally unmarked contexts will allow for it even in those languages (Washo, Paraguayan Guaraní), b) restrictions will sometimes be aspect-sensitive, i.e. only the perfective will disallow for it (Chinese). In this talk, I focus on aspectual restrictions, showing that they arise even in languages traditionally assumed to have temporal morphology, Serbian. I argue that the apparently unsystematic distribution with future readings in the language can be captured in a principled manner by the syntax-semantics interplay; when the perfective occurs in future contexts, it is due to a covert modal component in the structure, which independently needs to be syntactically licensed. In turn, the distribution of the perfective reveals the structure of the higher, modal-temporal domain. Regarding the above-mentioned languages, the availability of future readings can also be captured with a covert future/modal element in the structure.

However, as with any covert component, it sometimes becomes tricky to motivate its presence. This has especially been evident with assuming the covert future element in complements of verbs like ‘want’, where it can be alternatively argued that future reading stems from the matrix verb, and not from its complement. However, while this problem arises in Indo-European languages, Gitksan provides evidence of this component – complements of verbs like ‘want’ obligatorily contain a future element dim(investigated in a joint project with Lisa Matthewson).

Note: This talk *is* eligible for LOC credit.