The Semantic Variability of Absolute Constructions

I. The Semantic Variability of Free Adjuncts and Absolutes.- 1. Introduction to Free Adjuncts and Absolutes in English.- 1.1. The Free Adjunct Construction.- 1.2. The Nominative and Augmented Absolute Constructions.- 2. Traditional Thoughts on the Semantic Variability of Free Adjuncts and Absolutes.- 3. Plan of Discussion.- 4. Some Syntactic Conventions.- 4.1. Binary Features.- 4.2. Morphological Functions.- 4.3. Main Verb Marking.- 4.4. Subject Marking.- 4.5. Syntactic Subroutines.- Footnotes.- II. Modality and the Interpretation of Free Adjuncts.- 1. The Semantic Bifurcation of Free Adjuncts in Modal Contexts.- 2. Explaining the Entailment Properties of Strong and Weak Adjuncts in Modal Contexts.- 2.1. Kratzer's Theory of Conditional Modality.- 2.2. The Roles of Strong and Weak Adjuncts in Modal Sentences.- 2.2.1. Weak Adjuncts in Modal Contexts.- 2.2.2. Strong Adjuncts in Modal Contexts.- 3. A Semantic Correlate of the Distinction between Strong and Weak Adjuncts.- 3.1. Carlson's Ontology of Stages and Individuals.- 3.2. A Categorial Distinction between Stage-level and Individual-level Predicates.- 3.2.1 Be1 ? PIV i/PREDs.- 3.2.2 Be2 ? PIV i/PREDi.- 3.2.3 Be3 ? PIV s/PREDi.- 3.2.4 Be4 ? PIV s/PREDs.- 3.3. The Stage/Individual Distinction as a Semantic Correlate of the Weak/Strong Distinction.- 3.4. Adjuncts with As and With.- 4. Chapter Summary.- Footnotes.- III. Tense and the Interpretation of Free Adjuncts.- 1. Preliminaries.- 1.1. Interval Semantics.- 1.2. Temporal Abstracts.- 1.2.1. Rules of Tense.- 1.2.2. Shifting and Nonshifting Tenses.- 1.3. Two Categories of Time Adverbs.- 1.3.1. Time Adverbs of Category TA.- 1.3.2. Time Adverbs of Category MTA.- 1.4. The Semantics of Temporal Adverbial Clauses.- 1.4.1. The Analysis of Tense in Temporal Adverbial Clauses.- 1.4.2. Unbounded Dependencies in Temporal Adverbial Clauses.- 1.4.3. Temporal Adverbial Clauses with Main Tense Adverbs.- 1.4.4. Remarks on Some Unacceptable Temporal Adverbials.- 1.4.5. Remarks on the Assumed Truthconditions for Temporal Adverbial Clauses.- 1.4.5.1. When.- 1.4.5.2. While.- 1.4.5.3. Before.- 1.4.5.4. After.- 1.5. Summary of Tense and Time Adverb System.- 2. The Temporal Reference of Free Adjuncts.- 2.1. A-Abstracts.- 2.2. Deriving Conditional Adjuncts.- 2.3. Deriving Adsentential Adjuncts.- 3. Frequency Adverbs and the Distinction between Strong and Weak Adjuncts.- 3.1. The Semantics of Relative Frequency Adverbs.- 3.2. Adjuncts Restricting the Interpretation of Relative Frequency Adverbs.- 4. A Generalization Operator.- 4.1. Two Sorts of Interpretations for Temporal Adverbial Clauses.- 4.2. Generalization Operators.- 4.3. Adjuncts Restricting the Generalization Operator G".- 5. Chapter Summary.- Footnotes.- IV. Aspect and the Interpretation of Free Adjuncts.- 1. The Perfect Tense and the Interpretation of Free Adjuncts.- 1.1. The Semantic Unspecificity of the Perfect.- 1.2. The Formal Semantics of the Perfect in Finite Clauses.- 1.3. The Formal Semantics of the Perfect in Free Adjuncts.- 2. An Argument for Free Adjuncts as Main Tense Adverbs.- 3. The Progressive Aspect and the Interpretation of Free Adjuncts.- 3.1. The Semantics of Present Participial Phrases.- 3.2. The Formal Semantics of Present Participial Adjuncts.- 4. Chapter Summary.- Footnotes.- V. The Formal Semantics of Absolutes.- 1. Modality and the Interpretation of Absolutes.- 1.1. Weak and Strong Absolutes.- 1.2. Formalizing the Distinction Between Strong and Weak Absolutes.- 1.3. Deriving Conditional Absolutes.- 2. Tense and the Interpretation of Absolutes.- 2.1. Absolutes and Relative Frequency Adverbs.- 2.2. Absolutes and the Generalization Operator G".- 3. Absolutes as Main Tense Adverbs.- 4. Chapter Summary.- Footnotes.- VI. Inference and the Logical Role of Free Adjuncts and Absolutes.- 1. Summary of the Proposed Semantic Analysis of Free Adjuncts and Absolutes.- 2. The Role of Inference in the Interpretation of Free Adjuncts and Absolutes.- 2.1. Two Kinds of Inferences.- 2.2. Inferences, Adjuncts, and Absolutes.- 2.2.1. Carlson's Ontology.- 2.2.2. Instantaneousness.- 2.2.3. Word Order.- 2.2.4. Knowledge of the World.- 2.2.5. Connective Adverbs.- 2.3. Pragmatically Admissible Values for L and M.- 3. On the Possibility of Deriving Absolute Constructions from Adverbial Subordinate Clauses.- 4. On the Possibility that the Logical Role of an Absolute Construction is Always Inferred.- 5. Theoretical Implications.- Footnotes.- Appendix - A Formal Fragment for Free Adjuncts and Absolutes.- 1. Intensional Logic.- 2. Syntax and Translation Rules for a Fragment of English.- 2.1. Syntax.- 2.2. Translation.- References.- Index of Names.- General Index.