Another Look at Modi!cation in Spatial Prepositions

Abstract

The goal of this paper is to propose a uni!cation of two strands of research within the semantics of spatial prepositions. The !rst strand focuses on the socalled modi!cation problem, which can be stated as follows. Some, but not all spatial prepositions can occur in sentences including measure phrases, such as ten meters (Mario went ten meters in front of the car). The second strand focuses on so-called prepositional aspect: the fact that some but not all spatial prepositions can occur with temporal adverbial phrases such as in one hour. A uni!ed account is proposed, based on a minimal version of Type-Logical syntax combined with situation semantics. This uni!ed account is shown to explain and predict why, for instance, telic prepositions cannot occur with measure phrases (viz. *ten meters to the park). A compositional analysis of the contribution to lexical aspect of measure phrases, and their compositional interplay with spatial prepositions and temporal adverbials, is o"ered in detail. The main conclusion is that measure phrases do contribute to the lexical aspect reading of a sentence, but do so in fairly subtle (and compositionally-based) ways.