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Modification of stative predicates

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2026

Thomas Ernst
Thomas Ernst*
Affiliation:
University of Massachusetts, Amherst, and Dartmouth College
*
[ternst@linguist.umass.edu]
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Abstract

Manner and locative expressions modifying stative predicates, as in own (something) honestly and (be) quiet in the car, are rare compared to those modifying dynamic predicates, and it has been claimed (for example, in Maienborn 2005 and Katz 2008) that they are systematically excluded on semantic grounds. I argue here that this is not so: in fact, they are perfectly acceptable once the restrictions on them are understood. I propose further that these restrictions take the form of (i) a pragmatic condition that generally bans locative modification of stative predicates, but that may be overridden in certain defined contexts, and (ii) regular semantic incompatibilities between adverbs and stative predicates, which, being semantically ‘impoverished’, have relatively few modifiable semantic features compared to dynamic predicates. These proposals are supported by extensive examples. The conclusions indicate that there is no need to treat states as fundamentally different from other eventualities, whether by invoking Kimian states or by avoiding eventuality variables altogether in their representations.

Keywords

stateseventsstative predicateslocative modificationmanner adverbseventuality variables

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Type
Research Article
Information
Language , Volume 92 , Issue 2 , June 2016 , pp. 237 - 274
Copyright
Copyright © 2016 Linguistic Society of America

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