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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page
ABSTRACT ...iv
LIST OF TABLES ...viii
CHAPTER 1. ISSUES IN TENSE SEMANTICS...1
1.1. Preliminary: Formalities and Assumptions ...3
1.2. A Starting Point: Priorian Tense Logic ...8
1.3. Does Natural Language Employ Explicit Quantification over Times?...12
1.4. Context Dependency of Tense Interpretation: Is Tense an Existential Quantifier?...29
1.5. Tense Morphemes and Temporal Interpretations...45
1.5.1. Sequence of Tense Phenomena...48
1.5.1.1. Introduction ...48
1.5.1.2. Absolute Tense Theory and the SOT Phenomena...51
1.5.1.3. Past Tenses are Ambiguous...60
1.5.1.4. Are Present Tenses Ambiguous, Too? ...65
1.5.1.5. Previous Theories of the SOT: Ogihara and Abusch ....69
1.5.1.6. Are the SOT Phenomena Structural? ...75
1.5.2. Temporal Interpretation of Non-Verbal Predicates...78
1.5.3. Summary ...81
1.6. Tense in Non-Sequence of Tense Languages ...82
2. TENSE IN RELATIVE CLAUSES...95
2.1. Tense in Relative Clauses in English...97
2.1.1. Properties of Tense Interpretation in Relative Clauses ...97
2.1.2. A Tense Theory for Vacuous Tense...103
2.1.3. Tense in Relative Clauses: How is it Different from Tense in Clausal Complements?113 2.1.4. Against a Single-Index System...135
2.2. Temporal Interpretation of Tenseless Expressions...144
2.2.1. Temporal Interpretation of Nouns...147
2.2.2. Temporal Interpretation of Participles...168
2.2.3. Summary ...178
2.3. Tense in Relative Clauses in Non-SOT Languages...179
2.3.1. 'Relative Clauses' in Japanese...184
2.3.2. Russian Relative Clauses and Participle Constructions...205
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2.3.3. Summary of § 2.3.1. and § 2.3.2 ...214
2.3.4. The Past Tense in Non-SOT Languages...215
2.4. Summary ...220
3. TENSE IN TEMPORAL ADJUNCT CLAUSES...222
3.1. Ogihara's Relative Tense Hypothesis and Temporal Adjunct Clauses (TACs) in Japanese and English..223
3.2. Evidence against the Relative Tense Hypothesis ...234
3.3. Structures and Interpretations of TACs...246
3.3.1. TACs as Relative Clauses: English and Polish/Russian TACs...247
3.3.2. Some Remarks on Tense Mismatch...260
3.3.3. The Semantics of Before...262
3.3.4. Japanese TACs ...265
3.3.4.1. Japanese Before- and After-Clauses...266
3.3.4.2. Japanese When-Clauses...275
3.4. Implications for Issues of Explicit Quantification Over Times...286
3.5. Conclusions...292
BIBLIOGRAPHY ...294
