Time-Grinding and the Use of Quan and Dou

This section aims to inspect whether quan and dou can occur in the sentence containing non-quantifying time adverbs. In other words, it gives an account for whether quan and dou can co-occur with a stage-referring sentence by virtue of time-grinding.

5.1 Time Grinding

Since the semantic and syntactic parallelism between nouns and verbs has been clarified (Allen, 1966; Bach 1989; Chierchia 1984; Quine 1960), it is reasonable to say that time can be ground as space. In what follows, we identify the distinction between atelic verbs and telic verbs. The distinction between the two types of verbs is crucial to our discussion.

5.1.1 Atelic Verbs versus Telic Verbs

Allen (1966) defines telic verbs as an act tending towards a goal. For example,

‘making a chair’ denotes an action, which has a termination. Atelic verbs are tied to actions, which have no terminating points. For instance, ‘singing’ does not have any minimal unit to identify. As soon as it begins, it can be called ‘singing’.

According to the idea of Domain E (Bach 1989), both eventualities and objects are ontological entities. It is logical that eventualities, whether telic or atelic, can be ground like substance and objects. In the following, it will be demonstrated that both the time occupied by the telic and atelic verb can be ground:

(25) a. He was making a chair.

b. He was singing.

(25a), which is in the progressive form, signals that the act of making a chair is perceived in

All-CL car all DE problem all fix-finish ASP.

All the problems of the car have been fixed.

(ii) 這部車會是下一個難題。

Zhe-bu che hui shi xia yi-ge nanti.

This-CL car will be next one-CL trouble.

‘This car will be the next headache.’

(iii) *這部車全部的問題是下一個難題。

Zhe-bu che quanbu de wenti shi xia yi-ge nanti.

First, we have to note that the process of deletion applies to semantically vacuous elements. Witness (iv) as follows:

(iv) I did not see the book (that) Peter recommended.

From (ii) and (iii), it is clear that quanbu de wenti ‘all the problems’ is not semantically empty. If it did not make contribution to meaning, its appearance with (ii) would not invite ungrammaticality as in (iii). If it is the case that quanbu de wenti ‘all the problems’ has semantic content, it follows that the sentence is not derived from (i).

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the time interval consumed by the whole eventuality²¹. In reality, it is unreasonable that one cannot identify the telic action before the termination. That is, one can never call it ‘making a chair’ until the product ‘chair’ has been made. Nevertheless, in our understanding of the real world, this telic action is able to be ground into smaller elements. ‘Singing’ in (25b) is not bounded to any termination. In other words, in either reality or our cognition, the act

‘singing’ is identifiable, even when it undergoes grinding. Put simply, any part of ‘singing’

is ‘singing’. We have stressed the differentiation between telic and atelic eventualities. We will proceed to illustrate the idea as to time grinding.

5.1.2 Grinding Temporally Restricted Situations

When the sentence contains a quantifying time adverb, the eventuality will be quantified over time and the reference of the sentence will not be restricted to one location in time. Instead, the non-quantifying time adverb restricts the reference of the sentence to a single location in time. That is to say, the non-quantifying time adverb gives rise to the reference to a temporally restricted situation.

However, through the universal grinder (Bach 1989), the denoted temporal location can be ground into more than one, regardless of whether the verb is atelic or telic. Note the following sentences:

(26) a. 他昨天在寫報告。(白天寫、晚上也寫！)

Ta zuotian zai xie baogao. (Baitain xie, wanshang ye xie!)

He yesterday ASP write report. (Daytime write, night time also write!)

‘He was writing reports yesterday. (He did it not only in the daytime, but also in the nighttime.)’

b. 他今天早上在練歌。(八點在練、十點在練、到十二點還在練!)

Ta jintian zaoshang zai lain ge. (Ba-dian zai lian, shi-dian zai lian, dao shier-dian hai zai lian!)

He today morning ASP practice song. (Eight-o’clock, ten-o’clock, and even twelve-o’clock!)

‘He was practicing songs this morning. (He did at 8, 10, and even 12 o’clock.)’

(26a) and (26b) contain atelic verbs. In (26a), zuotian ‘yesterday’, a non-quantifying time adverb, restricts the reference of the sentence to one location in time. However, by virtue of conceptual grinding, the restricted temporal location can be turned into at least two periods, the daytime and nighttime. Likewise, jiantian zaoshang ‘this morning’ in (26b) limits the reference of the sentence to one temporal location. The process of grinding, nevertheless,

21 The progressive form signals that the perception or observation is performed in the middle of the process without considering the ending point of the eventuality (Comrie 1976; Carlson 1977; Hatav 1989).

functions to cut the time into smaller parts, namely different periods of hours.

(26) c. 他昨天寫了一篇報告。(白天寫、晚上也寫!)

Ta zuotian xie le yi-pian baogao. (Baitain xie, wanshang ye xie!)

He yesterday write ASP one-CL report. (Daytime write, night time also write!)

‘He wrote a report yesterday. (Not only in the daytime, but also in the nighttime!) d. 他今天早上練了一首歌。(八點在練、十點在練、到十二點還在練!)

Ta jintian zaoshang lian le yi-shou ge. (Ba-dian zai lian, shi-dian zai lian, dao shier-dian hai zai lian!)

He today morning practice ASP one-CL song. (Eight-o’clock, ten-o’clock, and even twelve-o’clock!)

‘He practiced one song this morning. (From eight, ten, until twelve o’clock!) (26c) and (26d) are sentences containing telic verbs. In sentence (26c), through the operation of grinding, the restricted temporal period zuotian ‘yesterday’ can be seen as composed of the daytime and the nighttime as in (26a). Similarly, (26d), the limited temporal location jintian zaoshang ‘this morning’ can be separated into a number of hours as in (26b). In a word, the restricted temporal location referred to by the telic verb can be ground as well as the atelic verb.

5.2. Time-Grinding and Quan

It has been demonstrated that a temporal location can be ground into several segments.

With this in mind, we scrutinize whether quan is compatible with the non-quantifying time adverb through grinding. Let us examine (27a).

(27) a. ?? 他上星期(從星期一到星期六)全很忙。

Ta shang xinqi (cong xinqi yi dao xinqi liu) quan heng mang.

He last week (from week one to week six) all very busy.

(27a) contains the non-quantifying time adverb shang xinqi ‘last week’. The non- quantifying time adverb shang xinqi ‘last week’ restricts the reference of the sentence to one temporal location. However, by virtue of the universal grinder (Bach 1989), the week time can be ground into numerous week days, which invites a plural reading. However, it must be noted that quan cannot co-occur with a situation, which is spatially restricted but temporally unrestricted. In addition to (26a), sentence (26b) is given as another example:

(27) b. ?? 他以前(包括小學和國中時期)全相信有鬼。

Ta yiqian (baokuo xiaoxue han guozhong) quan xiangxin you gui.

He past (including elementary-school and junior-high-school) always all believe have ghost.

(27b) contains the non-quantifying time adverb yiqian ‘the past’. With the help of the

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universal grinder (Bach 1989), the denoted temporal location yiqian ‘the past’ can be conceptually seen as a combination of different periods including the elementary school and junior high school times. One more example is given for reference. Note sentence (27c) as follows:

(27) c. ?? 他上個月全在思考這件事。(整整想了三十天。)

Ta shang-ge yue quan zai sikao zhe-jian shi. (zhengzheng xing le sanshi tian.) He last-CL month all ASP consider this-CL matter. (Totally thirty days.)

Similarly, the non-quantifying time adverb shang-ge yue ‘last month’ in (27c) limits the reference of the sentence to one location in time. Through the process of grinding, the month is cut into thirty days, as can be seen in the added interpretation. However, it is clear that quan is not admitted to denote the ground temporal locations.

From (26a) and (26c), it can be learned that the use of quan is not accepted by a sentence denoting a spatially restricted but temporally unrestricted situation. In a word, quan is incompatible with sentences denoting more than one temporal location.

5.3. Time-Grinding and Dou

It has been demonstrated that quan cannot appear with a sentence referring to a spatially restricted but temporally unrestricted situation. In this section, it will be addressed if dou can co-occur with sentences referring to a spatially and temporally restricted situation.

In order to contrast dou with quan, this section appeals to (28a), (28b) and (28c), which are based on sentence (28a), (28b), and (28c) by replacing quan with dou . First, let us bring (28a) under scrutiny.

(28) a. 他上星期(從星期一到星期六)都很忙。

Ta shang xinqi (cong xinqi yi dao xinqi liu) dou heng mang.

He last week (from week one to week six) all very busy.

‘He was busy (from Monday to Saturday) all last week.’

As can be seen in (28a), the non-quantifying time adverb shang xinqi ‘last week’ has the reference to a temporally restricted situation. Again, the universal grinder (Bach 1989) grinds the single temporal location into numerous ones and then produces a plural reading.

It is apparent that the occurrence of dou is accepted in this sentence. Next, we shall inspect (28b) as shown in the following:

(28) b. 他以前(包括小學和國中時期)都相信有鬼。

Ta yiqian (baokuo xiaoxue han guozhong) dou xiangxin you gui.

He past (including elementary-school and junior-high-school) always all believe have ghost.

‘In the past (including the elementary school and junior high school periods), he always believed in ghosts.’

In (28b), yiqian ‘the past’ assigns the sentence a singular meaning, because it restricts the reference to one specific location in time. The restricted temporal location can be viewed as different periods as indicated by the parenthetic interpretation. Under such circumstances, dou is accepted to occur in the sentence. In addition to sentence (28b), sentence (28c) is given for the contrast between quan and dou as follows:

(28) c. 他上個月都在思考這件事。(整整想了三十天。)

Ta shang-ge yue dou zai sikao zhe-jian shi (zhengzheng xing le sanshi tian).

He last-CL month all ASP consider this-CL matter (totally thirty days).

‘He considered the matter all last month (totally thirty days).

(28c) is bound to refer to a restricted location in time due to the non-quantifying time adverb shang-ge yue ‘last month’. Still, the universal grinder (Bach 1989) can grind the restricted temporal location into more than one. Meanwhile, the time adverb bu-ting-di

‘non-stop’ implies that the eventuality xiang zhe-jian shi ‘to think about it’ occurs habitually.

Thus, dou is allowed to co-occur with (28c).

Along the same line of reasoning, (7b) and (7c) are re-listed as follows and attached with some added description to demonstrate the admission of dou.

(7) b. 他剛剛都在發呆。(上課發呆、下課也發呆。)

Ta gang-gang dou zai fadai. (Shangke fadai, xiake ye fadai.)

He a-moment-ago all ASP day-dream. (In-class daydreram, off-calss also daydream.)

‘He was all daydreaming just now. (He did it not only in class, but also in the break.)’

c. 我今天早上都在開會！ (八點到十點是第一場，而十點到十二點是 第二場。) Wo jintian zaoshang dou zai kai hui! (Ba-dian dao shi-dian shi di-yi chang, er shi-dian dao shier-dian shi di-er chang.)

I today morning all ASP open meeting! (Eight-o’clock to ten-o’clock BE the-first section, and ten-o’clock to twelve-o’clock BE the-second section.)

‘I was in the meeting all this morning! (The 8-10 o’clock time was the first section and the 10-12 o’clock time was the second.)’

Both (7b) and (7c) refer to temporally restricted situations due to the non-quantifying time adverb gang-gang ‘just now’ and jintian zaoshang ‘this morning’. As has been demonstrated, the time durations occupied by the eventualities fadai ‘to daydream’ and kaihui ‘to be in a meeting’ can be ground to allow the occurrence of dou. The descriptions in the parentheses indicate how the temporal locations have been fragmented.

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