ABOUT THIS BOOK
Can language directly access what is true, or is the truth judgment affected by the subjective, perhaps even solipsistic, constructs of reality built by the speakers of that language? The construction of such subjective representations is known as veridicality, and in this book Anastasia Giannakidou and Alda Mari deftly address the interaction between truth and veridicality in the grammatical phenomena of mood choice: the indicative and subjunctive choice in the complements of modal expressions and propositional attitude verbs.
Combining several strands of analysis—formal linguistic semantics, syntactic theory, modal logic, and philosophy of language—Giannakidou and Mari’s theory not only enriches the analysis of linguistic modality, but also offers a unified perspective of modals and propositional attitudes. Their synthesis covers mood, modality, and attitude verbs in Greek and Romance languages, while also offering broader applications for languages lacking systematic mood distinction, such as English. Truth and Veridicality in Grammar and Thought promises to shape longstanding conversations in formal semantics, pragmatics, and philosophy of language, among other areas of linguistics.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
One: Truth, Veridicality, and Grammatical Mood
DOI: 10.7208/chicago/9780226763484.003.0001
[verb classes;subjunctive-indicative;mood particles;mood selection;mood flexibility;principle of veridicality;co-operative conversation;assertions;modal verbs;polarity item licensing]
Chapter 1 gives an overview of the verb classes to be discussed and the basic subjunctive-indicative patterns in Greek and Italian. Greek has mood particles. The chapter illustrates the difference between mood selection and mood flexibility. The authors establish the Principle of Veridicality for assertions in co-operative conversation, which says speakers utters what they believe or know to be true when they are co-operative. The chapter shows that veridicality is suspended when modal verbs are used. Finally, the chapter illustrates parallelisms between the phenomenon of mood choice and polarity item licensing.
This chapter is available at:
https://academic.oup.com/chica...
Two: Modalization, Nonveridicality, and Commitment - Anastasia Giannakidou, Alda Mari
DOI: 10.7208/chicago/9780226763484.003.0002
[modalization;necessity modals;meta-evaluation function;nonveridical epistemic modal base;Nonveridicality Axiom;licensing conditions;polarity items;modal adverbs;modal speed;antiveridicality]
This chapter builds the formal framework of the authors’ theory by studying modalization, specifically epistemic modality. The chapter centers around the notions of veridicality, nonveridicality, antiveridicality (which coincides with negation), veridical commitment, epistemic weakening, and defines veridical and nonveridical states. The new concept of modal bias is defined for necessity modals such as MUST. Veridical modal bases are characterized by homogeneity, but nonveridical bases are partitioned. Bias is due to a meta-evaluation function that ranks the prejacent as a better possibility than its negation. Modal adverbs express this function, and the structure is called modal spread. Bias gives the illusion of veridical commitment, but a biased modal base is still nonveridical, i.e., it does not entail p. The presence of a nonveridical epistemic modal base is a presupposition of all modals, and the authors call this the Nonveridicality Axiom. If a lexical entry obeys the Axiom, it will be to license the subjunctive. The authors give licensing conditions for subjunctive and indicative, and treat them as polarity items. (pages 51 - 106)
This chapter is available at:
University Press Scholarship Online
Three: Mood and Tense in Complement Clauses - Anastasia Giannakidou, Alda Mari
DOI: 10.7208/chicago/9780226763484.003.0003
[embedded tense;compositional analysis;veridical tenses;nonveridical tense;future orientation;dependent tense;bare infinitive;syntax-semantics interface;anaphoric tense;temporal polarity item]
This chapter discusses the correlation between mood and embedded tense (present, past, nonpast). The chapter shows that there is a strong correlation between attitude meaning and the temporal properties of the embedded complement, and offer a compositional analysis. The present and past are veridical tenses, but the nonpast is a nonveridical tense. The nonpast is the tense of future orientation, and it is the dependent tense that the authors find with future-oriented subjunctives. This is also the tense of the bare infinitive in English. In languages lacking productive morphological mood, the verbal correlate of mood is tense. The chapter offers an explicit syntax-semantics interface of tenses in Greek and Italian. We also discuss anaphoric tense. The non-past is a temporal polarity item. (pages 107 - 146)
This chapter is available at:
https://academic.oup.com/chica...
Four: Solipsistic and Suppositional Belief - Anastasia Giannakidou, Alda Mari
DOI: 10.7208/chicago/9780226763484.003.0004
[mood choice;doxastic attitude verbs;suppositional belief;solipsistic belief;Greek and French doxastic verbs;Nonveridicality Axiom of Modals;suppositional doxastics;individual anchor;doxastic commitment;epistemic commitment]
This chapter offers a detailed analysis of the mood choice with doxastic (i.e., belief verbs) attitude verbs in Greek and Italian. The authors distinguish between Solipsistic and Suppositional Belief, as well as mood flexibility with Italian doxastic verbs. The authors use the label “doxastic” to refer to verbs that express attitudes of belief, thought, consciousness, consideration, understanding, perception opinion, dream, imagination, fiction (dream, imagine), memory, verbs of personal taste. These verbs are also sometimes referred to as “cognitive”. There are two main patterns: (a) doxastic verbs that are solipsistic (solipsistic doxastics), and strictly select the indicative, which is the pattern observed in Greek and French doxastic verbs; and (b) doxastic verbs have mood flexibility, with repercussions in meaning, as is illustrated in Italian and Portuguese. The authors call these suppositional doxastics. This chapter also develops the authors’ notion of epistemic and doxastic commitment of an individual anchor to the truth of p. Suppositional doxastic verbs obey the Nonveridicality Axiom of Modals. The chapter alsodiscussesthe pragmatics of mood morphemesand proposes that they contribute anchoring conditions to the common ground, or a private model of evaluation. The relation between veridicality and informativity is also addressed. (pages 147 - 190)
This chapter is available at:
University Press Scholarship Online
Five: Bouletic Attitudes: Volition, Hope, Promising, and Persuasion - Anastasia Giannakidou, Alda Mari
DOI: 10.7208/chicago/9780226763484.003.0005
[subjunctive predicates;infinitival predicates;volitional verbs;bouletic commitment;doxastic commitment;bouletic attitudes;nonveridical presupposition;antiveridical presupposition;antifactivity;model shift]
This chapter focuses on subjunctive and infinitival predicates such as verbs of volition (volitional verbs) and verbs of desire. The authors argue that the truth conditions of these predicates require the notion of bouletic commitment, the counterpart of doxastic commitment in the realm of doxastics. Like pure belief—which can be construed solipsistically—some volitional verbs are also construed as solipsistic desires, defined on variants of the bouletic state. The authors find the concept of preference to play very little role. Bouletic attitudes can also be constructed suppositionally with the by now familiar nonveridical presupposition. In this case, the subjunctive is licensed, in agreement with what the authors have observed so far. WANT predicates also have an antiveridical presupposition. The authors label this antifactivity and have mentioned it before as the property underlying all nonindicative moods, therefore also the optative and imperative. The landscape of desiderative predicates that emerges is reminiscent of the landscape just seen with doxastics. Finally, the chapter also finds correlations between the embedded tense and potential model shift. (pages 191 - 224)
This chapter is available at:
https://academic.oup.com/chica...
Six: Ability Modals, Temporality, and Implicatives - Anastasia Giannakidou, Alda Mari
DOI: 10.7208/chicago/9780226763484.003.0006
[ability modality;implicative verbs;Nonveridicality Axiom;aspectual operator;actualization;nonveridical presupposition;actuality entailment;perfective aspect;past tense]
This chapter explains why the subjunctive/infinitive is chosen with ability modals (ability modality) and implicative verbs, instead of a finite clause when a language makes it available. The selection of the subjunctive is expected with ability modals since, as modals, they obey the Nonveridicality Axiom. The authors propose a new analysis of ability modality by treating the modal ABLE as the dispositional counterpart of epistemic MUST, entailing action to p only in the Ideal worlds. For implicatives, the authors offer an analysis of MANAGE as an aspectual operator presupposing that a volitional agent i tried to bring about p, without, in fact, entailing actualization of p. This presupposition alone suffices to license the subjunctive, which, as we argued, is triggered by a nonveridical presupposition. This account relies on the affinity between managing and trying, and the nonveridicality of TRY-predicates. Under certain circumstances, ability modals an actuality entailment, which the authors argue depends not on perfective aspect but on past tense. (pages 225 - 272)
This chapter is available at:
University Press Scholarship Online
Seven: Propositional Attitudes of Emotion: Gradability and Nonveridicality - Anastasia Giannakidou, Alda Mari
DOI: 10.7208/chicago/9780226763484.003.0007
[emotive propositional attitudes;emotion;nonveridical space;attitudes of fear;factive;modals;flexible mood patterns]
This chapter completes the authors'theory by considering the mood patterns observed in the complements of emotive propositional attitudes. Emotion is often reduced to concepts such as preference, gradability, or expressivity. In dealing with emotion attitudes, the chapterarticulates a precise semantics for emotion as a gradable nonveridical space, on a par with modals and the other attitudes thathave been discussed. Emotion attitudes appear as gradable psychological attitudes (be happy, be surprised, be angry),and appear to be factive. The authorsalso study attitudes of fear, known also as verba timendi, such as, e.g., the English fear, be afraid. Fear, in contrast to the emotive predication, never relates to a fact. All emotive predicates show flexible mood patterns. (pages 273 - 308)
This chapter is available at:
https://academic.oup.com/chica...
Eight: Epilogue: Truth and Veridicality in Grammar and Thought - Anastasia Giannakidou, Alda Mari
DOI: 10.7208/chicago/9780226763484.003.0008
[veridical stance;nonveridical stance;informativity]
This epilogue reiterates and addresses the authors’ findings related to veridical and nonveridical stances; mood choice and what mood flexibility tells us; anchoring; (non)veridicality; and informativity. (pages 309 - 320)
This chapter is available at:
https://academic.oup.com/chica...
