Scale shifting and compositionality

In this paper we extend the model developed for path and manner-of-motion constructions proposed in Pustejovsky and Moszkowicz 2011 to predicates denoting the creation of an object, whether syntactically realized or not. This model, Dynamic Interval Temporal Logic (DITL), exploits the formal distinctions available in the “events as programs” metaphor, to differentiate both lexical and compositional properties of telicity involved in scalar predication. Specifically, we distinguish between lexical and phrasal constructions which denote tests over their successful dynamic execution (test predicates), from expressions which denote the inherent assignment and re-assignment of a value to an attribute (assignment predicates). Tests denote telic, while iterated assignments correspond to atelic constructions. Following Pustejovsky and Moszkowicz 2011, and related to Levin and Rappaport Hovav’s 2010analysis, we use this distinction to characterize different subclasses of creation verbs, where the created objects play different roles in the calculation of telicity.