Subsective modifier

In linguistics, a subsective modifier is an expression which modifies another by delivering a subset of its denotation. For instance, the English adjective "skilled" is subsective since being a skilled surgeon entails being a surgeon. By contrast, the English adjective "alleged" is non-subsective since an "alleged spy" need not be an actual spy.[1][2][3]

A modifier can be subsective without being intersective. For instance, calling someone an "old friend" entails that they are a friend but does not entail that they are elderly. The term "subsective" is most often applied to modifiers which are not intersective and non-intersectivity is sometimes treated as part of its definition.[1]

There is no standard analysis for the semantics of (non-intersective) subsective modifiers. Early work such as Montague (1970) took subsective adjectives as evidence that adjectives do not denote properties which compose intersectively but rather functions which take and return a property which may or may not make an intersective semantic contribution.[1][4][5] However, subsequent work has shown that variants of the property-based analysis can in fact account for the data. For instance, vague predicates often pass standard tests for nonintersectivity, e.g. "Neutrons are big subatomic particles" doesn't entail that neutrons are actually big but have in fact be analyzed as intersective using degree semantics. Current work tends to assume that the phenomenon of subsectivity is not a natural class.[6][2]

  1. ^ a b c Morzycki, Marcin (2016). Modification (PDF). Cambridge University Press. pp. 16–19.
  2. ^ a b Kennedy, Chris (2012). "Adjectives" (PDF). In Graff Fara, Delia; Russell, Gillian (eds.). The Routledge Companion to Philosophy of Language. Routledge.
  3. ^ McNally, Louise (2016). "Modification". In Aloni, Maria; Dekker, Paul (eds.). The Cambridge Handbook of Formal Semantics. Cambridge University Press. pp. 442–464. doi:10.1017/CBO9781139236157.016. ISBN 9781107028395.
  4. ^ Kamp, Hans (1975). "Two theories about adjectives". In Keenan, Edward (ed.). Formal Semantics of Natural Language. Cambridge University Press.
  5. ^ Montague, Richard (1970). "English as a Formal Language". In Visentini, Bruno (ed.). Linguaggi nella Società e nella Tecnica. Edizioni di Comunità.
  6. ^ Morzycki, Marcin (2016). Modification (PDF). Cambridge University Press. pp. 16–22.